St. Lucia and St. Herman

 

This past week some families in our community gathered to remember two special December Saints: St. Lucia of Syracuse and St. Herman of Alaska.

For St. Herman, we made Spruce Island cookies. A Presbytera friend gave me this recipe years ago, and I taped it into the back of my parish cookbook. This post has the full recipe with instructions, as well as a link to purchase the cookbook with the original recipe. It's traditional to make green tree shapes for Spruce Island, and yellow stars since St. Herman is called the North Star of Christ holy Church in his troparion.

In an attempt to avoid food dyes this year, we added 1/4 tsp tumeric to the recipe to make yellow stars. But you can also ice them or use yellow sprinkles.

I've also had to modify the recipe for Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free family members, using sun butter and oats. (Any kind of nut butter would also work in that one.)

For St. Lucy of Syracuse, we made St. Lucia buns. I never realized how perfect this recipe is for little hands. Basically, the dough is like play-dough and can be manipulated easily. I made the dough the night before and kept in in the fridge in an oiled plastic bag. 

It sat out on the counter during liturgy and was ready for rolling after snack time.

Since my god-daughter likes cinnamon, and since saffron is rather expensive, I adjusted the recipe:

St. Lucia Buns for my God-daughter

About 2 lb flour

¾ c oil

1 c sugar

1½ TBS yeast (or 2 packets)

1¾ c warm water

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

Raisins or chocolate chips to decorate

Add sugar, yeast, and warm water to a bowl and let sit for 5-10 minutes.

Mix in rest of ingredients, adding just enough flour to make a dough that doesn’t stick to the sides of the bowl but is still pliable.

Shape and let rise for an hour, or refrigerate dough overnight in an oiled plastic bag. Bring to room temperature the next day, shape and rise for an hour.

Size of dough to shape = a small lemon (pics below)

Roll into a rope and then roll the ends in opposite directions towards the middle.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

And just in case you need the reminder that these sorts of activities don't always turn out perfectly, I give you, the turtle/porcupine bun version. I love them!

None of the these children are mine - mine are with the "older kids" now. Therefore, I am particularly thankful for these moms sharing their children with me. I pray you enjoy the time with the children in your life this season!