These saffron buns are a traditional Swedish dish.  Jessica explains, “This is a traditional Swedish baked good served during the month of December. It is based on the holiday St. Lucia, on December 13th, but can be found on Christmas tables as well. It is not very sweet, but makes a nice roll to have with coffee or tea.”

Lussekatter – Swedish Christmas Saffron Rolls

2 cups milk
½ cup butter
1/2 tsp. saffron
5 tsp. yeast
8 oz. sour cream
1 cup sugar
½ tsp. salt
7 cups flour
½ cup raisins
1 egg

Warm the milk in a sauce pan on the stove at medium heat and add the butter and saffron. Let the butter melt, but don’t allow the temperature to get too hot. The liquid should not boil.  In a large bowl, add yeast. Pour the warm milk/butter mixture over the yeast and stir.  Add sour cream, sugar, salt and flour to the liquid. Mix until you get a good dough consistency. If the dough is too loose, add a touch more flour.  Put a towel over the bowl and let the dough rise for 1 hour.

Remove dough from bowl and place it on a floured surface. Cut the dough into 40 small sections.  Roll each section into a rope about 6 inches long. The rope should be about one inch thick. Then curl the tops of the rope back in toward the rope itself, a bit like an S-shape. Each of the 40 Lussekatts should look like a small S.

Place the Lussekatter on baking trays. Be sure to put parchment paper underneath. Cover the baking trays with a towel and let them rise for an additional 40 minutes.

Heat your oven to 425 degrees.  When the Lussekatter are finished rising, place two raisins on each one, in the crooks of each S.  Beat the egg and brush the egg on top of each Lussekatt.  Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

Jane has been with Wasabi Media Group since early 2009, making her one of the first ten team members.  At that time Jane worked as a columnist who specialized in articles on animals, books, travel, and humor.  Since then, Jane has been promoted to the role of Associate Editor.  She oversees the publication of articles on our Entertainment, Family, Fine Living, and Opinion channels.  She also continues to provide articles, most notably as a regular humor writer on Giggle Chuckle.

Jane is sharing her recipe for Pumpkin Loaf, which Jane noted, may have more of a Halloween or Thanksgiving feel, but it also works well as a dish for a potluck holiday event or as a gift.

Pumpkin Loaf

1 egg
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup canned or cooked puréed pumpkin
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Beat egg; add oil, milk, vanilla, and pumpkin, and mix thoroughly. Combine remaining ingredients and mix with pumpkin mixture till just blended (it’s okay if  it’s a little lumpy).

Bake in a greased 9×5 loaf pan at 350 for about one hour.

Feeding a handful of fifteen year old boys, nevermind a thirteen year old sister and her friend, is no small feat.  We went the simple route for dinner: many large pizzas and soda.  In the morning, I debated picking up donuts, but I decided to take the easier route, or at least what is the easier route for me: baking muffins.

My mom was a fan of the Betty Crocker cookbook and used it for some of the baked goods she made.  Included in that list are the Sweet Muffins to which you can add a variety of ingredients.  While this recipe was a good start, I decided to change it a little and make it my own.  For a little depth of flavor I added vanilla, and for a little sweetness I added an extra tablespoon of sugar.  And of course, to feed a gaggle of teens, I needed to double the recipe.

While I made these with chocolate chips to please our chocolate-loving group, they could be made with blueberries or any variety of ingredients.

Sweeter Muffins

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/4 canola oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1-1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup + 1 Tb. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup chocolate chips, blueberries, etc.

Preheat oven to 400.  Line muffin pan with baking cups or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine egg, milk, oil, and vanilla and whisk.  Add flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt, and stir to combine.  Add chocolate chips or blueberries and stir until incorporated.  Fill muffin cups two-thirds full.

Bake 15 minutes for mini muffins, 20 minutes for regular muffins, and 25 minutes for jumbo muffins.

Makes 24 mini muffins, 12 regular muffins, and 6 jumbo muffins.

Among my collection of purchased cookbooks are two binders filled with recipes clipped from magazines and index cards with hand-written recipes.  Some of these handwritten cards are from my mom, some of which are newer to her repertoire and others that are family classics.  Using these recipes, seeing my mom’s handwriting, makes her feel much closer than the 1,500 miles that separate us.

With fall drawing near last weekend, I wanted to make pumpkin bread.  I thought that I had a family recipe for it in one of my binders.  Sure enough, there it was, my Aunt Sue’s recipe copied onto an index card by my mom.  Although my mom wasn’t here to enjoy it, it did make me think of baking with her as a child.  I am hopeful that the cooking and baking I do with my children creates the same warm and lasting memories.

Aunt Sue’s Pumpkin Bread

3 cups sugar

1 cup canola oil

4 eggs

1-1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

2/3 cup water

1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin

3-1/3 cup flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 cup chopped nuts, optional*

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray 2  loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray.

Place all ingredients, in order given, in a large bowl and mix well.  (I used my stand mixer.)  Divide batter evenly between loaf pans.  Bake for approximately one hour, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

*Depending on your preference, you can add walnuts or pecans.

