Earlier this week we stopped in at the beautiful Swedish Seamans Church (aka Svenska Kyrkan) in Midtown, at 5 East 48th Street, a place whose homemade cinnamon buns (aka kanel bulle) we featured last year. The church reading room also functions as a coffeeshop with Swedish sweets, housewares, plenty of gifts and open-faced smorrebrod sandwiches, as the Swedes are as religious about their daily coffee breaks as the Brits are their afternoon tea.
We were there to capture the lovely baker Monica Lee for an upcoming segment for our series on NY1 (you can see them all here). While we were there, the church pointed out a critical Christmas-time ingredient they’re stocking, which would make a great last-minute gift for anyone who takes their liquor seriously: It’s a $12 bottle of glögg essence imported from Sweden — an old-fashioned Swedish Santa-type graces the label — which you add to a heady mix of wine, sherry, port and sugar, warm on the stove and serve with almonds, raisins and wafer-thin gingersnap cookies, which the church also sells. Just be sure to pick up one of Monica’s $2 buns and an open-faced sandwich while you’re there.
