Note: These recipes called for less sugar than American favorites across the board. And the soft ginger cookies were GREAT, A+. The rye buns (I’ve never baked with rye flour before!) were fantastic: A. The almond potato cake was a solid B – good when it came out of the oven, but not something I’d make again unless I have gluten-intolerant guests. The nutmeg cookies turned out well and my book club devoured them: A. Reading the recipes all the way through is a must – some of them take a day or two to complete! Since the focus is on “homemade” and slow living, the instructions don’t call for any intensive appliances (though there were some tools I didn’t have, but I got by with substitutes), but I used my mixer with no ill effects. To “test” the cookbook I made 4 recipes: Nutmeg slice cookies, almond potato cake, toasted rye buns and soft ginger cookies. And her art is both charming and informative. Instead, Kindvall’s illustrations of the steps and finished product are the guide. That’s a distinctive thing about this cookbook – there aren’t any photographs.
Johanna Kindvall’s art brings each recipe to life. The authors included recipes that run the gamut from easy (a spiced shortbread cookie) to complex (holiday fare), with easy-to-follow instructions. I enjoyed the bits about history – where and how certain dishes originated, the proper way to enjoy them, suggested flavor combinations, and so on. While the focus is on baked goods that go with coffee, there’s also a fair bit about the slow, handmade, homemade traditions of day-to-day life in Sweden. I then read it cover-to-cover and baked out of it and racked up $7.50 in library fines and put it on my wishlist so that one of my freakishly tall brothers can give it to me as a gift.įika is arranged seasonally and traditionally (by traditionally I mean there are sections of the homemade favorites, the items you’d find mostly in a bakery, and then heartier items like breads at the end). When a Swedish cookbook popped up on my radar, I took note.
With the last name Larsen and as the shortest (at 5’10”) of a bunch of giants, it makes sense. I’ve always been curious about Scandinavia and its food, though. My dad’s family is Danish-American, but his mother died young, so no recipes traveled down that side of the family tree to me. Of course, I would say that – baking is my jam. It's 25% lifestyle and history, 75% a cookbook, and 100% interesting. The cover illustration tells you everything to know: Anna Brones and Johanna Kindvall’s Fika: The Art of The Swedish Coffee Break, with Recipes for Pastries, Breads, and Other Treats is a book about coffee breaks done right (in the Swedish tradition).
Judge this book by its cover (go ahead, it’s safe!).
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