S Cookies, Cardamom Braid, Christmas

The discussion of Cardamom in another topic has me dredging through my memory.

My mother in law was a good baker and every Christmas she would make "Swedish S Cookies" which were, of course, shaped like the letter S. I tried to Google "S Cookies" (using the quotes you get good hits) and found that the most popular recipes are for an Italian cookie, but it looks like all of the European variations are basically butter cookies. And none of them have cardamom.

So I said "why does cardamom make me think of Christmas" and finally came up with the answer. She would ALSO make "Cardamom Braid" which can also be looked up as "Cardamom Bread." The "Braid" gets you specifically up into Scandinavia.

I don't know why my MIL cooked Swedish for Christmas, because neither she nor her husband were Swedish, she was a total WASP.

But those sure were good. And she'd also make a "Saffron Braid."

I wonder if you have made or eaten S cookies or cardamom braid? I have no idea how wide-spread these things are. My own mother tended to gravitate toward chocolate when she baked, even at Christmas. My wife still makes these things on occasion, as well.

I'll try to post links to likely looking recipes...

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/cardamom-b ... etail.aspx

I'm not sure I approve of the nuts and chocolate but they probably are delicious. A Swedish S Cookie recipe from the NY Times.

Swedish 's' Cookies
INGREDIENTS

1 cup cool butter, cut into chunks
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, well beaten
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup toasted, ground pecans
PREPARATION

1.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg, flour and salt. Stir well to combine. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using a cookie press with the star design, press dough onto the sheet in an "s" shape about 1 1/2 inches long. Repeat, placing cookies 2 inches apart. Bake until the edges are barely golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.
2.
In a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips. Dip one end of each cookie into the chocolate and then into the ground pecans. Return to the rack to dry. Cookies can be frozen in an airtight container, with wax paper between each layer for up to 6 months. Defrost 30 minutes before serving.
YIELD About 64 cookies

Frank, the "S" Cookies you are looking for may be Santa Lucia buns. My friend, and occasional poster here, Jay Miller, has a wonderful recipe for these, which he occasionally makes for me with triple the cardamom listed in the recipe.

Hi Jeff

Thanks for the reply. I was going to say "no, buns aren't S-shaped" but I googled them and my goodness:



These are S-shaped AND made with cardamom! But my MIL's cookies were cookies, and in fact they were more perfectly S shaped than anything I can find online. Crunchy yellow cookies. But these buns look great, and they are probably a variation on the Cardamom Braid that I mentioned, or the other way around.

Santa Lucia -- it is no accident that the name means "light" and relates to luz in Spanish or lux, lucis in Latin. The festival in Sweden involves beautiful young girls wearing crowns of lit candles. I think in a way it is a beautiful celebration of the fact that despite the darkness of winter, we can create light, so the darkness gives us a way to appreciate the light.

I asked my wife if her grandmother also baked Swedish stuff, she said no, it was her mother's creativity, I think her mom (a smart and interesting lady) just decided she liked Swedish baked goods and started cooking them. My theory is that she had a Swedish friend at some point but perhaps she just read about these things in a magazine. She's gone so we can't ask her...

I think we're definitely going to have to have these things around this Christmas.