Recipes
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Sugared Saffron Buns (Sukrede Lussekatter)
December 13th is St. Lucia Day in Scandinavia, which is a day that is celebrated with a candle procession in the kindergartens and schools, which is led by one of the children dressed up as Lucia in a white dress with a wreath and candle on their head. The other children follow behind, dressed also in white robes and singing the song, “Santa Lucia”.
As the procession carries forward, the children hand out saffron buns to symbolize light throughout the darkness. These saffron buns are a Swedish custom that have become a permanent baked-good tradition during the holiday season.
These sugared saffron buns are much better than the traditional ones, as they are more flavorful, tender, pillowy, and delicious. Make these all winter long to bring a warmth to your home!
Apple Rye Cardamom Cake
This is the perfect bake to bring us into fall. A tender, nutty cake studded with tart green apples, crunchy sliced almonds, and fragrant cinnamon and cardamom. Serve up a slice with a cup of coffee, and you have yourself the perfect mid-afternoon fika treat.
Easy No-Knead Sesame Rolls
These easy no-knead rolls take little effort to make, plus they are super delicious. This is a good beginner/intro recipe into bread baking and working with yeasted doughs!
Berry Chantilly Sugar Cookie Bars
Inspired by the craze for Whole Foods' Berry Chantilly cake, these sugar cookie bars capture the beloved flavors of the cake in a more convenient and delicious form.
Norwegian Rhubarb Custard Buns (rabarbra skoleboller)
Skoleboller are a classic Norwegian pastry. It is a cardamom bun, filled with a delicious custard, and finished with icing and shredded coconut. I wanted to add a spring twist to my favorite pastry by adding rhubarb to the custard, which gives it an amazing fruity and tart flavor that pairs wonderfully with the coconut and cardamom. You will absolutely love these!
Norwegian Success Tart (suksessterte)
This Norwegian celebratory tart is made year-round for special occasions, but it has found a special home on the Easter table. Simple, decadent, rich, and naturally gluten-free—this tart is truly incredible. With a hazelnut macaron base and a lovely vanilla custard spread on top with dark chocolate shavings, this will surely be your new favorite springtime bake.
Tahini Carrot Cake
I’m sharing three recipes for Easter. The first is my super delicious Tahini Carrot Cake. Carrot cake has always been one of my favorites, but I usually find it a bit too sweet. So, I gave it a savory twist. Tahini and olive oil add moisture and richness, lending a subtle, nutty, fruity undertone that balances the natural sweetness of the carrots. The result is a deeply flavorful, not-too-sweet carrot cake that just happens to be dairy-free. Frost it however you like—or leave it bare. It’s just as good either way. Perfect for spring and especially lovely on an Easter table.
Strawberry Chamomile Buttermilk Biscuits
Fruity, floral, buttery, and flaky—these biscuits taste like you are picnicking in a meadow full of spring flowers and babbling creeks.
Irish Soda Bread “Scone Muffins”
Inspired by my strong Irish heritage and the viral soda bread scones from Mary O’s in New York City, these are the perfect trifecta of Irish soda bread, scones, and muffins. They have the craggy tops of soda bread, the buttery tanginess of a scone, and the tenderness and fluffiness of a muffin. These are absolutely phenomenal, and I am beyond happy with these, and I know you will be too!
Rye Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Inspired by the Nordic desserts that use rye flour, these cookies are nutty, earthy, butterscotchy, and have crispy edges and chewy centers. This is THE cookie recipe.
Lingonberry Vanilla Custard Buns
These Nordic buns are super fluffy, tender, and delicious. Lightly spiced with cardamom, filled with lingonberry jam, and baked with a dollop of homemade vanilla bean custard—these buns are truly the best you’ll ever have.
Cardamom Cloudberry Thumbprint Cookies
Of course, I had to create a Nordic-inspired Christmas treat! These moist and tender thumbprint cookies are infused with freshly ground cardamom, rolled in cardamom sugar, and filled with Swedish cloudberry preserves. This rare arctic berry tastes like vanilla-laced apricots. These are truly a one-of-a-kind Nordic-American treat!
Apple Cake (GF + DF)
Baking this apple cake truly feels like a piece of cake! It is super simple and easy to put together, and it is a tried-and-true crowd-pleaser. This cake is magnificent, and the gluten-free and dairy-free ingredients help make it that way.
Sweet Potato Marshmallow Scones
This is sweet potato casserole in scone form. Need I say more?
Norwegian Morning Rolls (rundstykker)
These rolls are very popular for breakfast in Norway and Denmark, and now you can experience a Nordic breakfast right at home. They are soft and pillowy, with a beautiful golden crust adorned with poppy seeds. They are best served with good butter, cheese, and jam.
Nordic Mocha Latte Cupcakes
What makes these cupcakes “Nordic”? A healthy amount of cardamom and cinnamon, of course! They are marbled with a little chocolate for the “mocha” flavor, piped with decadent espresso buttercream, and dusted with cocoa powder. These are indulgent, fairly easy to throw together, and a fun twist on Nordic flavors.
Norwegian Cinnamon Sun Buns (solboller)
These buns truly embody all that sunshine brings—comfort, light, warmth, and coziness. The sweet dough is enriched with cardamom, rolled out and spread with butter and a cinnamon-sugar mixture, and baked with a dollop of homemade vanilla custard.
Almond Olive Oil Cake with Homemade Fig Jam
Use up those in-season figs by making a simple homemade fig jam and pair it with this perfectly moist and tender almond olive oil cake. This is one of my favorites!
Brown Butter Rye Cornbread
This Brown Butter Rye Cornbread is perfectly nutty, sweet, and tender.
Cardamom Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake
This cake is gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free—but you could never tell. Ready in 30 minutes, mixed in 1 bowl, and loaded with a complex flavor profile—there is nothing not to like about this cake.