There is an intense ruggedness at this time of year when autumn is holding on tightly before winter sweeps through for good. The sky is more often than not a grey hue with gaps of blue sometimes piercing through. The landscape is subdued, quiet even, as it slowly paces toward the end of another season. The fog comes rolling in with more vigor, covering everything in its path in a billowy embrace. It’s a magical time; a window between the end of one period and the start of a new. (more…)
Tag: boller
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Lingonberry Cinnamon Sweet Buns (kanelsnurrer med tyttebær)
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Whole Wheat, Dark Chocolate and Candied Orange Peel Braided-Swirl Bun (Grov-flettekrans med skjokolade og kandiserte appelsinskall)
Påske (Easter) is only a few weeks away and Norwegians are undoubtedly preparing for the days preluding påske and the days following. Påske is one of the biggest holidays in Norway – a full week off from work and school and whatever else occupies one’s time. Setting the religious aspects of the holiday aside, there are certain elements that need to be present in order for it to be a truly Norwegian påske. Two of these elements are oranges and chocolate. (more…) -
Blackcurrant Sweet Buns (Solbærsnurrer)
As we head into the last weeks of summer, it means final chances to use up the last of the summer berries. And one berry that always intrigues me is the blackcurrant. It’s all at once sweet and tart and has a beautiful deep purple, almost black and glossy exterior. The taste is earthy and leaves you with a lingering aromatic experience. They’re divine eaten directly from their stems and are also a favorite in sauces, jams, jellies and sweet and savory dishes.Blackcurrants have been known in Norway since the 17th century. They are very popular garden plants nowadays, and you won’t be hard pressed to find a neighbor with a blackcurrant bush if you need some. They are high in Vitamin C and have been a very important and valuable crop for a long time. (more…)
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Skoleboller (Norwegian Buns with Custard & Coconut)
Some days, you just need to bake. Whatever the occasion, whatever the sky.My baking day turned into days. Baked goods all around. A seamless stream of sweet things. Anytime I begin contemplating about what to bake, there is always a request for one in particular. Boller. Perhaps the most popular baked good in Norway. And perhaps one of the simplest.
Boller are Norway’s answer to a sweet bread and instead of just being a simple yeast dough that is lightly sweetened, cardamom is added. This distinctive and flavorful spice takes baked goods to a whole new level. Anyone will tell you that cardamom is a key player in Norwegian baked goods. What’s even better about boller, is that it acts as a base to so many other great variations. One variation, in particular, looks like snowfall on a sunny day. And perhaps, in one way or another, this time the sky was my inspiration to get in the kitchen and bake. (more…)
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Snurrer with Plums and Almond Custard
Lightly sweetened buns, boller, are one of the most beloved breads in Norway. The sweet-smelling aroma coming from boller just baked in the oven is comfort at its best. The milk-based breads are soft and fluffy and lightly scented with spicy cardamom. They are simply divine in their subtleties. The most basic recipe features nothing other than this golden bun and its cardamom, which deserves its own post as it is the mecca for all other types of boller in Norway. This I will be sure to write about sometime in the near future.This recipe, however, is a little bit indulgent. Baking like this seems to occur more frequently when autumn is at its height and winter is peaking its head around the corner. Here I use the boller dough as a base while creating a variation on the filling and then rolling it like you would a cinnamon bun, which then gets the name snurrer in Norwegian.
I wanted to utilise the plums which I had picked from our tree and made jam out of a few weeks back. Homemade plum jam with boller. Perfection.
Plums have been cultivated since the 1700s in Norway, making the use of plums in Norwegian cooking a 300 year old tradition.
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Wienerbrød with Orange & Vanilla Custard
The smell of melting butter amidst flaky dough fills the room. A slight hint of orange and vanilla. As I wait for the minutes to pass, I cozy up to my chair and read more about the famous pastry known in Norway as wienerbrød, or translated to viennese and commonly referred to as danish in English. The aroma is well-known across bakeries in Norway and the rest of Scandinavia. It’s a pastry that was indeed created from bakers in Denmark, but not solely by their own efforts. It was a result of inspiration and the borrowing of techniques, like most recipes today. By standing on the shoulders of others, they were able to create a new, inspired pastry.It is said that during the 1850s, a strike broke out amongst bakers in Copenhagen. This forced bakery owners to seek help from bakers in Vienna. The help was given, as it was usual for a baker master’s son to take up an apprenticeship in Vienna, the baking capital, and therefore they had good relations. The bakers from Vienna had a long tradition of lamination, where dough is layered with fat and rolled out several times. The Danish bakers were inspired and they began to develop the techniques, adjust to own their tastes and increase the amount of rich butter. The fillings and shapes were only left to the imagination and the creation of the Danish pastry or ‘Viennese Bread’ was born.
I came across an article about the historic town of Nusfjord, situated on Flakstadøya in Lofoten. The bakery, which no longer is in use, was built prior to 1877. It produced breads and pastries to both fishermen and locals. When fishermen would come from the fisheries to supply fish, they often had to take upon debt for shelter, food and tools as they could not pay in cash. The second squire of Nusfjord, known as ‘Old Bernhard’ would hang out a little bag filled with wienerbrød to every fishing crew as a small reward for their work, despite the debts. (Source)I like to think that, sometimes, it’s just the simple, kind gestures, like hanging bags of wienerbrød for the taking, are what brings us closer as a community. Filling the belly. Satisfying a need. Doing the unexpected. Showing kindness. Those are the measures which create good relations. And so, perhaps when we bake, we should consider to double the amount. A great excuse for taking a moment to sit down, converse and share something sweet and special. (more…)
