The Great Scandinavian Baking Book

Holy Cow! Got this cookbook several weeks ago and just got around to making my first recipe, on page 84, the Swedish Tea Ring. This was a no-knead bread, 24 hours of letting the dough sit in the fridge, and baked today. My neighbor and I could hardly keep our hands off the finished product it was so darn good. As I made it I really wondered if it would be worth it having purchased the cardamon pods and was kicking myself while digging them out of their husks, grinding them etc. It provided the most terrific smells while baking and this was really so easy to do will definitely make this many times in the future! P.S. WOULD PROBABLY BUY MORE COOKBOOKS IF they would show their index or table of contents. I hate buying a cookbook blind only to find a repeat of recipes I already know ie. chocolate chip cookies. I mean really, how many of those recipes does one need to know?!!!

So many recipe books to choose from; where do you start? Well, I started with reading the reviews here at Amazon, and this book got such high marks I ended up ordering it - and I have not been disappointed. I'm reading my way through the book right now - yes, it's a recipe book you can read (as opposed to many others which are fun to browse but can get a little repetitive) because of all the snippets of backstory and custom woven throughout. It adds so much for me to be able to find out not only how things were prepared, but when, and why. I also LOVE that there are recipes from all over Scandinavia - I, for one, have never made recipes from Iceland before - and if there are regional variations, we are told about them.In short - the reviewers here are not wrong, this is a wonderful book! The only thing that could have improved it would have been a few more pictures and/or diagrams - I like knowing how it's supposed to turn out - but this is not a flaw, just a 'wouldn't it be nice'.Highly recommended.

Beatrice Ojakangas doesn’t disappoint! Her recipes are always easy and come out perfectly. I bought two copies, one for my daughter and one for my niece. It is a great cookbook for holiday and special occasion baking.

This book is somewhat different than other cookbooks I have reviewed. There are no photos to assist with presentation, and the recipes are sparsely illustrated.The book is different from other Scandinavian cookbooks that I own as well in that they tend to omit insular areas, focusing exclusively on Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. This book covers Iceland as well. The recipes here also range from main dish mushroom pies to cookies, and from crackers and breads to cakes. The diversity in the cookbook is astounding in recipe types as well as geography.Instead of a photograph, each recipe includes a brief set of notes about how the recipe fits into the food culture where it comes from. In many ways, this is more helpful than a photograph anyway, as long as one has other cookbooks which have such photographs of Scandinavian foods and how they are decorated. (For those, I'd recommend:  Authentic Norwegian Cooking  and  The Cooking of Scandinavia - Foods of the World Series .)Highly recommended.

The Great Scandinavian Baking Book is something I wanted to add to my cookbook collection for two reasons: 1) I'm from Minnesota and my Mom and her side of the family are all of Norwegian descent. The thought that I could recreate some items from my Mom's childhood excited me. 2) I wanted a collection of baking recipes that yielded results appropriate for "company."Also I really like the flavor of cardamom :)This book served both purposes. I've made some great items with wonderful results. I'll be honest, some of them sounded quite difficult and I didn't have a lot of confidence in my abilities. I'm a great cook (if I do say so myself) but baking - following directions really - is not my forte. But Beatrice Ojakangas' instructions are so precise, yet natural that I got things right the first time.The first thing I made was an Icelandic coffee wreath. No, it's not Norweigan like my Mom. But it did make a great and beautiful pastry fit for serving at a holiday potluck at work. Everyone was impressed. It was so simple to make but it looked like a million bucks. That's the impression I want to make with my food at work, you know?Then I made Norweigian butter cookies. Oh my gosh. How can a 6 ingredient recipe turn out something so lovely and melt-in-your-mouth good?The real payoff was Crispy Krumkake. My Mom still has Grandma's Krumkake iron, but doesn't ever make the cookies because, well Mom is into lots of domestic arts, but cooking isn't one of them. So I gave Krumkake a shot and the recipe was fantastic. Light delicate cookies, made pretty by the iron's design, they were a hit! Unfortunately the German side of my family filled them with Cool Whip which made me cringe, but they liked it so I guess it's okay.So why did I remove a star? Well the book has this gorgeous photo on the cover but no photos inside. There are some line drawings where appropriate (like explaining how to slice and shape that coffee wreath), but no inspirational photos. And the book isn't bound so as to be very useful in the kitchen. It's a paperback that isn't heavy enough to stay open. Not that format is everything, but transcribing or photocopying recipes isn't my idea of a good time. Overall it is a minor thing, but still worthy of comment.If you like the flavors of cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, butter, almonds - you'll love this book whether you have a Scandinavian history or not.

This is the second cookbook I bought in my entire life: I have been making breads for years but always wanted a recipe not offline that was accurate and correct. This is the first cookbook that I made one single thing after I got it and it turned out awesome.Also it had tips and things that I had never considered doing in making a loaf of bread. This author went through extreme measures to make sure that the recipes are accurate and precise no matter how redundant some recipes are it's the additional items that make each unique.I am going to be the neighbor that hands out Christmas cookies and special pastries this year for my neighbors.OMG- today I just made the puff pastry... Awesome!!!

Lots of extra information to read. I don't mind the lack of pictures.

Great service, great delivery, and excellent product with fabulous Scandinavian cooking, with easy to follow recipes.

There are great recipes in this book. Simple recipes with wonderful flavour. If you are new to Scandinavian cooking, you will enjoy all recipes. If you are used to your mother's or grandmother's baking of Scandinavian cookies, cakes and breads then it may take a couple of tries by adjusting amounts to replicate the flavour's you are familiar with but the recipes in this book are a great starting point.

A book without photo (only the ne on the cover) but the recipes are absoltely fantastic and well informed. I love it !

amate paesi nordici ...questo fa per voi,e per me, niente foto,solo le ricette ,comunque autrice e molto famosa,beatrice ojakangas..mi piace anche qualita prezzo,per tutti..