St. Lucia Saffron Buns Recipe, Swedish Lussekatter Rolls (2024)

FAQs

What is traditionally used to make the Scandinavian lussekatter yellow? ›

The rolls are lightly sweet, buttery, and vibrant yellow from the saffron-infused dough. The raisins in the "eyes" of the rolls give them just a little extra sweetness when you bite into them. Through my research I've seen many complaints that lussekatter can be dry or dense.

Originally, the buns were called djävulskatter (“devil cats”), but later the name changed to the more polite lussekatter (“Lucia cats”). The dough is sweet and soft, but spiced with a generous amount of saffron to make it bright yellow.

The word lussekatt roughly translates to Lucy cat. The lussekatt is made from a more or less a standard sweet wheat dough which is flavored with saffron. The buns are shaped into different figures, the most common is an S but there are many varieties.

There it was believed that the devil, in the form of a cat, would give the bad children a beating, while a Christ figure, in the form of a child, would hand out sweet buns to all the kind ones. To keep the devil away, the sweet buns were colored with luminous yellow saffron spice.

Lussekatter, or St. Lucia buns, are traditionally eaten in Sweden on the 13th of December in celebration of Saint Lucia, the patron saint of light. Before the Gregorian calendar began in the 18th century in Sweden, the shortest day of the year and the winter solstice fell on December 13.

Families observe St. Lucia's Day in their homes by having one of their daughters (traditionally the eldest) dress in white and serve coffee and baked goods, such as saffron bread (lussekatter) and ginger biscuits, to the other members of the family. These traditional foods are also given to visitors during the day.

Serve warm with butter or clotted cream, or allow to cool and serve halved and toasted with butter.

On December 13^th you will smell the sweet scent of lussekatter, otherwise known as saffron buns, around the thousands of homes in Norway and Sweden, to signify the day of Saint Lucia, the protector of the blind.

Fairy bread, which can be traced back to Australia and New Zealand, is simply sliced white bread spread with butter and covered with multi-colored round "hundreds and thousands," the Australian term for sprinkles. It is then typically cut into triangles.

Buying saffron in Sweden

If you are visiting Sweden it is worth bringing some saffran (saffron) back with you, as it is much cheaper there because the turnover is much greater. Saffron is normally sold ready ground in Sweden.

What is the national cake of Sweden? ›

Sweden's national cake – if there were such a thing officially – is the princess cake ('prinsesstårta'). This globe-shaped layer cake is a well-balanced affair, consisting of a light-as-air sponge cake base topped with vanilla pastry cream and lashings of fluffy whipped cream.

The Christmas Tree

In Denmark, there's a tradition of holding hands in a long line, as a family, singing traditional songs and dancing around the tree. All over Scandinavia, it's also normal to see Christmas trees decorated with real candles.

It's a Norwegian tradition to bring a bowl of Nissegrøt, rice porridge, out to the barn for Fjøsnissen on Christmas Eve. Once fed, he will gladly take care of the farm and the livestock in return. If not – he'll be very offended, and may get up to mischief! Such as leaving the barn door wide open.