{"id":8372,"date":"2026-10-19T23:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8372"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:50:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:50:04","slug":"hallongrottor","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/hallongrottor\/","title":{"rendered":"Hallongrottor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Red jam peeks out from the center of a pale golden, round cookie. Swedish hallongrottor are cookies made by pressing a hollow into butter dough, filling it with raspberry jam and baking the two together. In a single bite, you taste the crumbly rim of dough and the slightly sticky fruit. The name, \u201craspberry caves,\u201d refers to the jam-filled hollow made in the center.<\/p>\n

\n\"Hallongrottor\n
Hallongrottor peeking out of paper cups (January 16, 2010, location unknown). The browned rim of dough surrounds the jam in the center. Photo: Wolfgangus Mozart \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ Public domain<\/a>. Reduced-size version obtained from Commons. No content alterations or cropping made for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Filling a Hollow in the Dough With Jam Before Baking<\/h2>\n

The dough is rolled into balls, and the center of each is pressed with a thumb or similar to make a hollow. This creates a shape with a low wall around it. Some methods bake the cookies in paper cups. This way, room for the jam remains in the center even when the dough rises. The structure differs from that of sandwich cookies, in which jam is sandwiched in after baking.<\/p>\n

In Arla\u2019s method, the dough is shaped into a log about 2 centimeters in diameter and cut into pieces of equal thickness. These are placed in paper cups, and then the centers are pressed in. Whether the dough is rolled into balls one at a time or shaped into a log and cut into even pieces, the final step of making a hollow for the jam is the same.<\/p>\n

The filling is not a runny sauce but a thick raspberry jam. During baking, its surface bubbles and turns glossy, and the rim of dough becomes pale golden. As the cookies cool, both the jam and the dough settle. Because the fruit is gathered in one spot rather than scattered throughout, the flavor and softness shift from the vanilla-scented rim to the sweet-tart core.<\/p>\n

\"Hallongrottor<\/p>\n

Hallongrottor baking in paper cups, with jam in the center. Photo: Maxelson, 2023-03-15, location unknown. Original image<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Original size, no additional processing.<\/p>\n

Two Ways to Bring Together an Eggless Dough<\/h2>\n

The basic ingredients are wheat flour, butter, sugar, vanilla sugar and a small amount of baking powder. No egg is used; instead, a m\u00f6rdeg is made by working the fat into the flour. Rather than kneading for a long time, the dough is gathered as soon as the ingredients are evenly combined, which gives a texture that breaks apart finely after baking.<\/p>\n

In Arla\u2019s recipe (ingredient proportions and method), room-temperature butter and sugar are creamed before the flour is added. ICA first mixes the flour and sugar, then adds finely cut fat and quickly brings the dough together. A recipe introduced by ICA that uses six ingredients and no eggs likewise produces not a sponge with large air bubbles but a soft cookie dough that holds its shape.<\/p>\n

Pastry chef Mia \u00d6hrn replaces part of the wheat flour with potato starch. Her method is to add butter straight from the refrigerator to the dry ingredients, shape the dough into a log, divide it, and then roll the pieces into balls. Even when the cookies look the same, the fineness of the texture and the mouthfeel change depending on the temperature of the fat, the order of mixing and the starch used.<\/p>\n

An assortment that Dean & DeLuca in Japan makes with confectionery researcher Rika Fukuda includes a dough with almond flour added. Besides a plain dough paired with raspberry or apricot, there is also a combination in which blueberry jam is baked into a cocoa dough. Choosing the colors and aromas of the fruit and dough creates different flavors even within the same hollowed cookie.<\/p>\n

The Meaning of the Name, and Differences From Thumbprints and Jam Drops<\/h2>\n

The singular is hallongrotta<\/em> and the plural is hallongrottor<\/em>. Hallon<\/em> means raspberry, and grotta<\/em> means cave. The English name \u201cthumbprint\u201d means the mark of a thumb, and \u201cjam drops\u201d is a name that suggests small drops; similar shapes are likened to different things, such as a hollow, a fingerprint or a drop of jam.<\/p>\n

