Christmas is around the corner!

It's about this time of year when I start getting Christmas on the brain. Yes, I'm definitely one of those people who watch Christmas movies unacceptably early and start listening to Amy Grant come October (ok ok, I've already listened to her Christmas album once...). I just love Christmas time.

Since we had Astrid, it's been really fun talking about what kinds of traditions we want to have as our own family of 3. We always are traveling to our respective families homes for the actual day, but for the past few years we celebrate just us on New Years Day. I love waking up at home and drinking coffee by our tree. It's the BEST! And now it's even more exciting that Astrid is in the mix. I think she will be really into everything Christmas this year, including the cookies!

In the spirit of Christmas soon approaching, I decided to do some prelimary "research" on what cookies to make this year. So I bookmarked some new Swedish cookies I haven't made before and decided to bake and eat my way through them to see which ones would make the cut for this year's Christmas. It's tough work, but someone has to do it. 

First, I baked these Almond Spice cookies from the famous Swedish cookbook Swedish Cakes and Cookies (or Sju Sjorter kakor in Swedish). I love a good spice cookie in wintertime and these didn't disappoint. Be warned though, they are subtly spicy, not like gingerbread or pepperkakor. They only contain cinnamon and cardamom for the spices - one of my favorite spice combos!

Ready for fika!

I really enjoyed the texture of both the ground almonds in the cookies, and the pearl sugar on top. And don't worry, I didn't eat the entire place of cookies.

Verdict: I liked them! Especially warm from the oven. After I bake through more recipes, I'll do a final verdict of what makes the Christmas Cookie list for 2016 - these are definitely a contender!

Swedish Almond Spice Cookies

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

2 1/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

2/3 cup ground almonds (I used blanched, slivered almonds and gave them a quick grind in my food processor)

Garnish with pearl sugar 

Preheat oven to 400. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add egg. Combine remaining ingredients and add, kneading lightly. Form into small balls and roll in pearl sugar and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Notes: I found 10 minutes was perfect - the bottom of these cookies seemed to brown quickly. I would check them early. They didn't stick to the pearl sugar easily when I rolled the balls in; I had to gently push the sugar into the dough. If you don't have pearl sugar, I'm sure regular sugar would suffice  but you'd miss out on the crunchy texture that it offers. If you have a local IKEA you can check their pantry section - they used to carry it in the past at ours, but I haven't seen in there in about a year now.

Happy Fika-ing! :)

*This post may contain affiliate links, but all opinions remain my own

Solvang / Santa Barbara Vacation

Over Ryan's spring break week last week, we decided to take a long weekend trip over to Santa Barbara and Solvang. It was so much fun!!!

One highlite of our trip: Ostrich Land.

It's exactly what it sounds like - a land full of ostriches. You could even feed them (albeit carefully to avoid them biting you). I love the expression on Ryan's face here, it's like he's having a moment with the ostrich. Precious. 

It was fun to feed them! They also had ostrich eggs you could buy and they were huge!

We stopped in Santa Ynez one morning and had this magnificent view.

This was on our way to Kalyra Winery where Ryan got to do a fun tasting and we bought a bottle that we can both partake in once the babe is born!

On the patio of Kalyra Winery:

And we of course hit up Solvang everyday for fika! We had some great treats everyday, my favorite was this almond-raspberry tart from Olson's Bakery. It was sooooo good. 

And another major highlight of the trip was going to this grand place: Village Spinning & Weaving Shop in Solvang. 

Guess what you guys....I bought my very first spinning wheel!!! This is my trying it out in the shop. I bought an unfinished one, so I need to stain, seal, and assemble it at home. It will be a work in progress, but such a fun one! 

Goodbye Solvang, thanks for the fun trip!

Scandinavian Christmas: Day 11

Welcome to Day 12! I can't believe the series is already wrapping up! It's been so much fun to hear from everyone - a huge thank you to all who participated either in preparing a guest post or came to read! 

Today we will be hearing from my Dad! He will be sharing his delicious Swedish Rye Bread recipe! I love this stuff. I can eat an entire loaf by myself - and I'm not even exaggerating. I have such great memories of eating this bread at Christmas, and loving it when we had leftovers (this rarely happens now that there are so many of us!) and could use it to make sandwiches for our school lunches with it the next week. So good! 

