Book project No 2: Christmas at Home (Jõulud kodus)

Remember my first cookbook, "Nami-Nami kokaraamat" and its launch party on December 1st almost a year ago? The cookbook has done well, I'm happy to say - and I'm already working on the third book. Yes, the third one, as despite giving birth to a second baby earlier this year (and thus having two kids under-3 crawling and running around in the kitchen) I also managed to work on my second cookbook. Or kind of cookbook. My dear publishers, Varrak, kindly asked me in late Spring if I could co-author a Christmas book with Irina Tammis - she'd write the section on Christmas crafts, and I'd write the festive recipes. I was thrilled to say yes and so it happened that I was baking gingerbread and roasting black pudding in the middle of the August heatwave this year :)

The book came out in the beginning of November - first as part of the Suur Eesti Raamatuklubi (the Large Estonian Book Club, where it is the star book of November), but is now available in most bookstores in Estonia. RRP is 15.90 EUR and, obviously, it makes a wonderful Christmas gift to your loved ones (if you speak Estonian, that is :))

Here's a list of Christmas recipes - I've provided links to relevant recipes in English here on the Nami-Nami foodblog - and some pictures as well. Note that all recipes were re-tested and (usually) re-photographed during the summer, so the edited recipe in the book is necessarily not exactly the same as here on the blog.

RECIPES:

• Puff pastry pinwheels with lingonberries and black pudding

• Choux pastry puffs with black pudding
• Rosemary-scented devils on horseback
• Festive chicken liver paté with glögg jelly
• Gravadlax with star anise and oranges
• Spicy mixed nuts
• Lacy cheese crisps
• Orange Ambrosia with coconut and red berries
• Beetroot and mushroom salad
• A layered smoked salmon and vegetable salad

• Pork roast
• Crispy black pudding
• Oven-roasted vegetables
• Christmas goose
• Oven-baked salmon with scalloped beetroot
• Cabbage, three ways (sauerkraut braised in beer, red cabbage with prunes and sweet-and-sour white cabbage)
• Jansson's Frestelse
• Hasselback potatoes (aka accordion potatoes)
• Spicy Swedish meatballs

• Pear and blue cheese quiche with gingerbread spices
• Sauerkraut and chocolate cake

• Small blue cheese and marmalade tartlets
• Joulutortut aka Finnish Christmas stars

• Thumbprint cookies for Christmas
• Saffron buns with coconut topping
• My favourite Christmas fruitcake

• Gingerbread cookies (incl. glaze and various ways of shaping the cookies)
• Sliced Christmas almond and gingerbread cookies
• Gingerbread muffins
• Soft gingerbread cake with cream cheese frosting and red berries

• Gingerbread cheesecake
• Caramelized spiced almonds
• Clementines in Christmassy wine syrup
• Risalamande (a Danish sweet rice porridge with warm cherry compote)
• Mulled wine poached pears
• Eggnog

You can see the book advertisement on the publishers' website here. Of course, I'm happy to answer any questions about the cookbook and the recipes - and if there's a particular recipe that catches your idea, but isn't yet available in English on the blog, please let me know. The Christmas is just around the corner and I'd be happy to share the recipe!