As every Scandinavian grandmother will tell you, it's best to begin the Christmas baking season no later (and preferably earlier!) than the weekend after Thanksgiving. Part of this is a matter of convenience combined with a desire for abundance - most specialty cookies and cakes freeze incredibly well and can be brought out and served, on spectacularly varied dessert plates, whenever guests arrive. Sometimes time is also required, though, so that baked goods like fruited cakes and ginger cookies can reach their full depth of flavor and texture - if properly stored, many homemade baked treats improve by sitting for a few days or weeks.

That's why I'll be getting a start on my Scandinavian Christmas cookies this week (it's traditional to serve at least seven varieties on Scandinavian tables). Our other About.com Food Guides will be busy in their kitchens, as well - please keep an eye on our blogs to participate in our upcoming delicious (if virtual) Cookie Exchange! As part of an early sampling, why not try ...

From Barbara Rolek, our Guide to East European Food: Kolaczki exist in most Eastern European cuisines and are spelled variously as kolaci, kolache, kolacky, kolachky, among others. Fillings run the gamut of apricot to raspberry to prune to cheese, and some truly untraditional flavors like pineapple are sneaking into the mix. This recipe starts with a flaky cream cheese dough.

From Carroll Pellegrinelli, Guide to Baking: Butter Spritz Cookies are small delicate cookies that are made with a cookie press. Cookie presses typically come with several disks to make various shaped cookies like Christmas trees, hearts, flowers and so on.

Christmas cookie image © 2009 Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.

One of the larger truths of the old Swedish cooking adage, "You take what you have (on hand)," is that not only is this a very economical way to cook, but it also often leads to some outstanding culinary discoveries.

This is certainly the case with Kari's Own Pea Soup mix, which uses a combination of spices so amazing that I'll never go back to using the cloves I was out of one day when I was making my traditional recipe (prompting me to try, of all things, whole star anise as a substitute flavoring in my soup).

It's so different - yet good - that I've decided it will make a great "jar gift" this Christmas to share with only my very favorite people.

Whole star anise can be found in most Asian groceries. This isn't your grandmother's pea soup, but it's the one I'll hand down to my own grandkids eventually. Try it, I dare you!

Kari's Own Pea Soup Mix text and photo ©Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com

If you're lucky enough to attend any one of the many Scandinavian holiday bazaars that are being held among Scandinavian-American communities this season, you're sure to find this delicious almond cake on sale. Baked in a special ridged pan (primarily made - gasp - in Germany), Scandinavian almond cake is a quick and delicious item to have on hand when friends and family show up for impromptu holiday visits. This cake, like most Scandinavian baked goods, freezes beautifully. You can often find the pans (commonly under the Bethany Housewares label) in specialty cooking stores, on eBay, or you can order them online from distributors like Ingebretsen's or The Wooden Spoon.

Scandinavian almond cake photo & text ©Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.

The ladies of our local Daughters of Norway chapter, Nellie Gerdrum Lodge #41, are all facing a busy week as they prepare for their tenth annual Scandinavian Fair, a highly attended holiday event that includes a Scandinavian Bakery, a café that serves traditional favorites like homemade pea soup and lefse, and Nordic crafts offered for sale by talented artisans.

My contribution last year was a batch of Norwegian Goro - delicately imprinted cookies that are prepared on a special cookie iron, flavored with cardamom, and have a texture that's a unique cross between a cookie, a cracker, and a waffle. Like most Scandinavian cookies, Goro can be baked ahead in quantity and frozen, making it easy to include them as part of the seven-item cookie plate that is traditional in Norwegian and Norwegian-American households during the holiday season.

I haven't decided yet what I'll be baking this year ... this week I'll feature a few of the delicious possibilities here.

If you're in the Pacific Northwest this Saturday, November 7th, drive on up to the Hampton Inn's Fox Hall in Bellingham, WA and check out the festivities!

Goro image ©2009 Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.