For a while now, I’ve considered making a scone that ventured into the savory side.  My husband, especially, has shown an interest in trying a scone of this fashion.  With a delayed Father’s Day celebration occurring just the other week, it seemed the perfect time to give a savory scone a try.

Since it was his celebration, I wanted to make something that he would enjoy, which meant including some fresh herbs from his garden.  As a way of convincing the kids that they’d want to try these scones, I chose parmesan for the cheese, as that is a favorite for all of them.  Ham was the easy choice as the third flavor: not too bold and enjoyed by all.  However, I think these scones could be made with a variety of different cheeses, meats, and herbs. I would suggest sticking with hard cheeses (as they have less moisture) and would drain meat well (again to avoid extra moisture in the dough).

The savory scones were a hit with my husband.  The kids’ votes were mixed; no one thoroughly disliked them, but no one was ecstatic about them.  Of course, they all have a penchant for sweets, so when they heard scones, they immediately assumed they would have chocolate.  As for me, I found that the scones were tasty and will be a new recipe with which I can experiment and try new flavor combinations.

Savory Scones

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

5 Tb. unsalted butter, diced

3/4 cup smoked ham, diced

3/4 cup parmesan, grated

1 Tb. fresh rosemary, chopped

3/4 cup buttermilk*

1 egg yolk

Preheat oven to 400◦F. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.  Add butter.  Combine ingredients using a pastry blender (or two forks) until butter is reduced to the size of grains of rice.  Stir in ham, cheese, and rosemary. Whisk buttermilk and egg yolk in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup or small bowl.  Add liquids to dry ingredients; mix until dough forms a ball.  Place dough on a lightly floured surface and press into an 8-inch round.  Cut into 8 wedges.  Transfer wedges to rimmed cookie sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the scones are crusty on top and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.  Serve warm.

*Instead of using buttermilk, I often combine 1 tablespoon vinegar and enough milk to equal 3/4 cup.

I could have made a banana bread using a tried and true recipe.  However, when I got butter out of the refrigerator for the recipe, I noticed that we had vanilla yogurt.  The yogurt led me to wonder if I could replace some of the butter or oil in a typical recipe and create a bread that was moist but less fatty.

As I was making this bread for the kids on Sunday night, I knew that there was one more ingredient that would make it even more popular- chocolate chips.  For me, the addition of chocolate chips makes this a “no thank you” bread, but that was fine with me.  After a weekend that involved lots of indulgent meals, I was more than happy to pass on eating banana bread.  When the kids smelled the freshly baked banana bread and then saw that it had chocolate chips, they were quite excited.  Monday morning couldn’t come soon enough!

Yogurt & Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

2 Tb. unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup vanilla yogurt

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 mashed ripe bananas

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Spray one mini loaf pan and one 9×5 loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl or stand mixer combine butter, oil, and sugar, and mix on medium until smooth.  Add yogurt, and mix to combine.  Add egg and vanilla, and beat well.  Add banana, and mix until combined.  Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and stir until all dry ingredients are moistened.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Divide batter between prepared pans.

Bake mini loaf pan for 45 minutes and 9×5 loaf pan for 55 minutes.  Bread will be golden brown, and a tester placed in the center of the loaf should come out clean.

While sugar biscuits may seem easy, and they are, the problem is that he likes a particular type of sugar biscuits served at a Maryland restaurant, Friendly Farm.  So, instead of simply being a request for a certain type of biscuit, there was an icon that I was trying to match.  I have been to this restaurant and eaten them, so I was pretty certain that they are deep-fried.  Unfortunately, I am neither a fan of eating nor cooking anything deep fried.  I know, it was his birthday, but I was cooking and wanted to make them in a way I would do best, so I decided to go the route of baking them.

To make matters more stressful, on Sunday I learned that not only had my husband enjoyed them at the restaurant, but years ago he had made them himself, deep-fried.  And yes, he thought the ones he had made tasted just like the restaurant version.  At this point, I accepted that mine would not be replicas, but by golly, they would be the best baked sugar biscuits he ever had eaten.

Playing with ideas on how to make a baking powder biscuit extra delicious, I decided to dip the entire unbaked biscuit in melted butter and then sugar.  I hoped it would make a wonderful coating that would compensate for the lack of frying.  When dinnertime arrived (AKA the moment of truth), I was worried.  Sure, my husband would eat them and not say a word if he were disappointed, but I would know by the quantity he ate.  Well, I served a dozen sugar biscuits to our party of four.  There were none left after the meal, and it seems that my dear ate at least four of them.  With four biscuits eaten, they seemed to be just fine.

Sugar Biscuits

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 Tb. sugar

1/4 cup butter

3/4 – 1 cup milk

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 400.  In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 tablespoon sugar.  Cut cold butter into flour mixture, and mix with a pastry blender (or two forks) until butter is the size small peas.  Add milk gradually, stirring until the dough just begins to form a ball.  Transfer dough to a floured surface, and knead for a minute or until fully combined.  Roll dough to a thickness of 1 inch.  Use a 2-inch biscuit cutter (or glass) to make biscuits.  When all biscuits are cut, dip each biscuit in butter, coating both sides, and then sugar, coating both sides, and place on baking sheet.  When all biscuits have been dipped, bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Stollen was a recipe from my Great Grandma Theiss.  However, my parents adapted the recipe a little.  Instead of using candied fruit, we replaced it with maraschino cherries.  The taste and texture of the cherries was much more appealing than the chewiness and odd taste of candied fruit.

