Swedes celebrate Fettisdagen, or Fat Tuesday, with the most delicious semlor. Semlor are sweet buns spiced with cardamom and filled with almond paste (or jam, if you prefer) and whipped cream. While they’re most popular to eat before Lent, semlor are so beloved in Sweden that you’ll now see them…
almond
-
Continue ReadingA kringle (also called klippekrans in Norway) is a yeast based pastry filled with cinnamon sugar, sort of like a wreath of connected cinnamon buns. In fact I developed this recipe from my kanelboller (Norwegian cinnamon rolls) recipe. This almond kringle is also filled with ground almonds, though you can…
-
Continue ReadingNorwegians typically make seven types of cookies for Christmas (7 slag til jul). Each family will have its own favorites, but there are a few traditional cookies that make it in most people’s seven, including krumkaker, fattigmann, and brune pinner. Brune pinner, or “brown sticks,” are sliced cookies that are…
-
Continue ReadingIf you ask a Dane about classic Danish Christmas cookies, I’m sure they’ll mention brunkager, or “brown cookies,” which are a crispy gingerbread cookie with almonds, spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. They’re sort of like a larger version of pebernødder, except with almonds. Personally my favorite Danish Christmas cookies…
-
Continue ReadingSarah Bernhardt cookies are perhaps my favorite Scandinavian cookies. I love any almond based dessert, and Sarah Bernhardt cookies feature the perfect combination of a soft almond cookie topped with a velvety milk chocolate cream dipped in dark chocolate. Well, it’s an almost perfect combination. I love the history of…
-
Continue ReadingMy parents were visiting me in Bergen last week, so of course I wanted to bake something special for them. And so I thought of fyrstekake, or prince cake in English, a Norwegian classic that I’ve been wanting to make for a while. Two of my very favorite Norwegian desserts…