Almost without exception, my favorite recipes aren't the ones that I find within high-gloss, "coffee table" cookbooks (much as I love paging through these!). The best recipes come from the self-published cookbooks that community groups compile to support their organizations - often, in the case of Scandinavian-American groups, cookbooks that are rich in recipes handed down through generations.

I was lucky enough to get permission from Sylvia Hampson, current president of the Nellie Gerdrum chapter of the Daughters of Norway, to share her recipe for Upside-Down Lingonberry muffins with you. Crowned with a layer of fresh or frozen lingonberries, these muffins are as beautiful as they are tasty (you can substitute cranberries or even blueberries if you can't find lingonberries).

Sylvia's recipe has also been featured in A Lingonberry Cookbook, self-published by the Bellingham Damekor (Norwegian Women's Chorus) - the only cookbook I've ever found dedicated solely to lingonberry recipes. I'm hoping that the Damekor will still have a few copies on sale at Nellie Gerdrum's 10th Annual Scandinavian Fair, to be held on Saturday, November 7th at the Hampton Inn in Bellingham, WA. Attached to a jar of homemade lingonberry preserves, they'll make great gifts for the fine cooks in my family!

Upside-Down Lingonberry Muffins photo & text ©Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.

Do you have a self-published cookbook or upcoming Scandinavian community event that you'd like to see celebrated at Scandinavian Food at About.com? If so, send me the details, along with a great representative recipe and / or photos, and I may well be able to highlight it here.

Happy National Bread Day! Today is a good excuse (not that I need one) to charge up my KitchenAid mixer, proof some yeast, and enjoy both the process and the results of making home-made bread. The only challenge? Which kind to make!

A few favorites that are in contention:

• Sweet Yeasted Cardamom Bread

• Icelandic Thunder Bread (no yeast required)

• Swedish Rye Bread

National Bread Day image ©2008 Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.

It's funny where inspiration for new recipe ideas can come from.

Last week, as we mourned the loss of Gourmet magazine, I told my pal Kevin that the only thing worse than losing this classic would be losing National Geographic.

"Yep," he said, "If Gourmet had featured articles like NG's long-ago spread with the naked Scandinavian girls in a sauna surrounded by snow, they'd still be in circulation."
That's when I knew it was time to tweak a traditional Scandinavian dessert called "Veiled Country Lass." Instead of using applesauce, these Snowy Spice Girls are made even more delectable when one uses homemade apple butter.

This one's for you, Kevin. Thanks for the inspiration!

Snowy Spice Girls photo and copy ©Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.

With our young apple tree in full production for the first time in its three-year history, I've been cooking apple dishes almost every day in order not to waste a single one of our bountiful crop. This apple cake, a Swedish classic, is quick and easy to prepare from very simple ingredients (what I call a "cupboard" dish). It's a great cake to serve with coffee at a group get-together or meeting.

Swedish apple cake photo & text ©Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.

With apple season in full force, it's my favorite time of year to make Danish aebleskiver! Traditionally made with apple slices inserted into the batter, aebleskiver can also be prepared with jam, cheese, or other fillings in both sweet and savory variations. A cross between a pancake and a donut, they offer all of the delight of these treats without the sugar and fat overload of commercially prepared pastries.

Invitation: If you have a favorite aebleskiver recipe you'd like to share or a local Scandinavian festival you'd like to promote, tell us about them on the Scandinavian Food forums!

Aebleskiver image © ©Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.

Fall has definitely reached the Northwest, with shorter and rainier days. So it's a good day to make my favorite comfort food: chicken and dumplings, only with a Scandinavian twist.

There are many types of dumplings in Scandinavia, and all are wonderful. They can be sweet or savory, served alone or in stews or as comforting desserts. The milk dumplings in Chicken Fricassee with Mushrooms and Dill Dumplings are large as hens' eggs, tender on the outside, and fluffy on the inside.

Chicken and dill dumplings image and text © Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.