FIKA
Now, let me take you on a walk through one of the biggest parts of the Swedish culture. The thing I’m talking about, is a part of every Swede’s everyday life, deeply rooted into our society: It’s something you do with your friends and family, it’s something you do to celebrate, it’s something you do when you’re mourning, it’s somehting you do in school and it’s something you do at work – there’s literally no bad time for it.
The name, Fika, might be a word you’ve heard before and the same problem always appears when you try to translate it - because there’s not a word in the English language that really describes it. And describing it can be a little bit hard, since it has so many sides and purposes but let me try! According to Wikipedia ”Fika is a social institution in Sweden. This means taking a break from an activity to drink coffee, tea or any other drink, with or without accessories, usually together with others.” and that describes it quite good. What not to forget though is that a fika is almost nothing without, what Wikipedia called ”accessories”, the pastries.
Me myself, actually don’t drink coffee and therefore I’m not like the typical Swede, but that also means that the pastries, to me, is even more important than what you drink to it. And let’s be honest, isn’t everybody drinking coffee for the pastries?! The type of pastry varies between cookies, buns and cakes and what I’m going to present to you here is traditional and popular Swedish pastries, traditions around them, when to eat them and where they come from.
Kanelbulle (cinnamon roll) – The favorite
This beauty, is made on a wheat dough containing cardamom and the filling is cinnamon, sugar and butter. It actually originates from Sweden and was probably created in Sweden in the 1920’s when the supply of ingredients increased after the First World War. If I can take a guess, I’d say that this bun is the most popular pastry in the whole country. All grandmothers bake them, every gasstation sells them and it even has it’s own day October 4th – Kanelbullens dag.
Småkakor (small cookies) – Enjoy the little things
These cuties, are basically made out of flour, butter, sugar and love. They come in many shapes, colours and tastes. Everyone has their favorite, maybe it’s ”Drömmar” (”Dreams”) that’s crispy but melts in your mouth with a fantastic taste of vanilla or ”Schackrutan” (”The checker”) that is super simple and has a sweet taste of cocoa. The concept ”Sju sorters kakor” (”Seven kinds of cookies”) refers to the smallest number of cakes that a traditional coffee party should contain. The custom have been known since the late 1800’s.
Chokladboll (chocolate ball) – The hot topic
They don’t look like much, but believe me – they’re a piece of heaven. This is my personal favorite and it’s super simple to put together. Main ingredients are; oatmeal, butter, cocoa and sugar that when mixed together and rolled into balls, makes a soft bite of goodness. Why I call it a hot topic, is because back in the days this little wonderful ball of chocolate was called a different thing. Something I’m not even comfortable writing. But I’ll just say that it was a very racist name that some people seem to not let go and I can’t understand why it’s even a discussion – just call it chokladboll, for cry sake!
Semla (Lenten bun) – Treat yourself
Stuffing your mouth with goodies, a semla for example, is what the Nordic people has done on ”Shrove Tuesday” ever since the 1500 century. Shrove Tuesday is the last day before the fasting period of Lent which is the preparation for Easter, according to Christianity. This, like kanelbullen, is a wheat bun with cardamom, filled with almond paste and whipped cream. From being a pastry that’s only been eaten on a specific day to being sold in grocery stores the whole year around, this fat and tasty bun still stands tall.
Prinsesstårta (princess cake) – Celebrate like a royalty
Prinsesstårtan is a cake made of cake bottom with layers of whipped cream and vanilla custard, and is coated with green marzipan. The recipe was developed by household teacher Jenny Åkerström, who held a housewife school for young girls in Stockholm in the early 1900’s. Among the students were the princesses Margaretha, Märtha and Astrid, all three daughters of Prince Carl and Princess Ingeborg. It is said that the princesses were particularly fond of the green cake, hence the name changed to princess cake. Every year, about half a million princess cakes are sold in Sweden and during the yearly ”Prinsesstårtans vecka” (”The week of the princess cake”), 10 SEK (1 USD) of each purchased princess cakes goes to the Victoria Fund. They work to provide support for chronically ill and disabled children and young people.
To wrap this up I’ve collected all of these treasures and written the recipes in a Google document so that all of you can try to bake these at home! Click here to get to the recipes and last, but not least, ENJOY!
I’m telling you, kanelbullar is boss. I believe it even heals a broken heart, haha! You should really come visit Sweden and I’ll take you on a kanelbulle-crawl 