St.Lucia Buns

Saint Lucia's Day is the Church feast day dedicated to St. Lucia, the saint of lights, and is observed on December 13. Its modern day celebration is generally associated with Sweden and Norway but is also observed in many other European countries. In the United States it is celebrated in states with a large number of people of Scandinavian ancestry, often centered around church events.

In traditional celebrations, Saint Lucia comes as a young woman with lights and sweets. In some forms, a procession is headed by one girl wearing a crown of candles (or lights), while others in the procession hold only a single candle each.

One of the sweets that the young woman brings is traditionally St. Lucia buns, which are slightly sweet, twisted buns colored by saffron.

The holiday is the first of the Christmas holidays and was also associated with one of the shortest days of the year (as far as daylight goes). I think the buns are supposed to represent the sun and looking forward to warmer days and more light.

I really liked one of the little pieces of info I read about these buns that mentioned they were celebrating "the return of the sun." I liked it because it reminded me of waiting for the return of The Son. Kind of a neat play on words.

OK, so here they are...raising....
And after they have been baked. It's a tradition to put a raisin in the center of each swirl.

This recipes was very easy and delicious. They are not too sweet, but have a very rich flavor from the butter and eggs in the dough. They don't raise a lot but are still soft and puffy after they have baked. The whole family really liked them.

Here's a link...St. Lucia Buns

A Year of Bread

I love breads from around the world, especially breads that have to do with a specific holiday or cultural tradition. I was inspired by the movie Julie and Julia but, come on, I'm not going to cook every recipe in a 500+ page book. I did want to do something for a year (or more) so I decided to do a year of bread, and this is the blog.

At least once a month--maybe more often--I'm going to bake a different kind of bread. Most of them are going to be in conjuction with a holiday or celebration, but I'm sure there will be plenty of other breads thrown in just for fun.

I'm in no way a professional baker or expert of bread, but I do love it! I'm looking forward to exploring new recipes and sharing them on here. Wish me luck!!

Erin