Tag Archives: Scandinavian baking

Celebrating with Cardamom Buns

Today (October 4) is the kanelbullens dag (Cinnamon Bun Day) in Sweden. Swedes call these type of buns Vetebullar (wheat buns) which refers to the sweet yeast dough that can be baked plain or filled with different types of fillings such as cinnamon, almond paste, vanilla or cardamom. In my opinion, kardemummabullen (the cardamom bun) is the queen of Vetebullar and I think she (and the others) deserves to be celebrated on this day too.

Another good reason to bake these buns is that just a few days ago my book Fika turned 6 months old. The book is doing really well so I’m extra thrilled having some buns with you today.

To make it even more festive I have added some ground almonds to the cardamom filling. I also topping the buns with cardamom sugar, which made these buns super cardamom rich. If you want to minimize the sugar intake, you can top the buns with slivered almonds.

Happy bun day!

Kardemummabullar (Cardamom Buns)
Adapted from the recipe in the book Fika – The Art of Swedish Coffee Break by Anna Brones and Johanna Kindvall

makes 30 buns

dough
7 tablespoons (3.5 ounces, 99 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1½ cups (360 milliliters) milk
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
4½ cups (1 3/8 pounds, 638 grams) all-purpose flour
¼ cup (1.75 ounces, 50 grams) natural cane sugar
1½ teaspoons whole cardamom seeds, crushed with mortar & pestle
¼ teaspoon salt

filling
½ cup (2½ ounces, 70 grams) blanched almonds
7 tablespoons (3.5 ounces, 99 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup (3.5 ounces, 99 grams) natural cane sugar
4 teaspoons whole cardamom seeds, crushed with mortar & pestle

topping
cardamom sugar:
4 1/2 teaspoons sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cardamom powder.
or slivered almonds
1 egg, beaten

Prepare the dough: Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the milk. Heat until it’s warm to the touch (about 110°F/43°C). In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in 3 tablespoons of the butter & milk mixture. Mix and let sit for a few minutes until bubbles form.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, cardamom, and salt. Add the yeast along with the remaining butter & milk. Work together with a dough whisk or with your hands until you can shape the dough into a ball. Transfer dough to your countertop and knead for about 3 – 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. The dough should feel moist. If the dough feels sticky, add a little bit more flour. You can check if you are done kneading by making a slice into the dough with a sharp knife. If you see even small air bubbles throughout, you are done. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a bowl. Cover with a tea towel and let it rise in a warm and draft-free place until almost double in size, about 1 hour.

Grease a baking sheet or place medium paper liners on the sheet.

For the filling, grind the blanched almonds in a food processor together with the sugar until just slightly coarse. Add the butter in small portions at the time. Lastly, add the crushed cardamom. Mix until an even spreadable paste.


When the dough has finished rising, take half of the dough and place it on a flat surface. Roll it out with a rolling pin to an 11 x 17 inch (28 x 43 cm) rectangle. Spread half of the filling on top of the rolled-out dough so that it covers the whole area (see diagram). Grab one of the edge of one of the long sides, fold it over so it meets the other side (like folding a paper on the middle, see illustrated diagram above). Slice the folded dough into 15 equal stripes. Stretch & twist every stripe and swirl them up to a nice bun (see video). Place each of them on a the greased baking sheet or in a paper liner. Repeat with the second half of the dough. Cover the buns with a clean tea towel and let rise for about 45 – 60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 435°F (225°C).

When the buns have risen and you are ready to bake the buns, brush every bun with beaten egg and sprinkle each with cardamom sugar .

Bake for 8 – 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cover with a tea towel to cool. Serve freshly baked or freeze when they are completely cooled.

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related links

 Kanelbullar (Cinnamon Buns) – kokblog recipe

• More bun shapes and a sneak peek into my kitchen over at Pantry Confidential

How to twist Cinnamon Buns by Brontë Aurell, ScandiKitchen café. Video by Ryland Peters & Small

• want more?  Check out –> Fika – The Art of the Swedish Coffee Break. The cookbook is all illustrated by me, Johanna Kindvall and the recipes are created and developed together with Anna Brones. Published by Ten Speed Press. You can get the book here (see more shopping links in the left sidebar).

