Swedish rye cookies and vacation

I bet you know what I mean when I talk about being completely exhausted. About reaching that point in which you just keep on going because of pure inertia. When you just wake up because the alarm goes off and drag yourself to work with a sleepy face. When even if on the weekends you get to relax a bit, you're in constant motion, not a minute left for breathing. I certainly have reached that point.

It's been a year since I last was home, since my real last vacation. So right now, I really need to go home. Don't get me wrong. I just passed my second aniversary in the US and every day that goes by, I'm happier with the decision of moving here. Living 6000 miles away from your family is not easy, but for me it's totally worth it.

One of the reasons is that after two years of working like crazy both at MIT and at my current company, I will finally be a grad student. A PhD student nonetheless. I know it might sound boring to you, but I'm crazy excited. What can I say, I was born for research. And the teaching part, has me thrilled. I can't wait to have a bunch of students to guide through labs and classes.

But before that, I really need to charge batteries. That means being in Barcelona with my family and friends. Beers in the hot afternoons and delicious food. Then going with my parents to my dad's hometown. The smallest town in earth, or almost. I can picture myself waking up in the morning and baking some brioche for breakfast. Then going with my dad to the fields, to pick fresh fruit from those trees that have been in the family for generations. Maybe put some of that fruit in a galette or a tart. Certainly, hanging out with my friends until the moon goes down and the sun comes up. In a word, relaxing.

Don't worry, I'll be baking and posting!. Cleaning my pantry from flours and other ingredients has left me with a ton of baked goods that my coworkers and friends have been happy to receive. These Swedish rye cookies had been in my bookmarks for a long time and the only thing I'm sorry about is that I didn't make them earlier. They are tiny nice light cookies. Not overly sweet. In fact, if it weren't for the powdered sugar, they would barely be sweet at all. Perfect pairing for a cup of tea, they make a great afternoon snack. Plus the recipe makes a huge amount of them so you'll be able to share!

Swedish Rye Cookies
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks
Print this recipe

Note: I adapted the recipe by changing cane sugar for brown and skipped sprinkling the cookies with large grain sugar before baking. I used a small flower cookie cutter, less than 1 inch diameter and got 3 dozen cookies.

1 cup rye flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cream cheese

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

In a bowl, combine flours and salt. With a hand mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Add the flour mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until combined. Refrigerate the dough covered in plastic wrap for about 30 min (you can skip this but it made it easier for me to work the dough in a really hot kitchen).

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Roll the dough to a 1/4 inch thickness and cut in shapes with a cookie cutter. Bake the cookies for about 7 minutes or until golden on the edges. Don't overbake or they'll become dry. Let them cool and dust with powdered sugar.