Inky Marina!

Hello everyone! I'm sorry for not posting for so long.



My family has had lots of visitors and other family events, so I haven't been able to find the time to write. February is still wintry weather in NYC, so I've been spending time indoors. The other day, my new friend, Elin, came over to teach me to make Dala horse cookies!



Elin was my friend Coral's friend first. She lives with her moms in Brooklyn. She was born in Brooklyn, but has actually lived most of her life in Sweden because her moms are Swedish! Elin is very lucky to take Swedish culture classes to stay connected with her home. At Christmastime, her class made Dala horse cookies and Elin promised to teach me to make them! Elin is not just Swedish though- one of her moms immigrated to Sweden from the Canary Islands! One of my favorite things about living in the city is how diverse my group is friends is. I'm so lucky!



My moms said that Elin and I could make the cookies ourselves, except for the oven part. We set to work measuring the ingredients and mixing them together.  It was so much fun to use the big stand mixer!



Once we had all the ingredients mixed into dough, we sat around and talked for an hour while the dough chilled. Finally it was time to roll out the dough! To roll out the dough, we sprinkled flour on the table and then carefully used the rolling pin to get the dough to just the right thickness.



A key part of making Dala horse cookies is the cookie cutter. Elin brought over her family's Dala horse cookie cutter that she and her moms use to make their cookies.  I felt very special using a real Dala horse cookie cutter that came all the way from Sweden!



Elin and I took turns using the cookie cutter and made lots and lots of horse cookies!



Elin carefully transferred the horse cookies to the cookie sheet and then my mama put them into the oven to bake.



As the cookies baked, we got the decorating supplies ready! Cookie icing can be a bit tricky to work with, so my mama helped us put together the pastry bag for the icing.  Finally, the first cookie was ready! We didn't have any trivets, so Mama put the cookie sheet on a baking mitt.



Elin is so good at icing cookies! She worked carefully on the first few cookies to show me what to do.  Dala horses are often a bright red color, so we chose to make our cookies red as well. We put blue saddles on all the horses and one special cookie even got a white bridle.



Soon we had a stack of beautiful Dala horse cookies! We split the cookie with the bridle on the spot and each took half of the remaining cookies to keep for our families.



I had a great time having Elin over to my apartment so she could teach me to make Dala horse cookies!  She's a great friend and I'm excited for her to teach me more about Sweden- and maybe even the Canary Islands!

Do you ever make cookies? What is your favorite kind of cookie?

In this post I'm wearing: tee by Royal Doll Boutique and apron by Williams Sonoma and American Girl.
Elin's wearing: oxford shirt by Liberty Jane Clothing and apron by A Bee Line.