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First Advent in Sweden

Fri, 11/27/2009 - 13:55  Tags:

We need First Advent, it gives us something else to think about, it brightens up our life at the end of the darkest month of the year.

On the fourth Sunday before Christmas the first candle is lit, with another being lit each proceeding Sunday, marking the countdown until Christmas. Once all four are shining brightly we know the waiting is almost over, a tradition that has taken place in Sweden since the 1890s and is loved by young and old.

   

Advent Candle Holders come in all manner of shapes and sizes and vary greatly in their decoration. They are traditionally decorated with a light green moss ”Cladína stelláris” which I believe suffers greatly from the amount that is collected at this time of year.

We have untraditional holders and I love the vibrancy of the green moss from the boulders in the forest. I also fill my with sand or soil and keep the moss damp, it creates much less of a fire hazard.


 

First Advent is also about putting stars and electrical advent candles in the windows, a tradition that has been around since the 1930s. The stars were originally made of paper, straw or wood and have became all the more popular as electricity became a part of life.

  

When we leave for work and school in the mornings in the dark, they light up our way.
When we come home in the afternoon or evening in the dark, they light up our way. The combination creates a special, magical feeling that I strongly associate with my first weeks in Sweden, many years ago.

 

The first Sunday in Advent is also the first day of the church year, and a day when people who are not normally church-goers might attend an advent service, often to see young children singing.

It also means we can officially start drinking glögg (mulled wine) and eating pepparkakor (cinnamon snaps).

So if you don't yet have candles, electrical or otherwise, and a star hanging in the window ready to be be turned on, you still have a couple of days. They are everywhere in the shops and you can be as traditional or as creative as you life. They light up our dark December and they add to the spirit of Christmas. Come Sunday you can officially light your candles, eat your pepparkakor and lussebullar and drink glögg.

Hooray for First Advent!

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Lussebullar or Lussekatter, a part of the Swedish Christmas Tradition

Tue, 11/24/2009 - 12:40  Tags:

This Lucia is my 19 year anniversary – 19 years ago I came to live in Sweden for the first time. So I decided after so many years here it was time to bake Lussebullar (lusse buns) or Lussekatter (lusse cats). Swedes seem to love yeast buns and I always feel like it is a bit beyond my baking depths but at a friend’s recently I discovered how easy this recipe is.

According to the illustrious Wikipedia Lussekattar had nothing to do with Lucia initially, but originated from the fear of Lucifer, or the devil. In Germany in the 1600s the devil, in the form of a cat, punished children, whereas Jesus, in the form of a child, handed out buns to nice children. To keep the light-shy devil at bay the buns were flavoured with yellow saffron. Thus the light yellow buns were considered to scare away Lusse, or Lucifer, the devil. Lussekattar became widespread around Sweden in the 1800s with the celebration of Lucia, and gradually became synonymous with Lucia and Christmas.
You will see them everywhere here as December and 1st Advent approaches; in bakeries, supermarkets, cafés, homes, schools, everywhere!

The recipe we used is from Arla, the dairy producer:

Ingredients
Makes about 35
50 g fresh yeast (square little packet in refrigerated section at grocery store, picture below)
100 g butter
50 ml or 5 dl milk
250 g Arla Köket Kesella kvarg (curd - its like yogurt)
2 packets saffran, total 1 g
1 1/2 dl or 150ml sugar
1/2 tspn salt
approx 17 dl or 1.7 liters flour, probably less

Garnish:
raisins:
1 egg to brush over the buns
Instructions
Crumble the yeast in a bowl, melt the butter on the stove. Add milk to butter and warm it so it is lukewarm (37oC). Add the milk and butter to the yeast and mix until yeast has dissolved. Add the kvarg, saffron, sugar, salt and most of the flour.

Work the dough until it is shiny and comes away from the bowl (use a mixer with a bread hook if you have one). Add flour until it reaches this consistency.

Leave the dough covered with a tea towel to rise for about 40 minutes. Put the oven on 225oC.
Work the dough on a floured table and divide into 35 pieces. Shape them anyway you want and put them on a buttered tray or a tray lined with baking paper. Garnish with raisins and leave covered to rise for 35 minutes.

Brush the buns with egg and bake for 5-8 minutes. Large shapes should be baked for 10-15minutes. Enjoy warm or room temperature.

Ours worked out pretty good although we baked them a little long. I didn’t have enough flour at home so about a third of it was wholemeal flour and I added a little more sugar too, and raisins in the dough - so compared to the original recipe they were both healthier and not. Great for breakfast!
 
 

Saffron
When shopping saffron is always kept up at the counter, you will have to ask for it when paying for the rest of your groceries. The bags are tiny and Swedes only ever use the real stuff, something I had never tasted before I came here. Saffron is derived from the flower saffron crocus and it takes 70 000 flowers to get one kilo of saffron!

According to SvD this morning and DN yesterday it pays to shop around for Saffron, which is 4 times more expensive than it was three years ago. I paid 70kr for my 1 gram and it seems the price can vary from 62kr to 80kr per gram. The reason behind the price differences is the weather, this year’s crop suffered due to extremely cold weather in Iran, the biggest saffron producing country. The bulbs froze in the ground leading to a much smaller harvest.

Cheaper saffron may be from the year before, or it may be due to the shop’s pricing strategy. If you find cheaper saffron check the use-by-date. In most cases you have another couple of years before it is out of date.
 
Fresh Yeast
The yellow packet with the blue writing is for bread, the packet with the red writing is meant for sweet breads, or buns like Lussekatter. It is also possible to buy dry yeast in the baking isle in the grocery store.

So what are you waiting for? Get into the season and get baking Lussekatter!

Don't wait 19 years like I did, your family and friends will be impressed by your Swedishness!
 
Yum, yum.
 

Stay tuned for more Christmas traditions.....

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