Christmas Countdown 13: Lussekatter

http://webclipart.about.com/od/events/ss/Saint-Lucias-Day_2.htm

If your background is Scandanavian, today you are celebrating St Lucia's Day - an important Christmas celebration . St Lucia was a young Christian girl who was martyred, killed for her faith, in 304AD. The most common story told about St Lucia is that she would secretly bring food to the persecuted Christians in Rome, who lived in hiding in the catacombs under the city. She would wear candles on her head so she had both her hands free to carry things. Lucy means 'light' so this is a very appropriate name. St. Lucia's Day is now celebrated by a girl dressing in a white dress with a red sash round her waist and a crown of candles on her head. Small children use electric candles but from about 12 years old, real candles are used! (from http://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/sweden.shtml)

If you follow Swedish Christmas traditions, your eldest daughter would have brought you saffron and cinnamon infused buns called lussekatter for breakfast this morning. I am not Swedish, but can vouch for the beautiful texture and taste of these buttery buns, although I am told that the mixture can become very dense if an incorrect amount of butter is used, and/or if the yeast does not rise properly. Although this recipe suggests dried yeast, fresh yeast is often called for in traditional recipes.

Lussekatter - Ingredients

1 tsp saffron threads
250ml/9fl oz tepid milk
500g/1lb 2oz strong white flour
7g/¼oz sachet of fast-action dried yeast
1 tsp salt
50g/1¾oz golden caster sugar
50g/1¾oz unsalted butter, melted
100g/3½oz Quark cheese
1 free-range egg yolk
handful of raisins

Preparation method

1. Grease a baking tray. Soak the saffron in the milk for 5-10 minutes.
2. Combine the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl and make a well in the centre. Stir the melted butter into the milk and saffron mixture and pour into the well. Add the Quark cheese.
3. Stir together briefly, then bring together as a dough. Knead on a floured surface for 10 minutes, or until smooth. Place in an oiled bowl, cover with oiled clingfilm and leave in a warm place for 1½-hour until well risen
4. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
5. Knock back the dough and divide into 12 pieces. Roll each into a rectangle about 20cm/8in long. Twist each into an 'S' shape, as tight as possible. Place on the prepared baking sheet and cover loosely. Leave for 30-45 minutes or until puffed up.
6. Brush the rolls with the egg yolk, then place one raisin in the centre of each circle (two raisins per roll).
7. Bake the rolls for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and set aside to cool on a wire rack.)

Delicious with a cuppa - not just for St Lucia Day - any day!

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks .... The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or my husband or from off cuts gifted to us from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks. Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...

#the100dayproject : Inspiring Women Days 1 - 4

#The100DayProject is a *free* global art project that takes place online 🎨 E very year, thousands of people all around the world commit to 100 days of creating. Anyone can participate . The idea is simple: choose a creative project, do it every single day for 100 days, and document and share the process online. 2026 is my 8th year of participating. I have stitched daily observations, painted my egg cup collection, collaged postcards and envelopes, written poems, explored colour palettes .... this year I am researching, sketching and stitching 100 inspiring women. Fortunately I purchased a piece of beautiful linen, with preprinted outlines of 100 women ... just one issue - the figures are tiny (height 6cm /2.5 ins) My first week started tentatively ... I thought I would start with Empress Wu, after whom I named my creative activity. This is when I discovered how difficult it is to applique and stitch on these very small figures - I used tweezers to put pieces of fabric down, tried t...

Countdown to Christmas 7- Fruitcake Lady

from Facebook Page /The Fruitcake Lady There are not many people who can say they showed Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise how to make fruitcake on TV. Marie Rudisill (1911-2006), known as the Fruitcake Lady was an author, a celebrated cook and a minor TV personality. She was well known on US television as a 90+year old who appeared regularly on "The Tonight Show" hosting an" agony aunt" segment, giving advice on all kinds of life's issues. Her forthright answers and wicked sense of humour endeared her to audiences although she was outspokenly intolerant and irrationally biased. The Fruitcake Lady's other claim to fame was that she was the aunt of Truman Capote, highly acclaimed author, and this connection was used in her own writing. Her published works included: Truman Capote , The Story of His Bizarre and Exotic Childhood by an Aunt Who Helped to Raise Him (1983) Sook's Cookbook : Memories and Traditional Recipes from the Deep South (1989) ...

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Search This Blog