Hi I'm Kathryn's dad, Mark. I will be demonstrating a recipe for Swedish Rye bread that was passed down from my Grandmother to my Mother and now from myself to Kathryn and her sisters.  This will be my third contribution to Kathryn's Scandinavian Christmas. This bread was a favorite of Kathryn and her sisters when they were little.  They would always want to help with kneading the dough.  The recipe is as follows:

   Swedish Rye Bread

            

1 quart of milk                                             1/4 cup warm water

1 cup shortening (butter)                           grate the skin of 3 oranges

1/4 cup of molasses                                   1 Tbsp anise seed

1/2 cup of dark Karo syrup                        2 cups of medium rye flour

1 Tbsp salt                                                    about 12 cups of white flour

3 cakes of yeast

1 cup of brown sugar

Scald the milk, butter, molasses, brown sugar, Karo syrup and salt.  Let this cool to room temperature so that the yeast is not inactivated when added.

Activate the yeast in a 1/4 cup of luke warm water with a pinch of sugar on top to get it started.  Add the yeast, grated orange peels, anise seed and rye flour to the milk mixture and let that rise for 1/2 hour.  

Then add enough white flour and knead to make a stiff dough, about 12 cups. 

Take this ball of dough and set aside in a large bowl and let rise until doubled, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. 

Take this dough and roll out and divide into 5 loaves and place in bread pans and set aside to rise again. 

  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes.  Thump with finger and if it sounds hollow, its done. 

Remove from pans and place on rack to cool and immediately take a stick of butter and rub all over the crust, (top, bottom and sides) to keep the crust nicely soft.  

I hope all of you will enjoy trying this for your holiday season and thank you Kathryn for another opportunity to participate in your Scandinavian Christmas.  It is so much fun to see your passion for all things Swedish.  

Thanks again to everyone who participated! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

Scandinavian Christmas: Day 3

Today I'm so excited to introduce you all to Johanne, who has a lovely blog Scandinavian Love Song! You can follow her on Instagram here. Johanne is Danish and her blog documents her keen eye for interior design and love for Scandinavian lifestyle. Her blog is full of beautiful pictures and posts (I am loving her Advent post here!) so be sure to check it out!

There is nothing like Christmas traditions, is there? Every family has their own traditions that they cherish and look forward to every year and today I want to share with you one of my most treasured traditions - all the way from Denmark, with love. 

I have known my husband for 10 years now, but for some reason our Decembers have always been the most busy time of the year - not because of all the Christmas preparations, but because of our studies, work and examinations. However, one thing that we have always managed to find time for no matter what, is making the traditional Danish Vaniljekranse. It's a super simple recipe, but they taste amazing. And the thing is: if you make them in the traditional way with an old meat grinder - you have to be two to make them. Making them the perfect Christmas activity for you and your loved one.

Recipe for approx. 100 vaniljekranse

- 300 g sugar

- 1 vanilla pod

- 300 g salted butter

- 400 g flour

- 1 egg

Gently scrape the vanilla out of the pod and mix it with two tablespoons of the sugar so that the grains are separated. Keep adding sugar and mix it with the vanilla. Then, mix the butter with the flour with your fingers until it looks like grated cheese. Mix it with the sugar/vanilla mix. Finally, add the egg and quickly knead the dough together - not for too long though, because then the butter will make it impossible to work with. If the dough is too sticky, then leave it in the fridge for about half an hour. Preheat the oven to 190 Celsius and prepare a baking tray. Now it's time for the fun part :-) If you have an old-fashioned meat grinder (like the one in the pics), run the dough through the grinder using a star shaped form. It's easier (and more fun ;-) ) if you are two for this part, so that one of you swings the handle, while the other forms the small wreaths when the dough comes out of the grinder. If you don't have an old grinder, no need to worry - you can use an icing bag, just make sure that the dough is not too hard. Finally, bake the wreaths in the oven until they turn light brown - approximately 10 - 12 minutes. Let them cool and.... enjoy!

X Johanne from Scandinavianlovesong

Weekday Dreaming

So you know those weeks where you totally had plans to go home from work, eat dinner, then get right to your long list of chores that you put off last weekend? Yeah, I was supposed to do that this week and I'll let you in on a little secret: it didn't happen. Unless wiping out on the couch and watching the rest of Harry Potter counts as doing chores, I definitely didn't get one productive thing done so far this week. Oops. 

I have to say though, I think I'm OK with that. Sometimes in life it's nice to just have a little break... and obsessively pin things on your Pinterest. Here's what's been in my Pinterest boards lately:

These decorated gingerbread Dala ornaments.

[source]

These adorable socks with those adorable Swedish clogs.

[source]

This super cute Scandinavian wrapping idea that I probably would never have the patience to actually do, but it's still cute to look at.

[source]

And last, but not least, these canisters. 

[source]

And that, my friends, has been my week so far in a nutshell. Not much, but it's been pretty great nonetheless. Hope your week is going well!

Scandinavian Christmas 2014!

You guys might not want to hear this yet, but Christmas is just around the corner! Sure, we have to get through this ridiculous heat wave we're having now in California, but before we know it we'll all be drinking hot chocolate and egg nog and singing some Amy Grant [my sister, Maren, has already started all three of those things]. That being said, it's time to start signing up for the 2014 Scandinavian Christmas Series here at the Pickled Herring!

