St. Lucia Day is this week, which means it’s time to bake some lussekatter, or Swedish saffron buns! Norwegians and Swedes traditionally bake these fluffy Santa Lucia buns for Saint Lucia’s Day on December 13th, but they are delicious year round. St. Lucia saffron buns are called lussekatter, or “Lucia’s…
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Continue ReadingWhile I love most cookies, cakes, and sweet buns, I’ve never been a big fan of donuts. However I’ve always had one exception: smultringer. Smultringer are traditional Norwegian donuts spiced with cardamom. I don’t know if it’s the cardamom or their being homemade, but I have always loved smultringer. They’re…
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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…
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Continue ReadingI’m a big fan of leftovers, so I love that one of the main Norwegian Christmas desserts is made from leftover risgrøt (rice porridge) on Christmas. Norwegians eat rice porridge for lunch on Christmas Eve, and then we’ll use mix the leftover porridge with whipped cream to make rice pudding…
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Continue ReadingThanksgiving is over and it has even snowed in Bergen now, so I’m in full Christmas mode over here. I’ve of course been baking lots of my favorite Scandinavian Christmas cookies, but another Christmas favorite of mine is risgrøt (also risengrynsgrøt), or Norwegian rice porridge. Risgrøt is a Norwegian rice…
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Continue ReadingFattigmann, or “poor man’s cookies,” are some of the most nostalgic Norwegian Christmas cookies for me. When I ate the first fattigmann of this batch it instantly felt like Christmas (it also helps that it snowed in Bergen last night!). Fattigmann are made from a simple cookie dough spiced with cardamom,…