 

Pantry Confidential in my Kitchen

© Johanna Kindvall

A couple of weeks ago I was baking cardamom buns for the wonderful ladies Hana Choi and Christine Han at Pantry Confidential. If you are interested, you can read the interview and get a sneak peek into my kitchen here. The post also includes the Fika book recipe of Vetebullar (base dough for cinnamon and cardamom buns).

Hana has a background in journalism and food with a Grande Diplôme at The French Culinary Institute. In 2011 she started her blog style fare, where she shares beautiful things mixed with recipes and reviews of places she visits in NYC or when traveling. Christine is an anthropologist and photographer, based in NYC. She use photography as a tool to tell people’s stories. And she does that really well. Her specialities are food, weddings and travel.

Together they run Pantry Confidential, were they peek into food lover’s home kitchens around the city of NY.  I really like their concept and I find it really fun to get a look into the kitchens of other food personalities. Here are a few of my favorites: Michael Harlan Turkell, Olga Massov, Yossy Arefi and Kristin Appenbrink.

So when Hana contacted me three years ago and asked if they could come to my kitchen, I was obviously super flattered. But as I was in the middle of packing my kitchen stuff in the East Village, on our move to Brooklyn, I asked to postpone it. Then a year past while I was waiting for building approvals and what else you need to start a major house renovation. We definitely had a “gut” job ahead of us. Our new place was unlivable with plants growing into the kitchen and many other issues I don’t want to talk about.

During this time we rented a friend’s apartment. As the kitchen wasn’t really mine we decided to wait a little bit longer. The following year we finally lived in the house with a barely functional kitchen and a bathroom. But that was pretty much everything that was working. Our first night in the house we didn’t even have proper heating (and that was in February 2013).

The year after when our kitchen was almost ready we decided to take a break from renovating. We were almost ready but hungry to fully work on our own projects. Then Hana gave birth to her daughter Lana so Pantry Confidential took a year off. This year we were all finally ready.

It’s not everyday my food gets this kind of exposure (normally I just take a quick photo to document the process for potential drawing later).  At first I was nervous and worried if the bread would be baked properly or if the cardamom buns looked good enough in front of the camera. But as soon as Hana and Christine entered my home I felt totally relaxed. Both of them are so professional and they made me feel I was just baking with friends. And in the end, I was.

Thanks Hana and Christine! It was a great pleasure to have you in my kitchen. You are welcome back anytime.

© Johanna Kindvall

Follow these lovely ladies on Instagram: Hana,  Christine and Pantry Confidential.

Also check out my recipe for Cinnamon Buns (kanelbullar)

Fika: Fyriskaka with Pear

kindvall-fyriskaka-pear-4

Last Saturday I hosted a classic kafferep (Swedish coffee gathering with cakes and cookies) to celebrate the release of my book Fika – The Art of the Swedish Coffee Break. I had such a great time talking cookies and cakes while sipping bubbles (not the usual drink for this kind of party but essential when you need to celebrate). For the party I had baked up a selection of the cakes from the book. For e.g. there were Cardamom buns, Finska pinnar, Syltgrottor, Muskotsnittar, Anis & Hazelnut Biscotti, Hazelnut & Coffee Cake, Almond tart and Sticky Chocolate Cake (my neighbor’s son wanted to move in with me after having his first bite).

During the first week, the book made it into New York Times’ T Magazine (review by Lindsey Tramuta), Huffington Post (review by Alison Spiegel), Eater (review by Kat Odell) and many more. The book was also mentioned in the Swedish evening post Expressen.

I’m super flattered and happy how well our book has been received so far.

Yesterday I decided to make another version of the Swedish classic Fyriskaka. Fyriskaka is traditionally made with apples (recipe in the book) that are coated with cinnamon. In my version below I’m using pears instead of apples. I’m also suggesting a new topping, cardamom and pearl sugar (pärlsocker). If you can’t get hold of pearl sugar I suggest you use brown sugar. Its not the same, but equally tasty).

