Your Heartfelt Holiday: A free guided journal to help you create a Christmas worth remembering
I invite you to sit with me for a while, heart to heart. This has been a challenging year, hasn’t it? No one has been immune to the uncertainty, heartache, and grief of the COVID-19 pandemic. And now, as we…
Norwegian Julekake (Christmas Bread)
I took my kids to the local Scandinavian bakery the other day for an after-school treat. As we peeked in–making sure we weren’t exceeding the number of customers allowed into the shop at a time due to the pandemic–I thought…
Six-month book birthday for “Modern Scandinavian Baking” (plus a special gift for you!)
We’re big on celebrations in my home and make a point to notice half birthdays as well as the birthdays themselves. I’m finding that in this pandemic season, the marking of events feels especially important. So far, both of my…
Norwegian Rice Porridge (Risgrøt) For a Koselig Kitchen
In the midst of the pandemic, as the weather shifts away from the warm days that allowed for comfortable outdoor gatherings, I suspect we’re all going to need some extra coziness. Autumn takes its time settling in where I live,…
The Easiest Gravlax
The cure begins by tucking the salmon into a blanket of sugar, salt, and dill. By the time the ingredients are fully applied, there’s no trace of the fish. The vibrant red of the sockeye is buried—as its name gravlax…
Norwegian Christmas Cookies: Fattigmann
Gathering the dough into a ball, I inhaled the scent of the cardamom and butter, warm in my hands. Like all those memories from my childhood, the feelings stirring in my heart filled me with a sense of love, a security…
Norwegian Christmas Cookies: Sandkaker / Sandbakkelse
I never tire of seeing the variety of cakes and cookies in the Scandinavian tradition. With little more than butter, sugar, eggs, and flour, and often a scattering of spices, we can create an extensive assortment of treats. Sometimes elegant…
Norwegian Christmas Cookies: Pepperkaker
I returned home the other day and was surprised by the warmth and smell that greeted me. Cinnamon and cardamom, clove and ginger. Warm butter and sugar. The scents of baking. Earlier in the day I had made pepperkaker, but…
Embracing hygge with gløgg (Scandinavian Mulled Wine)
A pot of spiced wine simmering on the stove, releasing its fragrant spices into the air. The flickering glow of candles, a crackling fireplace. It’s hard to imagine a more cozy setting in which to celebrate the holiday season or…
Norwegian Christmas Cookies: Berlinerkranser
I grew up knowing the tradition by taste rather than by name. Syv slags kaker–or seven sorts of cookies. The way it goes, you wouldn’t be a proper Norwegian if you didn’t serve at least seven types of cookies at Christmastime. I…
