Community Cookbook: Lussekatter with Ola Nordstrom from Stockholm

Recipes tell the stories of communities and the people who shape them. Each recipe is more than a list of ingredients and steps; it is a written legacy of the individual who created the dish, their family and history. This monthly series highlights one of these legacies and gives readers the chance to create the recipe themselves.

Ola Nordstrom spent the first 33 years of his life in Sweden before transplanting to Scotland for a job and eventually moving to Cape Girardeau with his family in 2015. Ola remains connected to Swedish culture in many ways, specifically through upholding holiday traditions. Ola says in Sweden, December is a major month for celebration, not only because of Christmas, but because of the Scandinavian holiday St. Lucia’s Day.

St. Lucia’s Day is a holiday widely celebrated in Sweden and throughout other areas of Scandinavia on Dec. 13. The holiday is in honor of St. Lucia, one of the earliest Christian martyrs killed by the Roman Empire for her beliefs around 304 A.D., according to Britannica. Ola says the holiday’s purpose is to “bring more light” during one of the darkest times of the year in Sweden.

Ola’s mother Britta Nordstrom says depending on the region of the country they are in, people may only get three hours of daylight each day, so St. Lucia’s Day helps “to keep the dark away.”

“St. Lucia’s Day in every region would 90% be all the same, but every region, every place would make it a little bit their own,” Ola says.

Ola says St. Lucia’s Day begins on the morning of Dec. 13 with families arriving at school, work or church for an early-morning celebration. He says almost every institution — school, church or workplace — hosts their own St. Lucia celebration in which a young woman or girl chosen as “St. Lucia” walks with a crown of candles on her head. Other girls carrying candles follow her in a parade, singing traditional songs and bringing light to the people. Britta says “star boys” wearing tall, cone-shaped hats typically bring up the end of the St. Lucia procession.

On the evening of St. Lucia’s Day, Ola says he would visit churches throughout Stockholm with his friends. He says each church has a large celebration of their own, with an even larger St. Lucia celebration for the whole city.

Another major component of St. Lucia’s Day is lussekatter — otherwise known as saffron buns. Ola learned to make the traditional treat from his grandmother, and he remembers her making giant “priest’s hair” shapes with the saffron dough that multiple people could tear off and eat together. Ola says his immediate family prefers eating lemon and saffron rolls on St. Lucia’s Day, as opposed to lussekatter.

“We eat [lussekatter], because that’s the tradition,” Ola says. “A lot of people do what we did now. We bake the traditional [lussekatter], and then the one that’s more tasty and fun.”

Ola says lussekatter is typically eaten with coffee, milk or glögg, a spiced wine served during the holiday season. Besides the traditional pastries, he says another reason people in Sweden look forward to St. Lucia’s is because it signals their upcoming holiday break, with Christmas celebrated Dec. 24.

“There’s a big value in Sweden that you take time off,” Ola says. “Most people would have a four-week vacation in summer, and everyone would take it. … We work hard and then rest and then work hard. It gives more balance, and people aren’t super-stressed.”

In Sweden, Ola says the majority of families put up their decorations on the day of Christmas, eat gingerbread treats and watch a re-aired Disney Christmas special known in English as “From All of Us to All of You” at 3 p.m. During the evening, Ola says his family would have a three-hour meal, in which they serve traditional dishes like reindeer and lutefisk, a popular Nordic dish made of air-dried whitefish that’s been cured in lye.

Ola moved from Sweden to Scotland in 1998 to work with Youth With A Mission (YWAM), a Christian discipleship training school, where he met his wife, Alayna. The Nordstroms worked for YWAM and remained in the United Kingdom for 18 years before moving to Cape Girardeau to be closer to his wife’s family and give their son new opportunities.

Ola’s family has lived in Cape Girardeau since 2015, and he says he “loves the area” of Southeast Missouri. Because of his family’s strong ties to Sweden, Scotland and the United States, they choose to celebrate multiple holidays in December from each of the three cultures.

On St. Lucia’s Day, they watch the Swedish celebration on television and make saffron buns, usually both the “tastier” lemon and saffron rolls and the traditional lussekatter. Then, on Dec. 24, they celebrate “Swedish Christmas” by setting out a Yule goat made of straw and red ribbon.

They celebrate “American Christmas” Dec. 25 and then “British Boxing Day” Dec. 26 to remind them of their time in Scotland. Alayna Nordstrom says on British Boxing Day, they eat leftovers and hang out in their comfortable clothes all day. The centuries-old British holiday was traditionally a time off for servants in wealthy households.

Although Ola’s family has a lot of holiday traditions during December, the purpose of those traditions has always been to spend quality time together.

“We take a lot of time for friends and hospitality and fellowship,” Ola says.

Lussekatter and lemon and saffron rolls made by Ola Nordstrom rest on a table in his home in Cape Girardeau. The treats are traditional baked goods made in Swedish culture.Jasmine Jones

__Lussekatter__

½ cup milk

½ cup whipped cream

1 gram saffron

25 grams live yeast or 1 bag rapid rise yeast

½ teaspoon salt

2/5 cup sugar

2/5 cup sour cream

50 grams soft butter

2½ cups white flour

Raisins

1 egg (for egg wash)

Grind up saffron with a mortar and pestle, or alternatively, grind the saffron with sugar and a spoon in a small bowl. Combine dough ingredients in a bread maker and proof the dough once. After the first proof, form the dough into a long log shape. Cut portions of dough every one to two inches. Roll out each portion with your fingers gently, until you have an evenly-distributed small coil of dough. Curve the dough portion into an “S” shape. Place one raisin in each curve. Put on a buttered tray. Proof pastries for approximately 30 to 45 minutes. Glaze each lussekatt with an egg wash. Bake for 12 to 13 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. After removing from the oven, immediately glaze each lussekatt with warm sugar water. This will add shine. Enjoy with milk, coffee or glögg!

__Lemon and saffron rolls__

Brioche dough ingredients:

1 teaspoon yeast

250 grams strong white flour

3 tablespoons sugar

65 grams butter

½ teaspoon salt

3 eggs (1 to glaze)

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon cardamom

1 gram saffron

Filling ingredients:

2 lemons’ zest

100 grams soft butter

2 teaspoons Swedish vanilla (powdered sugar with vanilla)

1/5 cup powdered sugar

Topping ingredient:

Swedish pearl sugar

Grind up saffron with a mortar and pestle, or alternatively, grind it up with sugar and a spoon in a small bowl. Combine brioche dough ingredients in bread maker and proof dough once. After first proof, roll out dough with a rolling pin. Combine ingredients for filling. Spread filling evenly onto square of rolled-out dough. Sprinkle cardamon onto square of dough and other spices if desired. Start at the top and roll carefully into a log. Shape it evenly and cut into portions approximately one to two inches apart. Proof again for 30 to 45 minutes. Use an egg wash and sprinkle on Swedish pearls before baking buns in the oven at 375 degrees for 12 to 13 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately glaze each bun with warm sugar water. This will add shine. Enjoy!

See Ola make lussekatter at The Best Years Facebook page.