 If you're new to my blog and haven't heard of the Scandinavian Christmas series, allow me to explain. Every year I invite various Scandinavian bloggers, friends, and family to share a favorite Scandinavian-themed Christmas tradition, craft, or recipe. There have been all sorts of posts over the years ranging from pickled herring recipes to a glögg tote tutorial. Check out the new Scandinavian Christmas Series tab to see previous years' posts!

So, if you're Scandinavian (or even just really enjoy Scandinavian culture), send me an email to contribute to the 2014 Scandinavian Christmas series! 

[Kathryn.PickledHerring@gmail.com]

5 Scandinavian Crafts

Lately I've been doing a little reminiscing. So, I decided to do a little roundup of some of my favorite Scandinavian-themed crafts that I've made over the years.

One of my all-time faves has definitely been the tomte tutorial! I made this sucker almost 4 years ago (get out, how does time do that?!)

Next up are these super easy + fun glass magnets. You pick out what you want them to say! I [obviously] chose Swedish words for fun.

And for all the babies in your life, this tutorial for how to stencil using freezer paper is fun. You can stencil anything you that can cut out, and ironing the freezer paper onto the onesie makes a nice clean line. It's basically the poor-mans version of screen printing.

These ornaments have been one of my favorite Christmas items I've made! I love that I got to incorporate my mom's old cookie stamps into a craft. And they're super cheap to make to boot.

And last, but certainly not least, is the Scandinavian ribbon headband tutorial. I love making these for the craft fair I do every winter here in Los Angeles. They're fairly quick to make, and the options are endless with all the fun ribbon out there in the world!

So there you have it, folks! 5 of some of my favorite Scandinavian-themed crafts I've made through the years. What are some of your favorite Scandinavian crafts that you've made?

Scandinavian Baking Essentials

If you love Scandinavian baking as much as I do, here is a list of popular Scandinavian pans/specialized baking equipment that you may need to add to your collection!

Krumkake Iron

These tasty treats are one my favorites, and not only because of the nostalgia factor. My mom sometimes makes these at Christmas and they are so good. If you only get one thing from this list, make it this one.

Almond Cake Pan

You may recall me saying that I'm not a huge cake person [the horror!] - that is, with exception of Swedish almond cake. It is mouth-wateringly delicious. So delicious, in fact, that I have been known to eat it for breakfast.

Norwegian Heart Waffle Iron

These are just plain cute. Who doesn't like heart-shaped waffles?!

Swedish Pancake pan

An essential pan for any people out there who consider themselves true Swedes. Even if you're not even a little bit Swedish, I bet you'll love Swedish pancakes. I mean, what's not to love about crepe-like pancakes covered in lingonberry jam? [answer: nothing]

Norwegian Pancake pan

While I didn't grow up eating these, that doesn't meant they're any less delicious. Try eating them without syrup and just lingonberry jam. 

Sandbakkel tins

Cuteness factor strikes again! Sandbakkel are adorable little cookies that can be eaten plain, or filled like a tart with yummy jam and whipped cream.

Rossettes 

I inherited my Mom's old rossette set a while back and it's been great fun trying to make these little suckers (again, the cute factor) without burning myself. Practice makes perfect?

cast iron Christmas set

Kransekake forms

I don't own these [yet...hint hint, Ryan], but they make one heck of a fun cake! Traditionally only made for special occasions like weddings, Christmas, or New Years Eve.

Aebleskiver pan

Aebleskivers can be a bit tricky to master, but once you get the hang of 'em, there's no turning back! Traditionally they are filled with bits of apple or applesauce. Nowadays, they are more often are found served with jam, with a dusting of powdered sugar too.

Heart Tins (for Vaniljhjärtan)

These are one of my all-time favorite fika treats. They are filled with a delicious vanilla-custard and baked in a sugar cookie, of sorts. So. Good. 

photo source

Knäckebröd rolling pin

If you're ready to really commit to the whole "I'm a Swede," thing, this is the item for you. Impress your family by making some homemade knäckbröd, or crispbread. Perfect addition to any smorgasbord.

Lefse rolling pin, turning stick and griddle

I've never made lefse myself, but I certainly love eating it! Lefse is a thin potato pancake that is spread with butter and brown sugar. As you can imagine, it's both delicious and addicting.

So there you have it! A collection of Scandinavian baking pans and the like! Can you think of anything I missed? What's your favorite Scandinavian treat?

*photo source for all images used (unless otherwise noted below picture): Amazon.com

**I've added this post to the tabs up above on the blog header, for an easy + quick reference for the future