Waitrose Food Illustrated has a feature on the joys of Scandinavian baking! And long overdue it is too.
lf memory serves me right, the countdown to Christmas in Scandinavia tends to be less frenetic than here in the UK - there's lots of seasonal cheer and sociable gatherings, but not quite so much emphasis on getting absolutely sozzled. No offense to the Brits, but I wonder how some of you make it to the 25th without your livers going kaputt.
Anyway, amidst the cold, snowflaked December days, Scandis sing their own version of Gloria or Tannenbaum (in my case, rather off key!) and many will bake goodies for their family and friends. The feast of Santa Lucia, celebrated on December 13th, is when we bake saffron buns and walk around with wreaths and candles in our hair. Or at least I did at the age of five...possibly not allowed anymore in these days of militant health & safety laws! And during the next few weeks many Scandinavian bakers will make cookies galore - everything from butter biscuits, gingerbread to lovely almond pastries (the latter were definitely my favourite), not to mention a whole host of raisiny yeast loafs.
None of these beat the classic gingerbread house, or pepperkake hus which you might have noticed on the cover above...
What an excellent way to kickstart the yuletide season Waitrose! God Jul...
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2 comments:
Shall definitely have to get this, Sig, even if it means taking the risk of running amok in expensive Waitrose ;-)
Yes, although they are selling bags of fruit and veg for £1 at the moment...guess they're feeling the competition from the cut-price supermarkets...
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