As part of my mom’s QT (Quarterly Treat) Club, I sent a loaf of stollen to her at the beginning of this month.  The second loaf was kept here and enjoyed by us.  I have to admit, as soon as the loaf was slightly cooled, I cut a slice and spread some butter on it and savored every bite.  If I closed my eyes, I would have sworn I was five years old again.

Stollen

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup milk

2-1/4 tsp. yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup raisins

1 egg white

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup maraschino cherries, chopped and drained on paper towels

1/2 cup slivered almonds

3-1/2 to 4 cups flour

Combine butter and milk in a small pot over medium heat.  When butter is melted, remove from heat, and cool to lukewarm.  Place warm water and yeast in stand mixer bowl, stir, and allow to sit for 5 minutes.  Add butter/milk mixture, sugar, raisins,  egg white, salt, cherries, and almonds.  Using dough hook, mix on speed 2 for 30 seconds, or until combined.  Gradually add flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing at speed 2, until a stiff dough has formed.  Mix on speed 2 for an additional 2 minutes.  Place dough in a greased bowl, flipping dough once, to coat with oil.  Cover the bowl with a towel, and place in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size, about 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

Place dough on a floured surface, and knead for 1 minute.  Divide dough into two loaves, and place each in a greased loaf pan.  Cover, and allow dough to rise until doubled in size, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350.  Bake loaves for approximately 30 to 35 minutes.  Immediately remove from pans, and cool on baking rack.  When fully cooled, the loaves can be coated with a powdered sugar-milk glaze, if desired.

However, yesterday I felt inspired to make some oatmeal bread for three reasons.  One, I had bought a great aged cheddar that I wanted to use for an open face melt for dinner.  Two, I needed to use bread as the base and thought oatmeal bread would be perfect.  Three, my husband recently mentioned that he was craving oatmeal bread, so why not surprise him with it after a week away on business travel?  (Yes, he is a little bit spoiled. . .)

I found a few different oatmeal bread recipes and took pieces of each to create my own.  I decided to add extra egg white to make the bread a little lighter.  I also took the bread out of the oven five minutes before it was done baking and spread a tablespoon of honey over the top, which gave it a shiny finish and some extra sweetness.

As it turns out, this bread was an excellent base for our melts.  My husband enjoyed it so much that after enjoying his melts he had to sample an extra piece.  It also was the perfect accompaniment for a breakfast of eggs today.  It seems that breaking a baking rule may have its benefits.

Honey Oatmeal Bread

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup + 1 Tb. honey

2½ Tb. butter, unsalted

2¾ – 3¼ cups flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 tsp. salt

2¼ tsp. active dry yeast

1 egg

1 egg white

Combine water, 1/3 cup honey, and butter in a small pot.  Place over low heat, and warm until it reaches 120°.

Combine 2½ cups flour, oatmeal, salt, and yeast in stand mixer bowl.  Using dough hook, mix for 15 seconds on speed 2.  While hook is operating, slowly add liquid mixture, and mix for 1 minute.  Add egg and egg white, and mix for an additional minute.  Add flour, 1/4 cup at a time, and mix for 2 minutes or until dough clings to the hook and cleans the sides of the bowl.  Knead on speed 2 for another 2 minutes.

Place dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease top.  Cover with a towel, and place in a warm area to rise for about 1 hour.  (Heating your oven to 400° for 1 minute and then turning it off creates a suitable location.)

Punch down dough, and shape into a loaf.  Place in a greased 9×5 loaf pan.  Cover with a towel, and place in a warm area to rise for about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375°.  Bake bread for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, and spread tablespoon of honey over the top of the loaf.  Bake for 5 minutes.  (You may need to cover the bread loosely with foil to prevent burning.)  Remove from pan, and place on baking rack to cool.

The recipe that I use is my grandma’s.  The only difference is that I don’t add raisins.  The appearance of dried fruit in the bread would make it unappealing to many of my family members.  Also, according to family history, grandma and her sister differed in how to make Irish Soda Bread.  Grandma never added caraway seeds, which works for my family also.

Baked on the afternoon of our St. Pat’s dinner, it is still warm when dinner is served.  Topped with some butter, it is a once a year treat.  I guess I could make it more frequently, but having it only once a year makes it even more appreciated.  As the last slice of this year’s loaf was eaten today, it will be another 51 weeks before we enjoy it again.

Grandma’s Irish Soda Bread

4 cups flour

1-1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tb. butter, melted

2 eggs, beaten

1-1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease 2 quart round baking dish.  Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a large mixing bowl.  In a small bowl, combine butter, eggs, and milk.  Add liquid ingredients to flour mixture, and mix well.  Place dough in greased baking dish, and place in oven.  Bake for approximately 1-1/2 hours or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the comes out clean.