*Please note: the competition has ended.*
Times are tough for small businesses at the moment — tougher than usual. I went on at supportive shopping spree at one of my favorite places in Stockholm, Aeter & Essencefabriken. Now, I’ll share the bounty with one of you. But first, let me just stress that this competition is neither affiliated with nor sponsored by Aeter & Essencefabriken.
The magical Stockholm shop
Aeter & Essencefabriken in Stockholm is one of those magical shops that you’ll never forget. It is still in the same family as when it started in 1889. If you visit, you’ll see the original shop interiors, filled with essential oil bottles, large spice metal containers, and bags of unique spice mixes.
Not only is the staff incredibly friendly and knowledgeable. The store has such a stock of high-quality spices. Once you’ve tasted this cardamom, there’s no going back…
I love this place and hope you’ll get a chance to visit it, too. As that might be hard at the moment, I figured I’d offer one of Swedish Spoon’s subscribers some of my absolute favorites:
What you can win
Actually, I want to win this baking kit myself… Some of these ingredients can be difficult to find outside of Sweden, a couple of them are unique to this shop, and all are of great quality:
- Cedroolja. This rarely used lemony oil is one of my top “secret ingredients” — perfect for adding just a few drops to gingerbread cookies, biscotti, or a sponge cake.
- Arraksessence. Use this arrack essence to flavor the treats called “vacuum cleaners”, chocolate balls, or why not ice cream.
- Saffron. It doesn’t get much more luxurious than this. You can use this to make a saffron cake, saffron buns, or saffron pancake. Or, why not saffron-flavored dream cookies? Of course, a risotto Milanese isn’t a bad option, either.
- Cinnamon sticks. Grate these over oatmeal, add them when you make apple sauce, or save them for making glögg.
- Grated cinnamon. Cinnamon for your cinnamon buns!
- Kardemummakärnor. Grind this whole cardamom and you’ll have the basis for so many Swedish cookies and cakes. Cardamom buns are a favorite.
- Strindbergare. This mix for flavoring schnapps uses a recipe by none other than the famed author and playwright August Strindberg, who used to be a customer of Essencefabriken. If you don’t drink, it’s a nice gift for someone who does. Just add vodka or brännvin.
- Bread spices. This mix helps you flavor your next bread, whether crispbread, rye bread, or something else.
- Chokladdryck. Essencefabriken’s own ready-to-drink chocolate — just add the milk of your choice.
- Brända mandlar. These sugary almond treats are perfect for those with a sweet tooth.
- Jordnötskola and chokladkola. Two flavors of toffee — peanut and chocolate.
How to enter
- Comment on this post and let me know what you’d like to bake if you win the kit.
- Subscribe to the email list. This competition is only for Swedish Spoon’s email subscribers. If you aren’t already a subscriber, you can become a subscriber by entering your first name and email address below:
Rules and info
- This giveaway is in no way affiliated with Aeter & Essencefabriken.
- This giveaway is not sponsored — I bought these products at full price (estimated value: around $40, I bought a lot of things that day so I don’t have an exact sum).
- I pay for shipping. If there are any customs or other import/VAT charges, I’m afraid you’ll have to cover that. If I send it and you don’t pick it up, I won’t send it again — shipping is expensive đ However, I can wait:
- If you win and you’d prefer for me to wait to send the package to you because of the current corona issues, I’ll wait with sending it until you feel it is a better time. Stay safe!
- The competition lasts until April 30th, 2020, midnight Pacific time. I’ll choose a random winner from the comments.
- I’ll reach out to the winner via email to get address details, etc.
- You don’t need to buy anything to enter (I don’t even have anything for sale). You do need to comment and to be a subscriber if you want to win, but you are of course welcome to unsubscribe at any time.
- You need to be above the age of 18 to enter, or else have your parent’s permission.
- Void where prohibited.
Good luck! Oh, and if you’re a darling, tell a friend about the competition. If one of you wins, you can bake together…
I’d love to make semlor buns.
Yay! Excellent choice!
This competition is a great idea. I would use the brĂ€nda mandlar to help me make gluten-free katalaner with a twist and I would experiment with the cedroolja – maybe by adding a dash to mandelkaka. The Croatians use something similar with their almond cakes.
This is an amazing collection of Swedish must haves!! I want to make Arraksbollar – arrak flavoured chocolate balls with chocolate sprinkles!! And I’ll try to flavour some schnapps, never done that before!!
This sounds lovely! I would bake cardamom rolls, gingerbread and saffron pancakes.
I love this blog! We’ve enjoyed your recipes which remind us of my Grandmas and our times in Sweden. I appreciate how responsive you’ve been to any questions. Thanks for the blog! Is use the spices for baking bread and treats. (Krumkake, cardamom rolls & cinnamon rolls are top of the list)
What a great idea! I’m loving the opportunity to do more baking–it is a stress reliever for me!
I would like to bake cinnamon buns.
I’d like to make a nicely flavoured knackebrod to have with some home made sill and akvavit.
Thanks for hosting this giveaway! I don’t even know where to start, I love baking all sorts of Swedish treats. Something I’ve been wanting to try is a kanelstjĂ€rna and a vörtlimpa, but of course I’ll also be baking plenty of kanelbullar, kardemummabullar, among other things. These ingredients would certainly give me options to pursue! Thanks again for doing this, good luck to everyone.
I’d like to make limpa bread.
I’d probably give cardamom buns a try, I’ve baked cardamom bread on multiple occasions, so why not switch it up a bit. Although those vacuum cleaners look tempting.
I would like to learn to make lumps and hard tack bread and Swedish candies and cookies. My husband is from Sweden, We live in the United States.
I would bake cardamom rolls and a cinnamon coffee cake with pecans. Smell like my Grandmotherâs kitchen already!
Wow, how wonderful to bake with genuine Swedish ingredients!! Ahhh the childhood memories of baking with Grandmaâ€ïž
I’m drooling over this giveaway. So many new things to try. First I would make my mormor’s cardamom rolls and then find new recipes to try.
I will definitely bake cardamom buns as they smell of Stockholm where my heart is.
I havenât been to Sweden in over 10 years. My family lives in a small town called Mörarp in SkĂ„ne. I have 3 kids that have not been there yet (ages 7,6, & 3). Until we make our way there I am committed to teaching them all of our family and cultural traditions. That being said I would enjoy this gift basket so much with them especially now that we are in quarantine. We have the time to delve into all my recipes! It is hard to pick just one to start. They love my kanelbullar but I would probably start with either limpa bröd or pepparkakor.
I want to make Arrakball and Arrakcake .
Because Arak has an exotic scent.
And knackbrod.
Pepparkakor med cedroolja … my mom used to make these and I have missed them soooo … eller kanske arraksbollar …mums …allt lĂ„ter fantastiskt!
I live to bake& cook as much Swedish dishes That I can. I use my Grandmothers recipes that she brought from Sweden Making Coffee bread tomorrow. Canât wait for the smell when it bakes. I would appreciate all in this great give a way.
I’d bake KanellĂ€ngd for sure. I can smell it already! Haha!
any thing with cardamom in it