Why Scandinavians Celebrate Long Winter Nights With Saffron Buns

Growing up in Sweden, Emma Bengsston was always cast as a gingersnap man, never the candle-crowned St. Lucia selected to head the train of children walking from house to house through her village each December 13. “I wasn’t trusted with open flame,” recalls the chef of Aquavit, the much-lauded Nordic restaurant in New York City. Still, she thrilled in the ritual of assembling with her costumed classmates at school very early on one of the darkest days of the year, bringing music, warmth, and light to neighbors in honor of the feast’s namesake martyr.

Now as an adult, Bengsston says she doesn’t mind the minimal sunlight at this time of the year in her adopted home in New York City or back in her native country. “We get to light a lot of candles and you cozy up on your couch and you don’t necessarily have to go out. For introverts, it’s really nice to stay at home a lot.”

For Bengsston and her fellow Swedes — as well as Norwegians and English-speaking Finns — there is also solace and celebration in lussekatter or lussebullar. It’s a traditional wheat bun spiced with black cardamom and sunny saffron, and curled into a double cat-tail with a raisin or currant pressed into the center of each coil. Bengsston admits that the shape doesn’t always register as a cat (or even a sweet, since like many Swedish baked goods, the recipe contains very little sugar) for people outside of her culture, but she treasures it for its comforting, nostalgic pleasure.

Paired with a warm cup of mulled, spiced glögg (nonalcoholic for the young ones and fortified with wine for the elders), on a long, dark December night, it’s a unique taste of home for Scandinavian expats, and a delightful discovery for those who didn’t grow up with it. At Aquavit, Bengsston takes pride in serving these distinctive buns to every guest on the Feast of St. Lucia, and makes sure the restaurant’s buffet tables are laden with them until Christmas. 

Like any holiday recipe, St. Lucia buns are often personalized to the tastes of the makers. Bengsston’s family has always opted for cardamom and minimal sugar, while author Nichole Accettola prefers brushing a sweet orange-zest-infused glaze on the version she perfected for her book Scandinavian from Scratch. Bengsston’s fellow Swede, Marcus Samuelsson, who previously helmed Aquavit, adds a dash of brandy to his recipe.

The Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood works quark (a fresh curdled cheese) into his dough and recommends twisting leftover scraps into the shape of oxen, birds, and cats. No word on what the hosts of international spinoff Hela Sverige Bakar (“All Sweden Is Baking”) make of Hollywood’s innovation, but former contestant Jennifer Barmer went viral in 2016 when she posted a lussebullar recipe calling for breast milk on her blog. 2020 winner Hilda Kirkhoff adds both vodka and quark to the recipe she recently shared on Instagram.

These modern takes on lussekatter have come a long way from the versions Food & Wine’s Finnish-born associate director of digital production Elsa Säätelä (who was always selected as Lucia because of her height) ate as a child, which she found “dry and boring.” It’s still all a sweet memory, and no other holiday treat can hold a candle to that.