Modern Scandinavian Baking: A Cookbook of Sweet Treats and Savory Bakes

I've been following Strong on social media for years and have made many of her recipes, most of which are included in the book. I am happy to have so many of my favorite scandi baking recipes all in one place. These recipes are so so good! I highly recommend trying the kladdkaka, krumkaker, berlinerkranser, and our family favorite, fattigmann. I love that there is a short story about each recipe and that Strong goes into detail about some of the not so common ingredients and tools used. My only complaint is the lack of pictures. Of the nearly 70 recipes, only 9 have pictures! That's crazy to me! Especially considering that many of them have unique shapes. I can't imagine someone making krumkaker or fattigmann for the first time without knowing what it is supposed to look like as a finish product. I am very familiar with scandi baking, and I will still sadly have to google many of these recipes just to see what they are supposed to look like.

I received this beautiful book a few days ago. I like to try a few recipes throughout a new cookbook right away, so I decided to make the “Classic Cardamom Buns”. Also, this particular recipe is the base for at least a couple other recipes in the book.

At first glance, the recipe looks intimidating, because not only does it call for a mixture of melted butter, milk and cardamom (which I use quite frequently), but also the author prefers to use a technique which is supposed to extend the freshness period of the buns. This involves making a roux, the method many of us use to make sauces and gravies.

I’m a fan of the mise en scene school of cooking, where one prepares all of the ingredients prior to cooking. Some of the ingredients, such as the milk and flour, need to be divided. Therefore I used the recipe along with the ingredient list to prepare for the various steps in the recipe. Here I found a big problem. The recipe calls for 1 1/2 c milk. Yet if one goes by the recipe, 2/3 milk is used for one step and 1/3 for the next. This adds up to 1 c milk. Where does the other 1/2 milk go?

I also was somewhat confused about the statement that the dough should be somewhat sticky and a bench scraper could be used to remove the dough from the kneading surface. I’ve been baking bread for over 40 years, and I know that there is a great variety of stickiness in yeast doughs. Those using milk and butter are also difficult to judge for this factor. I added a moderate splash of milk to the dough, because the dough produced from following the directions was very heavy. Again, this is typical of doughs using dairy ingredients. I ended up with a sticky, heavy dough that didn’t rise as expected, even though I put it on top of a range with the oven heat at 350F. I ended up extending the rising time and even so it never reached a size double to the original. I further extended the baking time to 15 minutes and the rolls were not too dry.

Just in case one wonders about the quality of the yeast I used, I used the same yeast on the same day and produced three light a fluffy loaves challah.

If I make this recipe again, and I probably will, I plan to use bread flour and adjust the rising times accordingly. But first I’m going to do some research about this milk problem.

I did give the book four stars, which might be prematurely over generous, as I have only tried in recipe so far. I hope to update this review later as I discover how effective the other recipes are.

Honestly this book is a treat.

Perhaps its a quarantine baking fever, but I’ve been seriously into baking recently. I was excited to try this book because I have a lot of Scandinavian heritage, but unfortunately no handed down family recipes. That will change for my children. This cook book is such a treasure trove, and one I will use to rebuild my family’s legacy recipes.

Have had this book two days, already made two recipes that where both grand slams. The Pancakes with Blueberries and Bacon where a huge hit with my picky eaters. I felt like an actual magician because the pancakes where so thin and easy to roll.

The Hallongrotta cookies (Raspberry Filled Almond cups) WERE TO DIE FOR. Seriously so good, they are going to be my Christmas cookies this year, and I might have to make a make a second batch tomorrow.

I’m also excited to try some of savory recipes, especially those with salmon, and am impatient to try the Lefse recipe as well.

In all it’s a fabulous well rounded cookbook. I’m not a fantastic baker, but the recipes are easy to follow and the results are spellbinding.

I say that because these recipes where a bit magic, making me homesick for food I never got to eat. If my Danish ( my dad’s side) and Swedish ( my mom’s side) great grandparents had kept their cooking traditions would I have grown up in house that smelled like cardamom?

I love this connection to unremembered ancestors. But more than that I love the food. Seriously I can not overstate how good those cookies where. If you want to bit of comfort in uncertain times, do yourself a favor get this cookbook.

I am a Swedish home baker. My father owned and was a master baker in Sweden. Baking was always going on in my home. I treasure my family recipes, and have won ribbons at the county fair with them. I love this book. It has some recipes that I have never seen before from the other Scandinavian countries. Thank you for writing this book. It lived up to my expectations!

