Growing up in rural Ohio, Nichole Accettola looked forward to the iconic Royal Dansk tins of butter cookies that popped up around the holidays.
But she’d never experienced Scandinavian baking beyond the factory-made kind until she spent a summer in Copenhagen after high school. Immediately she became smitten with Danish culture, in particular, the array of baked goods routinely enjoyed at all hours of the day. Morning might begin with croissant-like tebirkes. Brunsviger, a dimpled, pull-apart cake, may accompany an afternoon cup of coffee.
Accettola shares those memories, and the recipes that grew out of them, in “Scandinavian from Scratch: A Love Letter to the Baking of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden” (Ten Speed, $29.99).
She tells how, after graduating from culinary school and working in fine dining in Boston for a decade, she married a Dane and spent the next 15 years in Copenhagen taking various food-related jobs and raising three kids.
In 2015, she and her family relocated to San Francisco. Homesick for the Scandinavian-style rye bread she’d left behind, she perfected her own version using sprouted rye berries and sold it at a farmers market — by the loaf, along with the open-faced sandwiches called smorrebrod she made with it. The enthusiastic response inspired her to open a daytime cafe, Kanteen, with an expanded menu of breads, pastries and smorrebrod. “Scandinavian from Scratch” became the cafe’s motto, and a fitting title for her book. The 75 recipes within provide enticing insight into the separate baking identities of Denmark and its neighbors: Pear Chamomile Cream Danishes, Norwegian Waffles with Kefir and Cardamom, the St. Lucia Day Saffron Buns served during Sweden’s winter solstice. Most call for basic pantry ingredients and only a couple require special tools — such as the Marzipan Wreath Tower (Kransekake) that adorns tables at New Year’s Eve celebrations.
I tried the simpler Swedish Oatmeal Lace Cookies, smearing melted bittersweet chocolate between two thin, crispy wafers as directed. They were as easy as they were irresistible, and sturdy enough for mailing. Perhaps I’ll send some in a festive tin next holiday season.
Susan Puckett is a cookbook author and former food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow her at susanpuckett.com.
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