Fyriskaka with Pear
(adapted from the recipe in Fika by Anna Brones and Johanna Kindvall, page 94)

9 tablespoons (4½ ounces, 128 grams) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon whole cardamom seeds, crushed
3 to 4 medium-size pears (about 14 oz, (400 grams)
1-2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2/3 cup (4 2/3 ounces, 132 grams) natural cane sugar
2 eggs
1 cup (5 ounces, 142 grams) all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder

topping
1-2 tablespoons pearl sugar (or brown sugar)
1 teaspoon whole cardamom seeds, crushed

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour a 9-inch (23-centimeter) springform pan.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Remove from the heat and add the cardamom, then set aside to cool.

Peel the pears and slice them thinly. In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar with the cinnamon; then add the pears and carefully turn them so that they are evenly coated. Set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk together the slightly cooled butter and cane sugar. Add the eggs one by one, whisking until evenly blended. Sift in the flour and baking powder and stir together carefully until you get a smooth batter.

Spread the batter in the baking pan. Place the pear slices in the batter in a circular formation; the pieces should be close together. Sprinkle the pearl sugar and crushed cardamom on top.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick or knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool before serving.

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Want more fika ideas? Click the coffee cup icon here to the left, and you will get several of my other fika related recipes.

Links
Behind the Scenes of the making of Fika
R
ead also Anna Brones’ version here

Fika: The Art of the Swedish Coffee Break (Behind the Scene)

Fika – The Art of the Swedish coffee break is finally here. It has been a long and wonderful journey together with my dear collaborator Anna Brones. We both thought it would be nice to share our stories behind the scenes on how we created this book. Please read Anna’s version here.

The book Fika is a celebration of the Swedish coffee break, fika. Something that most Swedes do daily, sometimes even twice. At work, at home or together with a friend, it doesn’t matter where and when and how, for a Swede this break is essential. And the best fika comes with a treat, sweet or savory.

To have a fika was something I really missed when I came to work in an architecture office in NYC several years ago. Colleagues always drank their coffee alone at their desks. Eventually some agreed to share a coffee break with me, but it almost always meant we were hanging out by our desks, sharing a muffin. I even started a kaffekassa (it’s a box where you collect money for coffee and cakes) which I shared with my closest friend at the office. And we used it for daily treats.

So when Anna, who is a Swedish/American food writer and a dedicated coffee drinker, invited me to collaborate on this project I instantly said yes. It was really about time the world learned about the art of fika.

For the proposal, I helped Anna choose a few recipes that we thought symbolized homemade fika. I illustrated them and included a few other illustrations that worked with Anna’s proposal.

After some edits back and forth we were ready to ship the proposal out to an extensive list of publishers and agents (yes some publishers still want actual printed copies). We both continued our different lives, Anna in Portland and myself in the East Village. Anna reported some rejections but otherwise nothing. We were quite cool about the whole thing and we talked about other potential projects. Just when we both were about to start working on the book, The Culinary Cyclist (Elly Blue Publishing 2013), I got an email from Kaitlin Ketchum, editor at Ten Speed Press. She had just been treated to a fika and remembered our proposal. A couple of months later we had a book contract.

 

When it was time to start, I was just moving into our new place in Brooklyn, which was still under construction. With no functional kitchen, no gas and no water.

Yes I panicked!

But just a few days later I had a working stove, a sink with running water and my old drawing desk as a baking table. Not particularly perfect but I learned that to develop fika recipes during construction wasn’t that bad. In fact it was kind of perfect as there was always something sweet to share with the workers (mostly my husband, our friend Frank and me) when it was time for fika, which we held at 10am and 3pm every day, in the sun on the stoop or on rainy days sitting inside on paint buckets.

The recipes we picked for the book are cakes and cookies that we grew up with, cakes that we regularly bake ourselves or treats we always enjoy eating. Classics like vetebullar (Cinnamon & Cardamom Buns, page 26) but also some new (for e.g. Hazelnut & Coffee Cake page 60). We probably developed over 70 recipes and almost 50 made it into the book. Some of the rejections weren’t bad, they just didn’t fit in. They were not Scandinavian enough or too much like a dessert. Some classics where ditched as they weren’t things we actually bake ourselves, for e.g. the Swedish konditori classic, wienerbröd (which is what a Swede and Danish calls a danish). However one day I will master the art of baking puff pastries!

