St Lucia Day Christmas baking 4

Swedish Juliga kolasnittar ~ Christmas Caramel cuts

St Lucia
December 13th

A Swedish tradition mainly but one that the Norwegians have slowly returned to is St Lucia Day 13th December  Clicking on the previous link will take you to a post that explains why this day is celebrated in Scandinavia and here too you will find the traditional bake in Sweden and Norway of Lussekatter.  Lussekatter is made with yeast and the all-important spice that is saffron they are best eaten warm, straight from the oven.
their own.

Lussekatter ~ saffron buns eaten traditionally on the 13th December

Saffron is the spice associated with December 13th in the Scandinavian countries and as I have previously shared the above Lussekatter with you so now this year I decided to share a saffron cookie, to become one of the 7 cookies I will be baking this year.  Let me present you with a Swedish inspired cookie~

Rolled dough with saffron

Juliga kolasnittar ~ 
Christmas Caramel Cuts

You will need:                                                            

♥  175g plain flour

♥  1 tsp baking powder

♥  100g butter softened

♥  100g sugar

♥  1tbsp vanilla sugar               

Roll out the saffron dough
into two equally sized rectangles

♥  2 tbsp golden syrup

♥  1/2 g saffron



1  Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celcius

2  Mix the flour, baking powder and both sugars.

3  Add the saffron to the softened butter and mix well, add to the dry ingredients.

4  Mix the mixture until it forms a dough, I used an electric mixer.

Cut the cookies as soon as they come out of
the oven, cut them on the slant as is traditional

5  Form two equally sized balls form the dough mixture.                                                                                           
6  Spread each dough ball onto a separate greaseproof paper baking tray and roll out to a thin 3-4 mm in depth rectangle.  Even out the edges as best you can.  See photograph for better clarification.

7  Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden in colour.

8  Immediately begin cutting diagonal lines ( see photograph) across the cookie mixture whilst it is still hot.  If you leave it too long to cut the mixture it will crisp up and you will have many breakages.

9  Allow to cool and place in an airtight container until needed.

10   like to serve this is a wide-brimmed class as they traditional should be long and cut on a slant making them ideal to serve in such a way.  And Storage, I often use Norges glass (Kilner jar)

Juliga kolasnittar ~ Christmas caramel cuts,
a cookie with saffron for St Lucia Day

I have for a while been thinking of making my own Lucia wreath or doll to have beside the lussekatter I make every year.  In Scandinavia, there are many versions to buy, but something more homemade feels right.  As ever time is my demon and alas I have not had the time, but I have managed to save me time in the long run and do not need to create a pattern because look what the good old internet has found for me...

What did we do before the internet?

St Lucia doll crocheted created by the talented Swedish crocheter, just look at the proportions of this amigurumi crochet doll of St Lucia and her procession followers.   I definitely want to crochet them!

Traditionally the girl chosen to be St Lucia for the procession had lit candles on the head wreath, in later years this has been replaced by battery-powered candles but I rather like this crochet version for the youngest kindergarten-aged children.    Head wreath with candles

St Lucia head wreath with candles

Happy St Lucia day, why not try making some lussekatter or Juliga kolasnittar and bring some 
Scandinavian baking into your home ♥