One of the many things about life in Sweden that I’ve embraced wholeheartedly is a love of saffron. In keeping with my newly rediscovered domesticity, I whipped up a batch of these saffron-lemon cookies the other day and managed to get a festive picture before they were all devoured.

These are from a recipe that Tage found in the newspaper a couple of weeks ago and couldn’t get out of his head. I swear, he asked me at least a half-dozen times over the course of two days if I’d made them yet, so clearly I had no choice. In fact, the cookies in the picture are from the second batch I made. They’re just that good.

Saffron-Lemon Spirals
makes about 30 cookies

½ gram ground saffron
1 Tbsp. water
2 cups flour
slightly less than ½ cup potato starch (corn starch will also work)
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
½ tsp. ground vanilla (or 1 tsp. vanilla extract)
1 cup butter, softened
1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Stir the saffron into the water in a small bowl.

Mix flour, potato starch, confectioner’s sugar, vanilla, and butter to a crumb-like texture. Divide mixture in half, putting each half in a separate bowl. Add saffron water to one bowl and lemon juice to the other, mixing well into a dough.

Roll each ball of dough, between sheets of parchment paper, into a rectangle measuring approximately 12×15 inches. Lay one rectangle on the other, rolling them lightly with a rolling pin so that they stick together. Take away the top paper and, starting from the long side, roll them together carefully. Refrigerate the roll at least 30 minutes (I usually leave it in the fridge overnight).

Heat the oven to 350°F. Cut the roll into slices about ½-inch thick and put them on a baking sheet. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 15 minutes, until the cookies start to take a slight color, but no longer.

Let cool and enjoy!