The St. Lucia’s Cats are typical sweets for December 13th, the day that celebrates St. Lucia’s feast.
Small brioche enriched with saffron in an ‘S’ shape with raisins to embellish them, originating from Sweden where their name ‘Lussekatter’ is associated with the saint who protects vision and bringer of light.
When St. Lucia’s Cats appear on tables, it means that the holiday season is starting.
It is said that saffron is added to these ‘S’ shaped brioche to bring light since December 13th is the darkest day of the year.
Below I leave you with other brioche and sweets to prepare for Christmas and beyond, then right after the photo, we’ll discover how to prepare the St. Lucia’s Cats!!
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 3 Hours
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 8
- Cooking methods: Oven, Electric oven
- Cuisine: Swedish
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for St. Lucia’s Cats
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup butter (soft)
- 1 egg (medium)
- 2/5 cup sugar
- to taste raisins
- 1/4 oz fresh yeast
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 tsp saffron (powdered)
- 1 pinch salt
Tools
- 1 Mixer
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Baking tray
Preparation of St. Lucia’s Cats
To prepare the St. Lucia’s Cats first put the milk and butter at room temperature in a small pot.
Add the saffron and melt over low heat for a few moments, then let cool.
In the bowl of a mixer or planetary mixer, or with a kitchen robot equipped with a K whisk, insert the flour, sugar, and crumbled yeast, and mix at low speed.
Gradually incorporate the milk at room temperature with the whisk running.
Add the egg and knead at high speed to incorporate everything well, finally adding the pinch of salt.
Knead very well until you get a compact and non-sticky dough, then form a ball and let it rise in a bowl covered with plastic wrap.
Let rise for at least 2 hours in a warm place until doubled in size, then separate pieces of 2 oz each and form small logs.
They should be about 12 inches long, then flatten them with a rolling pin.
Roll them first from one side to halfway, then turn them and flatten them from the other side to form an ‘S’.
Decorate the St. Lucia’s Cats with raisins previously soaked in warm water in the center of each ‘S’, then 2 raisins per brioche.
Line a baking tray with parchment paper and arrange the brioches well-spaced from each other, cover with a cloth, and let rise for another hour.
After the rising time, preheat the oven to 392°F in static mode, beat the yolk with a little milk, and brush the Lussekatter.
Bake them in the middle rack of the oven for 18/20 minutes and take them out when they are golden on the surface.
Wait before leaving, I leave you my FACEBOOK PAGE if you want to be updated every day with my recipe
How to Store St. Lucia’s Cats
You can store them under a glass dome or inside a tin box for 3 or 4 days.
If you prefer, you can also freeze them.
More Recipes
If you want to see other types of recipes, you can return to HOME