Loved the rum truffles, very boozy indeed. Almost like eating a shot of rum but the chocolate balances it out. The book’s pages look like they were printed off a home printer and there is a severe lack of photos. This isn’t just wanted for aesthetic but many of us are visual learners and need photos of food to understand what we’re working toward. I tried the classic cardamom buns and had a similar rising issue as another reviewer mentioned. My dough ball did not double in size even after leaving it for longer than suggested. The measurements in this recipe were a bit difficult to understand as there was a lot of working backwards and math to do. The prep time should also include fresh grinding of cardamom which took me over an hour to do. Still happy to have this cookbook and excited to try new recipes but think it’s fair to share these details with others.

I have made many of the recipes in this book. A few of my faves: The lemon cake with thyme glaze- the glaze puts it over the top. The waffle recipe is wonderful, our new Sunday morning treat. The cookie recipes brought back Christmas memories of my husband’s Swedish grandmother. Also, the Seeded Crisp bread is in regular rotation now. To the 1 star reviewer, I think the picture (pg38) to which they are referring is of the Cinnamon Cardamom Twists on pg 46, not the Cardamom Buns on pg 41. Hope that helps!

I benefitted from a thorough reading of the beginning of the book before making the recipes as it explains some of the rationale to why the recipes include certain methods or ingredients. I have messed up a recipe (still tasted good!) and when I went to re-read it, it was a definite ME error and not the book.

My only critique would be that I would love more pictures (and it goes for every cookbook). I like to see what my target is, so I can see if I have gone wrong!

I have made many of the recipes in this book. A few of my faves: The lemon cake with thyme glaze- the glaze puts it over the top. The waffle recipe is wonderful, our new Sunday morning treat. The cookie recipes brought back Christmas memories of my husband’s Swedish grandmother. Also, the Seeded Crisp bread is in regular rotation now. To the 1 star reviewer, I think the picture (pg38) to which they are referring is of the Cinnamon Cardamom Twists on pg 46, not the Cardamom Buns on pg 41. Hope that helps!

I benefitted from a thorough reading of the beginning of the book before making the recipes as it explains some of the rationale to why the recipes include certain methods or ingredients. I have messed up a recipe (still tasted good!) and when I went to re-read it, it was a definite ME error and not the book.

My only critique would be that I would love more pictures (and it goes for every cookbook). I like to see what my target is, so I can see if I have gone wrong!

I have made many of the recipes in this book. A few of my faves: The lemon cake with thyme glaze- the glaze puts it over the top. The waffle recipe is wonderful, our new Sunday morning treat. The cookie recipes brought back Christmas memories of my husband’s Swedish grandmother. Also, the Seeded Crisp bread is in regular rotation now. To the 1 star reviewer, I think the picture (pg38) to which they are referring is of the Cinnamon Cardamom Twists on pg 46, not the Cardamom Buns on pg 41. Hope that helps!

I benefitted from a thorough reading of the beginning of the book before making the recipes as it explains some of the rationale to why the recipes include certain methods or ingredients. I have messed up a recipe (still tasted good!) and when I went to re-read it, it was a definite ME error and not the book.

My only critique would be that I would love more pictures (and it goes for every cookbook). I like to see what my target is, so I can see if I have gone wrong!

I am pretty good at baking bread, so I am familiar with yeast baking. I picked “Classic Cardamon Buns”on page 41, because I have heard so much about it. I read through the recipe and looked at the photo on the previous page. The photo on page 39 looks like the classic cardamon bun with the twists and swirls. However, on Step 7 of the recipe, the author instructs the reader to “punch down the and shape it into 12 equal balls”. What happened to cutting into strips, twisting, and then swirling to make a bun? The way she instructed, it won’t even look like the picture.

The other issue I have is her recipe instructions. She gives the total amounts of the ingredients in the beginning. In the actual instructions, she likes to divide the ingredient as she goes along. She uses the word “remaining”. For instance, in this recipe, you start with 4 cups of flour, then you use 1/4 cup for your roux. In step 5, it instructs you to “stir in the remaining flour”. I had to stop and subtract 1/4 cup from 4 cups. Who has the time? I measure ingredients out as I go along.

The recipe “Savory Rusks with Brown Butter and Herbs” is also confusing. In step 1, it instructs to “add the milk”. Then the last sentence states to add “remaining milk”. Wait, I just poured my entire milk! I do NOT recommend this book. I ended up using the Internet and found a cardamon bun recipe which came out just fine.

Amazing book! So many great recipes. As the author says that Scandinavians like to bake with less sugar and that’s what I was looking for. Simple instructions and ingredients. The only con would be lack of pictures. There are only few. But once you look up the name of the pastry, you’ll have a good idea what it is.