Hygge is here to stay!

I know, I'm a little late to the party with Hygge, but this Danish philosophy of life continues to fascinate me. It doesn't let me go and what's more, hygge, which sounds like 'hue-ge', is also simply timeless. Just like our traditional Dutch 'sociable', it is not easy to translate literally. By the way, you could roughly describe Hygge as cosiness, but that still doesn't really cover it.

What is hygge again?

Hygge is as Danish as the Danish pulsar (hot dogs) and Carlsberg beer. The essence of hygge is creating a nice warm atmosphere, enjoying the good things in life with nice people around you. The warm glow of candlelight is hygge, just like friends and family. Preferably you sit for hours with nice atmosphere creators, good food and drinks and you talk about the big and small (friendly?) issues. Perhaps this way of life explains why the Danes are often mentioned as the happiest people in the world. Having summed it up like that, I think Hygge and Happlify are definitely related ;-)

Where does hygge come from?

Surprisingly, hygge does not originally come from the Danish language, but it comes from Norwegian. In Norwegian, hygge means something like 'well-being'. The word first appeared in Danish script around the end of the 18th century, and the Danes have not let it go since. The great thing about hygge is that it can be used everywhere, whatever the Danes do. Even though hygge peaks there around the Christmas season, you can find it all year round and all over Denmark.

Hygge recipe for cold days

SNOBRØD (turned bread)

Ok, this really isn't the most special bread you've ever tasted, but because of the preparation method it ranks high on the hygge ranking. Children especially love it and it combines wonderfully with any (preferably homemade) soup.

Ingredients

Quantity: 6 pieces
Prep Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes (including an hour for the dough to rest). The baking time depends on the fire and your patience, but it is usually around 10 minutes.

• 25 grams of butter}
• 1/4 liter of milk
• 25 grams yeast, 2 teaspoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 400 grams of flour (of course you can also choose a whole-wheat version here)
• optional: caraway seeds and/or coarse sea salt

Preparation method

1. Melt the butter in a pan and add the milk. Heat until lukewarm. Add the yeast and let it dissolve.

2. Pour this mixture into a large bowl and add the other ingredients and mix into dough. Keep a little bit of flour. Knead the dough well and return it to the bowl. Cover and let rise for an hour in a warm place.

3. Sprinkle some flour on a work surface and place the dough on it. Knead well again and add the remaining flour. Divide the dough into six pieces and make a string about 40 centimeters long from each piece. Wrap the string around a not too thin (clean) branch (which you may first wrap with aluminum foil). Bread the not yet cooked bread with some caraway seeds and/or coarse sea salt.

4. Bake the bread over the flames of a camp or fireplace (or winter barbecue), but be careful not to hold it too close to the flame. Your snøbrod is done when you hear a hollow sound when you tap it, or when it slides off the stick easily. So, let that winter come for a while. We cocoon nice hygge with a candle , a fragrant cup of chocolate and a good book in our cozy home den .