ScandiKitchen: Fika and Hygge: Comforting cakes and bakes from Scandinavia with love

INTRODUCTION

ScandiKitchen, our wonderful café and grocery shop in London’s West End, was born out of pure homesickness and a need to find a space where we could meet up with people for a fika – a cup of coffee and a bite of something sweet to eat. A place where we could meet with family and friends to just enjoy being together and hygge a bit, escaping from the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life. When we first had the idea of opening a Nordic-inspired café almost ten years ago, it was near on impossible to find all the food goodies we missed from home. So we decided to create a place that reflected our love for the foods we missed.

Being Swedish and Danish, it always seemed natural that the concepts of fika and hygge had to be at the heart of everything we do at the café. One of the first things Jonas made sure was on the menu was the wholesome cinnamon bun – and Brontë even toyed with the idea of naming the café Hygge – reflecting just how important this concept is to us. We decided hygge might be tricky to pronounce for some, so settled for what we are: a homely Scandinavian kitchen run by a friendly bunch of people. To create a welcoming space was always a priority for us, whether you are a homesick Nordic expat looking for your fix of salty liquorice or anyone else just searching for a nice place for a cup of coffee and a good piece of cake. Anyone can feel a sense of hygge, a state of content cosiness with friends where nothing else seems to matter.

Of course, not everybody has the opportunity to just pop by our café to say hello. With this book, we wanted to share some of our favourite autumn and winter treats – perfect for the short, dark winter days. From buns, to cakes, to little pastries – a selection of recipes to make your own traditional fika at home and create cosy feelings of hygge with people you love. For everybody to be able to bring a bit of Nordic loving to their lives through the cakes we love to make and bake.

In the years since we opened our doors, much has changed about the way Scandinavia is viewed from outside our home countries. Back when we opened, nobody knew the word fika, and hygge was just another unpronounceable Danish word. Nowadays, books are being written on the concepts of fika and hygge, and it truly feels as if the world is waking up to the wonders of remembering to turn off the noise from our busy everyday routines. While we’re sure they could have done this without Scandinavia’s help, having the words to define what we feel is important.

We hope you enjoy this selection of our favourite autumn and winter treats from Scandinavia and that you enjoy creating feelings of hygge and fika in your own homes.

Brontë & Jonas Aurell

THE SCANDI BAKING PANTRY

Scandinavia is a huge place, so what defines an ingredient as ‘local’ varies from hilly Norway to flat Denmark - there’s a 2,500 km/1,500 mile distance between them. However, we all share a love of lots of similar products, so here is a brief guide to some of the products you will need for Nordic baking. We’ve put this together based on things we get asked for at the café, and we often help people source specific ingredients or find local replacements to use instead. You will find a more comprehensive list at www.scandikitchen.co.uk.

Popular spices

Caraway/kommen/kummin/karve

In Scandinavia, caraway is known as kommen, which sounds similar to ‘cumin’ so it is often translated incorrectly in recipes. (Cumin is called spidskommen.) We use caraway seeds a lot in breads as well as cheeses. In this book it is suggested as a flavouring for crispbread (see page 167).

Cardamom/karemumme/kardemumma

It was actually the Vikings who first sampled this spice during their raids on Constantinople. While we mostly use cardamom in sweet baking and breads, it does occasionally sneak into savoury food (a pinch is used in some regional meatball recipes). It is also sometimes used as a flavouring in strong alcohols.

We use the ground variety, which you can buy in larger supermarkets and Asian speciality shops. I favour using freshly ground cardamom, though, because it is one of those spices that lose potency very quickly when pre-ground. If you use freshly ground, watch the quantity, as it is strong and if you are not used to the punchy flavour, hold back a bit.

To make ground cardamom at home, either buy cardamom seeds online and finely grind in a spice grinder or pestle and mortar, or open the pods (Scandinavians prefer the green pods) and scoop out the seeds to grind (remove the little woody bits of husk inside the pod and only grind the seeds).

Cinnamon/kanel

Where would the Nordic people be without their beloved cinnamon buns? We use cinnamon in a lot of our baking, from biscuits to cakes and breads. There are different grades of cinnamon – go for good-quality ground cinnamon.

Cloves/nelliker/kryddnejlika/nellik

We use both whole cloves and ground cloves in our baking, especially at Christmas, when whole cloves are used in mulled wine and ground cloves are essential in ginger cookies.

Fennel seeds/fennikel frø/fänkålsfrön

We use fennel seeds mainly in bread – both for loaves and as a flavouring for crispbread.

Ginger/ingefær/ingefära

Ground ginger is commonly used in ginger cookies and soft ginger cake, but also in some other cakes. Whole dried ginger is essential in mulled wine.

Liquorice/lakrids/lakrits

While we have a long history full of love for liquorice, it is only in recent years we have started to bake with it. This is largely due to great brands of purist liquorice coming to the market, such as Lakrids by Bülow from Denmark and Lakritsfabrikken in Sweden. Either the powder or liquorice syrup is used in most sweet recipes. In some Swedish recipes it can be referred to as Hockey Pulver.