Anna worked on half the recipes in her tiny Paris kitchen, while I worked on the other half. At some point we swapped our recipes and continued developing the other person’s recipe.

Over the summer, Anna and I spent one week together in Sweden and we worked on a few recipes together for e.g. Fyriskaka (a classic apple cake with cinnamon, page 94). It was summer and we enjoyed having chilled rhubarb cordial (page 82), coffee and cakes every day in our garden, overlooking the pond and enjoying Swedish summer fika at its best.

The rest of the time we developed the work by having regular Skype meetings, sharing notes and baking progress with pictures on our communal work site, that I had set up as a way to keep track of the work.

During the whole process I was constantly drawing cakes and cookies. But at one point I decided to take a break from baking to spend time drawing. So in the beginning of Autumn 2013, I isolated myself in our country cottage with a pantry well stocked with cookies and drew nonstop for over a month. I barely saw anyone, and left my desk only to have something to eat or put a new log into the fireplace. I kind of liked it.

At about the same time, Anna was working on the content and when I was back in Brooklyn I could concentrate more on helping her with proofreading and editing. I don’t know how many times we went through everything page by page, chapter by chapter and recipe by recipe. I also corrected, changed and added several new illustrations when we at the end of this journey, when we were working more closely with our editor Kaitlin and Elizabeth Stromberg, our book designer.

Now with the book in my hand, it’s nice to see how well our work was treated. Kaitlin, Elizabeth and all the rest at Ten Speed Press, you did a beautiful job turning our vision into this book.

I’m especially thankful for Anna who invited me into the project and who wrote about it so beautifully. And for Kaitlin who remembered our proposal when she had her first fika moment!

I hope you will enjoy this book and that it will inspire you to take that daily break, we Swedes call fika.

Want your own copy of Fika?

In celebration of Fika’s release, we are giving away a couple of books! Post a photo of your fika on Instagram, and be sure to hashtag #artoffika as well as tag @johannakindvall and @annabrones so we are sure to see your photos. Not on Instagram? Tell us about your favorite thing for fika in the comments below.
Note that we can only ship books to North America. Entries must be received by April 14, 2015.

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upcoming Fika events

Paris
Fika launch party at La Tresorerie/Cafe Smörgås
April 11 at 10am-5pm,11 Rue du Château d’Eau, 75010 Paris.
Anna will be there and treat you special treats!

Manhattan
Fika at  Fika Tower’s Loft  – 824 10th Avenue btw 54 and 55 th Street
Monday May 4, at 3 to 5pm
Anna and me will both be there, with books while having coffee and cookies.

Brooklyn
Fika @ Budin
Wednesday May 6, at 5 to 7pm , 114 Greenpoint Avenue, Brooklyn
Anna and me will both be there, with books while having coffee and cookies.

Fika at the bar of 61 Local
May 7, btw 6 – 8 pm, 61 Bergen Street, Brooklyn
Anna and me will be there, with books while having beer and cookies.

Seattle
Fika at Book Larder
May 12, at 6:30 to 8pm, 4252 Fremont Ave N, Seattle.
Anna will be there and talk Fika

The book is available in many bookstores in the US and around the world. You can also find it in most online bookstores: Random House, Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble and iBooks.

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talks about fika

NY Times Style Magazine
Huffington Post
EcoSalon
Eater

Cool Hunting
edible Michiana
Interview with both Anna & me @ Slow Travel Stockholm
Saveur Magazine

The Art of Swedish Holiday Baking (Recipe for Ginger Spice Cake)

kindvall-spicecake-coffee-02

Despite different time zones, my book collaborator Anna Brones and I always find time to bake “together”. And for our regular skype meetings we always treat ourselves with strong coffee and something sweet to nibble.  This week we are celebrating a little extra; Fika just got listed in Saveur Magazine‘s 100 cooks’ edition list! (issue 171, January & February 2015). We wish you all a wonderful and sweet Holiday and a Happy New Year.

Julbak: The Art of Swedish Holiday Baking (With a Recipe for Ginger Spice Cake)
Text by Anna Brones

If there’s one thing that’s essential to a good December in Sweden, it’s julbak. It might come as no surprise that “Christmas baking” is of the utmost importance in a country where December is cold and very dark month; what’s better on a chilly winter day than a warm kitchen wafting of freshly baked gingersnaps? Not a whole lot. Well, except for a kitchen wafting of freshly baked gingersnaps AND a pot of glögg.

