cardamom coffee braid - vetebrod

Now's the time for this Swedish treat. We love this bread in our house, in fact I use 3 times the amount of cardamom called for in the recipe. On Christmas morning we spread slices with lots of butter and have it with hot coffee while we open presents. For the second batch I plan to shape the dough into Lucia Buns, small spirals and figure eights.

made in Sweden

I found the candelabra on ebay and then bought white candles from Denmark that will fit as standard tapers are too fat. I love the charming hand painted wood, so very Swedish!

Here is hoping that the paperwhites I am forcing will be in full bloom for Christmas. I scouted thrift stores for clear glass cylinders so the cool-looking roots will be visible. The local nursery has a bulbs half price so today I bought some hyacinths to force. I have been inspired by the gorgeous seasonal flowers, bulbs and wreaths at the Swedish blog liljorochtulpaner Can't read a word of it but can't get enough of the photos.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve has always meant Swedish smorgasbord. Growing up it was prepared by my grandmother who was Swedish. These days the dinner is at our house and although we purchase many of the foods on our smorgasbord, there are some homemade highlights such as the gravlax that our neighbor Jorma prepares that is gorgeous to look at and fantastic to eat.

When we were in Stockholm in July we bought the little bottles of acquavit specifically to serve at Christmas Eve smorgasbord. Each bottle was a different flavor but since we don't read Swedish we never were entirely sure what those flavors were. In truth the acquavit wasn't a big hit with our group but I love how the bottles looked in the big glass bowl filled with ice.

what's inside??

It's Swedish cardamom buns, wrapped up for co-workers...I keep increasing the amount of freshly ground cardamom I use in the Vetebrod (Swedish coffee bread) I make. At our house we love this distinctive spice. The uninitiated wonder what is the flavoring in the bread. Today someone asked, after a sampling, if it was Fiori Di Sicilia which is a heavenly citrus-vanilla extract used in panettone. Oh, that's another bread I hope to make this week!

Holiday window shopping

Treat yourself and stop to admire the beautiful shop displays-- that's what I did early this morning (even though it was dark and raining), stopping in front of Primo Regali in San Anselmo, all bright lights and glittering wares. The small shops have the best windows: check out Stripe in Santa Cruz, it looked beautiful today too!

Holiday baking

We love Swedish vetebrod, a yeast bread full of butter eggs and cardamom seeds. The recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom seeds but I use lots more because our family is a big fan of this aromatic spice. Here are two braids but little individual S-shape rolls are also typical. Making vetebrod means the Christmas season has begun in our house.