Although this is not a good shot up here, it´s one of my best memories from Sweden: the day I fell in love with SEMLOR.

The date was 16th February 2015 (FETTISDAGEN btw) and I was not giving so much credit to the semlor buns, probably due to my life at that time. It was the first year I felt free to travel on my own. I had not visited other countries for many, many years and 2015 was my chance. So I packed and went to S:t Petersburg, Berlin, Prague and Bordeaux in France all by myself.

I was still ignorant about semlor, even after so many years in Sweden. My attention was fixed in other horizons at that time: travel! Then it happened ... I entered "Güntherska Hovkonditori & Sch¡weizeri" in Uppsala and asked for coffee and semla like those on the window.

Oh my! I was transported to heaven. Since then I am addicted to these buns and no therapy shall make me change.

Tomorrow the celebration is called FETTISDAGEN (16/02 every year) and the rule is to eat as many different semlors you can. Lol!!!

Ps. their secret is very simple: the whitest flour, cardamon, whisk cream, soft almond paste and topped with white icing sugar. I wonder ... how such simple ingredients can result in such a heavenly treat?

KEEP IT SIMPLE

This 2nd Advent has been a rush for me. No time at all and quite tired from a hectic working week at the school kitchen trying to avoid Corona all of us. I have very little time left for posting both in blog and Instagram. Sorry!

This gingerbread cookie recipe I leave you down here is from a very old and traditional Swedish cook-book called "Hemmets Stora Kokbok" by Elise Adelsköld, Sigrid Westfelt and Ingeborg Zethelius from 1926. You may see the cover of the book among others in my photo.

I love old cook-books!

200 g sugar

100 g melted butter

3 eggs

8 cl. whole cream

850 g flour

1 tablespoon grated pomerans peel (or orange peel)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp ground cloves

1 stroken tsp bicarbonate
Cook the syrup, spices and sugar in a saucepan. Pour the batter into a bowl and when lukewarm add the butter, eggs, cream and the bicarbonate mixed with very little water. Then add theflour and work the dough thoroughly. Let it rest until the following day.Bake in a very hot oven until done.

KEEP IT SIMPLE

The First Advent tells us to prepare for the coming christmas season: decorating home, baking pepparkakor and Lussekatter, hanging the advent star on the window, fixing the christmas tree and turning on the first candle. Those are the Swedish basics today. Though long ago the tradition was to slaughter a pig at the beginning of December -if you were lucky enough-, to brew beer, cleaning the house and baking -of course!

In the old Swedish peasant society , advent was called "julfasta", i.e. the time to prepare all those special christmas foods we love ... but at the same time you had to control yourself and "fasta" (fast). Oh! how difficult was not to be tempted with all those recipies while cooking! Being a catholic you had to restrain yourself from eating, specially meat and such other wonders. A souvenir from "julfasta" is the Swedish "lutfisk" -preserved cod in English- which traditionally was soaked on December 9.

Note: the advent candlestick posted here belongs to Birger Lundquist and was published on the book Johans Jul in 1947. The book was written by Eva von Zweigbergk. I found Johans Jul in a second-hand boutique in Uppsala and was delighted by Birger´s drawings. Aren´t they so comforting and up to date?

Swipe down and you shall see the book cover as well as an old recipe for baking a Soft Swedish Pepparkaka at home.

Soft Pepparkaka

(around 14 pieces)

100 g butter

3 dl flour

1 1/2 dl sugar

1 tea sp cinnamon

1 tea sp ground clove

1 tea sp ground ginger

1 tea sp bicarbonate

2 dl cream

1/2 dl light syrup

5 peppar cookies

Warm the oven to 175 C . Melt the butter and mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix butter, cream and syrup until a soft batter. Crush the peppar cookies in a mortel, paint a sponge cake mold with butter and sprinkle with the ground cookies. Pour the batter into the mold and bake 40-45 min. Let it cool in the mold and then sprinkle with icing sugar.

KEEP IT SIMPLE