Salt

The Nordics have been preserving food in salt for centuries and we love salty foods, both savoury and sweet. We add salt to many cookies and cakes and we love salty liquorice. We use ammonium chloride for flavouring our liquorice, also known as salmiakki. It is an acquired taste – but once you get the taste for things such as salty liquorice, a life-long addiction usually starts. You have been warned.

Saffron/safran/saffran

People In Sweden and Norway use saffron during the month of December in traditional Lucia buns. We commonly use ground saffron, which you can buy in specialist shops (ask behind the counter, as they are usually kept behind the till). If you are using strands, grind these before use. To intensify the colour, soak in warm liquid before using.

Seville orange peel/pomerans

We use this in our mulled wine and dried in some Christmas breads and biscuits. You can substitute with normal dried orange peel, but the flavour will not be as subtle or bitter.

Vanilla/vanilje/vanilj

Scandinavian recipes often call for vanilla sugar, which is a quick and easy substitute for whole vanilla pod/beans. You can make your own at home by adding 250 g/1 cup of icing/ confectioners’ sugar to a food processor or spice grinder with two vanilla pods/beans – dried out hard ones are fine – a great way to use these up. Pulse until pulverized, then sift out the large pieces of peel. You can buy vanilla sugar in any Scandinavian food shops, too – Tørsleff is a great brand. You can, of course, also always substitute with vanilla extract or real vanilla pods/beans.

Berries

Cloudberries/multebær/hjortron

Fresh cloudberries are rare. They grow wild near the Arctic Circle and their season lasts around three weeks in July and August. They are hard to cultivate and foragers don’t tend to part with information freely! Frozen cloudberries are easier to get hold of but they are expensive. A little goes a long way; this is a gourmet berry, even to the Scandinavians. Most Scandinavian shops will stock cloudberry jam, which can be used in most of our baking recipes. The cloudberry is very tart and the jam/jelly is not used as a spread for toast, as it is far too expensive. Use it with strong cheese or in desserts (it’s particularly great heated up and poured over vanilla ice cream). To replace this flavour in recipes is hard.

Lingonberries/tyttebær/lingon

Norwegians, Finns and Swedes will have lingonberries in their freezers throughout the year; fresh ones are picked in August. We also have lingonberry jam/jelly and compotes in our store cupboards. You can use the frozen or fresh berries for baking, and you can also use the jam for some cakes or cookies. If you cannot get hold of lingonberries, substitute with cranberries or raspberries, depending on the recipe. Many Scandinavian shops sell the frozen berries.

Grains and flours

Oats/havregryn

Used in porridge, granola, muesli and baking. We also eat raw oats with milk for breakfast. Oat flakes (jumbo oats) or cut oats are favoured.

Potato flour/kartoffelmel/potatismjöl/potetmel

You can buy this in speciality stores. Once potato starch is added, the dish should not boil (especially in fruit-based sauces as these will go cloudy after boiling).

Rye flour rugmel/rågmjöl

There are two kinds of rye flour sold in supermarkets. Wholegrain dark rye and light (sifted) rye. Light rye flour is often called Type 997. It is, basically, sifted wholegrain rye flour, so if you are pushed, you can sift the dark rye flour before using in a recipe.

Rye flour mix/sigtemel/rågsikt

In Sweden and Denmark, rågsikt (sigtemel in Danish) is very common. It’s 60% white wheat flour and 40% light rye (type 997), sifted. You can make this at home by mixing the same quantities.

Rye flakes/rugflager/rågflingor

I love using rye flakes in granola, flapjacks and porridge (mixed with normal oats) for their nutty flavour and good bite. Available in health-food stores, they take longer to cook and are quite chewy. If you are using oats in a recipe, consider mixing part oats, part rye flakes.

Semolina/semuljegryn/mannagryn/semulegryn

Used for some desserts and also as a porridge.

Spelt flour/speltmel/dinkelmjöl

This is an older type of wheat grain and less refined. You can get both white and wholegrain spelt flour – we use both in this book. Spelt contains less gluten than other wheat flours.

Yeast and leaveners

Baker’s ammonia/hartshorn powder/hjortetakssalt/hjorthornssalt

Used in old Nordic recipes to ensure cookies rise and get crispy at lower temperatures, baker’s ammonia gives off a very strong ammonia smell as you bake, but this disappears as soon as the cookies cool.

You can buy it online or at some pharmacies, as well as in many Scandinavian food shops. It was traditionally made from the ground antlers of young stags, but nowadays it’s all chemical. When using baker’s ammonia, don’t eat the raw dough. Substitute with baking powder, although the result will not be as crispy.

Dry active yeast

Little yeast granules you have to activate in lukewarm water before using. This is the next best thing to fresh yeast. Activate and leave for 15 minutes in the finger-warm liquid to go frothy and bubbly – then use in the recipe as normal.

Fresh yeast

25 g/1 oz. of fresh yeast (also known as compressed yeast) is the equivalent to 13 g/ ¹/2