by Isabelle Fredborg | Dec 4, 2020
What’s the best way to lure in new visitors? With saffron buns, of course. Or, lussekatter, as we often call them in Sweden. At least, that’s the trick that Skansen pulled when it wanted to establish its new Christmas market in 1906. You see, the...
by Isabelle Fredborg | Oct 2, 2020
Whenever my siblings and I visited our mother’s parents, we’d hope for the heavenly scent of freshly baked russinbröd. A slice or two spread with butter turned into the an irresistible treat. This bread is more commonly known as filmjölksbröd or...
by Isabelle Fredborg | Sep 25, 2020
Kolasnittar, or “caramel cuts”, have always been present on the baking trays of my childhood. Maybe that’s why I think they’ve “always” been around. But despite searching for them under several names — kolakakor, kolasnittar,...
by Isabelle Fredborg | Aug 28, 2020
Swedish farmer cookies — bondkakor — both look and sound modest. Nothing special, surely? But don’t be fooled. On a November Thursday in 1954, the press gathered to see the brand new, modern kitchen at the royal palace of Drottningholm. In contrast with the...
by Isabelle Fredborg | Jul 24, 2020
Chokladsnittar, or cut chocolate cookies, is one of the workhorse cookies that are part of the standard café selection. And apparently, they are a pretty good option if we were to calculate the value of our household activities. In 1968, newspaper Svenska Dagbladet...
by Isabelle Fredborg | Jul 17, 2020
Actually, “Swedish jam cookies” sounds too plain. Let’s be daring and use the direct translation for hallongrottor — “raspberry caves”. That name sounds a bit more… evocative, no? While the cookie is perfectly innocent, I am not the only one who thinks...