Read Fika: The Art of The Swedish Coffee Break, with Recipes for Pastries, Breads, and Other Treats for Free Online Page B

for “refill,” and you can always be sure that it will be dark and delicious every single time. As the Swedes love their coffee, it should come as no surprise that there’s even a word for the third filling of the cup: tretår.
    While coffee shops in the United States are filled with laptops and freelancers, doubling as remote office spaces where you can crouch for a few hours as long as you keep refilling your mug, cafés in Sweden are meeting points for friends. “Ska vi fika?” (“Shall we fika?”) could just as well mean “let’s check out a new café.” In the winter you want something cozy, warm, and full of light. In the summer you want an inviting terrace, a carafe of water served with your coffee, and hopefully a summer berry tart with heavy whipped cream. Getting together over fika isn’t just a time to catch up with an old friend; it’s yet another reason to take a moment and appreciate the good life.



fikafor traveling
    As a Swede, one doesn’t board a train or embark on a long car ride without thinking about fika. On the go, fika is part of the overall travel experience. Crossing Sweden on the rails, you’re never without a bistro car offering up a fika special—a paper cup of coffee and a cinnamon bun for a few Swedish coins—but if you really want to live well, you’ll be prepared and bring your own.
    This goes for day trips as well. An afternoon at the beach in the summertime necessitates a thermos and a bag of baked goods. A winter outing of cross-country skiing requires the same. Forget granola and protein bars thrown into the bag at the last minute; packing fika to take with you is about bringing all the things you would consume inside and taking them outdoors.
    Going out for fika is as much a part of Swedish culture as bringing your own, and while an afternoon hike in the forest certainly requires a backpack with a thermos, a baked good wrapped in tinfoil, and something to sit on, an excursion to a new city is the chance to check out a local café. From the countryside to the cosmopolitan hub of Stockholm, fika is a common affair. In the hinterlands of Värmland you may end up taking part in fika at an old farmhouse, recently opened for a summer exhibition of local handicrafts; in Malmö you will map out who makes the best semlor; and in downtown Gothenburg you’ll crowd into a popular café to see if their chokladbollar are any better than the ones you make at home. Any place serving coffee will have an offering of goods to eat for fika, and they’re always worth a try.

mandelkaka
    ALMOND TART
    makes one 9-inch (23-centimeter) tart
    Mazariner are a beloved Swedish recipe, small tartlets filled with almond paste and topped with icing. But they’re a little time consuming to bake, and while Swedes are happy to snag one at a pastry shop, these are rarely made at home. This is where the almond tart comes in. It’s the same concept—pastry dough and almonds—but much quicker and simpler to make. It’s the kind of tart that’s just as good with your afternoon cup of coffee as it is served as dessert at a dinner with friends.
    dough
    ¾ cup (3.75 ounces, 106 grams) all-purpose flour
    2 tablespoons natural cane sugar
    5 tablespoons (2.5 ounces, 71 grams) unsalted butter
    1 egg yolk
filling
    4 tablespoons (2 ounces, 57 grams) butter
    1 cup (5 ounces, 142 grams) raw almonds
    1 egg
    1 egg white
    ½ cup (3.75 ounces, 106 grams) firmly packed brown sugar
    To prepare the dough, in a large bowl, mix the flour and sugar. Add the butter in small cubes and work together with your hands until you get a coarse meal; then work in the egg yolk until you can make the dough into a ball. Form a round with the dough, wrap in plastic wrap, and let sit in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
    Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 9-inch (23-centimeter) pie pan or springform baking pan.
    To prepare the filling, melt the butter and set aside to cool.
    Toast the almonds in a dry frying pan until