Saffron & Pistachio Swedish Skorpor (Christmas Biscotti)

This recipe for saffron & pistachio Swedish skorpor was first published in 2017 and featured on The Culinary Jumble (my previous blog). The images and recipe remains unchanged.

Skorpor are Sweden’s answer to biscotti and are very popular here. Up until making these, I had eaten neither biscotti nor skorpor.

As a person totally absorbed by baking and sweet treats, it is rather unusual to come across a well-known food that I haven’t tried and I was curious to see how they would turn out.

Notice how I said curious and not excited? That’s because although I’d never eaten them, I’d already built up a really huge preconception in my head.

A preconception that had condemned biscotti as being dry, bread-like lumps of, well, bread. Hah! Biscotti lovers among you – I stand absolutely corrected. How wrong can one person be?

Dry? Well, yes. But not dry as in sawdust. More dry as in crunchy. Bread-like? Erm, nope. No bread thing going on at all. These are cookies, without doubt. Good cookies. So good that I ate four while trying to take pictures of them.

Saffron

I talked a lot about Sweden’s love for saffron, especially as the holidays approach, in my post for saffron and white chocolate buns. Saffron is a very common addition to baking at this time of year, and it’s not difficult to understand why. I long for the day that “smelly-vision” is a reality because the waft of saffron is unmistakable, and yet hard to explain. And of course, there’s not only the unusual flavour it brings to food but the colour, too.

You can have too much of a good thing though, so saffron should be added with caution. Just a tiny sprinkling can produce the vibrant hue (as seen in these saffron and pistachio Swedish skorpor) and distinct flavour. It’s a good job that only a small amount, because saffron is expensive.

If you are intrigued by the idea of using saffron in your baking, check out these other saffron infused recipes:

Swedish lussebullar

Swedish saffron cake

Saffron and cranberry cupcakes (with vanilla cream cheese frosting)

16 Stunning saffron recipes (round-up)

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Saffron & Pistachio Swedish Skorpor (Christmas Biscotti)

Servings 15 cookies

Ingredients

50g (3½ tbsp) butter
½ gram (⅛ tsp) saffron (see note 1)
1 egg
60g (⅓ cup) sugar
130g (1 cup + 1 tbsp) spelt flour (see note 2)
¾ teaspoon baking powder
30g (¼ cup) chopped pistachios
icing sugar for dusting

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 175º (350ºF) and line a large flat baking tray with grease-proof paper.
Gently heat the butter in a pan until it is almost melted.
Remove from the heat and stir in the ground saffron.
Leave the mixture to cool for around five minutes and then beat in the egg.
Mix all the remaining ingredients in a large bowl.
Add the butter/saffron mixture and stir until a dough forms.
Roll into two long sausages, until they are both around 16cm in length.
Place on the baking tray. Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove the cookies from the oven and turn the temperature down to 125ºC (250ºF).
Cut the cookies into fairly thick slices (around 1cm / ½ inch) and place back on the baking tray.
Return to the oven to "dry" for a further 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven, and sprinkle with a little icing sugar. Enjoy!

Notes

This recipe came from my favourite Swedish baker, Leila Lindholm. I have amended the recipe to include spelt flour. I also halved the ingredients, which yielded around 15 skorpor.

In Sweden, saffron comes in half a gram sachets, and although I used ground saffron, you could also use strands.
You can use spelt or regular flour for this recipe (just use the same amount).

Disclaimer:

I have converted grams to cups/ounces/tablespoons using online converters. Although I have no reason to believe they are inaccurate, please be aware that I have not made the recipe with imperial measurements.

In addition, many ingredients are different in Europe compared to North America (and the rest of the world). I do all I can to offer possible alternatives and to ensure the best possible outcomes for everyone. However, results cannot always be guaranteed if you have not used the same ingredients, measurements or methods as me.

Lastly, I do everything I can to ensure that my recipes (and instructions) are accurate and easy to follow. However, I am human, and don't always get it right. If you notice anything strange, a mistake, or even a typo, please let me know in the comments.