Holidays, no matter what they are and what culture they are celebrated in, are often linked to certain foods. The act of preparing a particular dish ties us to the tradition and the celebration. While we may find ourselves far from family, friends and the place that the tradition comes from, if we prepare a certain food, we are immediately transported back.

Julbak is this kind of tradition, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a Swede, whether they’re living in Sweden or elsewhere, that isn’t craving pepparkakor come the month of December.

While julbak can consist of a whole variety of baked goods, there are a few Swedish classics that are indicative of this time of year:

Pepparkakor – Swedish gingersnaps, rolled out thinly and cut into traditional shapes like hearts, pigs and adorable gingermen and gingerwomen. Ready to try pepparkakorHere’s a recipe.

© Johanna Kindvall

Lussekatter – Also known as lussebullar or saffransbullar, these are the beautiful sweet buns baked into a golden yellow. The color comes from the addition of saffron, and the buns are decorated with currants. They are commonly baked for St. Lucia day. Here’s a recipe if you’re feeling up for it.

kindvall-lussekatter

Glögg – While the Swedish mulled wine isn’t a baked good, you can’t eat all of the julbak treats without a nice mug of glögg to go with them. Here’s a recipe to try.

Of course, the problem with both pepparkakor and lussekatter is that you need time to bake them, and not everyone always has it. But because the flavors are so iconic, in the modern Swedish baking world, you’ll see saffron and the spices used pepparkakor incorporated in a variety of creative ways in other recipes, all helping you get the traditional flavors of December with a little less kitchen work.

Last December, Johanna and I were caught up testing all of our classic Christmas recipes for our book Fika: The Art of the Swedish Coffee Break – which is coming out in just a few months – so this year we thought it might be fun to do something a little different. In Sweden, the pepparkaka can take many forms. In our book for example we have the classic version as well as the softer ginger cookie, which the Swedes smartly call a lunchpepparkaka, because it’s so dense you can in fact eat it for lunch. This recipe takes the form of a soft ginger cake, but still includes all the spices normally used in a traditional pepparkaka. The end result is a tasty gingersnap spice cake of sorts. Perfect with glögg or just a strong cup of coffee.

Anna & Johanna’s Ginger Spice Cake
makes one 6-cup Bundt cake

10½ tablespoons (5¼ ounces, 148 grams) unsalted butter
3 egg yolks, room temperature
¼ cup (2½ ounces, 70 grams) honey
2 teaspoons whole cardamom seeds, crushed
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1½ teaspoon ground cloves
3 tablespoon milk
¾ cup (3¾ ounces, 106 grams) all-purpose flour
3 egg whites, room temperature
¾  cup (5¼ ounces, 148 grams) natural cane sugar 

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour the Bundt pan. 

In a bowl, cream together the butter with the honey until well blended. Add the egg yolks one by one followed by the milk and the spices. Mix the batter together.

Sift the flour, then stir it carefully into the batter, stirring as little as possible until you get an even and sticky batter. The batter is quite stiff but will get lighter in the next step. 

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites, ideally with an electric mixer. When soft peaks form, add the cane sugar little by little. Whisk until stiff peaks form. Carefully fold the sugar and egg white mixture into the batter and keep folding until the batter is evenly blended. Be careful not to overstir. Pour directly into the Bundt pan. 

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. The cake is done when a knife or toothpick comes out clean when inserted at the thickest part of the cake. If the cake starts to get a golden brown color earlier (which can happen after 20 minutes), remove it from the oven, cover it with aluminum foil, and put back in the oven. This will prevent the top of the cake from burning. 

Remove the cake from the oven and let cool for a bit before inverting it onto a plate.

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more by Anna Brones and me

ToscaKaka with Orange (recipe)
Kanelbullar (recipe)
Mazariner (recipe)
Semlor (recipe)
Amuse Bouche (illustrated food caption series, Foodie Underground 2012-2013)
Fika – The Art of The Swedish Coffee Break (about the book and where to pre-order)