The cookies called jam drops in Australia also vary in their proportions. Cook Donna Hay\u2019s version with peanuts uses egg, brown sugar, peanut butter and chopped peanuts; the cookies are set out on a baking tray without paper cups, and more jam is added after baking as well. Enjoyed for its rich aroma and pieces of nut, this cookie differs in formula from the eggless Swedish dough.<\/p>\n

A Tradition That Traces Its Start to a Bakery in S\u00f6derhamn<\/h2>\n

In the origin story told by the Swedish baking supply shop Lyckas med mat, the setting is the 1960s, at Kalles Hembageri, which was located on \u00c5sgatan in S\u00f6derhamn. The food company Bj\u00e4re held a competition for bakeries on the condition that its raspberry jam be used, and the cookie and its name are said to have come from that competition.<\/p>\n

Enjoying Them at Fika and Kafferep<\/h2>\n

Their small size, which lets people take one at a time, suits fika around coffee and the tables of a kafferep to which guests are invited. Mia \u00d6hrn also shares a recipe for them as a staple of such occasions, and they are loved as a sweet from which people can choose as many as they want without cutting a large cake.<\/p>\n

In Sweden, the custom of setting out several kinds of small cookies for guests also gave rise to a home baking book titled \u201cSeven Kinds of Cookies.\u201d It has gone through many editions since its first edition in 1945. Hallongrottor also appear in recent editions edited by \u00d6hrn.<\/p>\n

\n\"A\n
A plate from a visit to Kakslottet in Taxinge (May 14, 2011). Hallongrottor in paper cups on the left, together with prinsesst\u00e5rta. Photo: Andreas Ivarsson \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY 2.0<\/a>. Reduced-size version obtained from Commons. No content alterations or cropping made for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

\u30fbRika Fukuda<\/strong>: A confectionery researcher who creates sweets with Dean & DeLuca.<\/p>

\u30fbM\u00f6rdeg<\/strong>: A crumbly Swedish dough that combines butter, flour, sugar and similar ingredients.\n\u30fbFika: The Swedish custom of enjoying coffee or tea with sweets and taking a break with others.\n\u30fbKafferep: A social gathering around coffee and sweets.\n\u30fbMia \u00d6hrn: A Swedish pastry chef and baking writer.\n\u30fbDonna Hay: An Australian cook and food publisher. She has published a method for making jam drops with peanuts.\n\u30fbS\u00f6derhamn: A town in eastern Sweden that appears in the cookie\u2019s origin story.\n\u30fbKalles Hembageri \/ Bj\u00e4re: The local bakery and the food company that handled jam, both of which appear in the origin story. The cookie is said to have come from this competition.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n

  1. \u30fbDEAN & DELUCA \u201cHallongrottor Gift Box\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Cookies created with Rika Fukuda; a dough with almond flour added and combinations with three kinds of fruit. An example of an individual product.<\/p><\/li>

  2. \u30fbVisit Sweden \u201cSeven types of cookies\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The baking book published in 1945 and its revised editions; recent inclusion by Mia \u00d6hrn. Does not assert that this cookie appeared in the first edition.<\/p><\/li>

  3. The origin in a S\u00f6derhamn competition is a story told by a baking supply shop; records of the competition from that time have not been seen for this article. It is not used as definitive evidence for the year in which similar jam-filled cookies in general were invented or for when this name became widespread.<\/li>

  4. \u30fbArla \u201cHallongrottor\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Creaming room-temperature butter, shaping by cutting from a log, baking the jam in, kafferep.\n\u30fbICA \u201cHallongrottor\u201d<\/a> \u2014 No eggs, quickly combining flour and fat, firm jam, paper cups and cooling.\n\u30fbMia \u00d6hrn \/ Visit Sweden \u201cHimbeerh\u00f6hlen\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Potato starch and cold butter, dividing a log and rolling the pieces, fika and kafferep.\n\u30fbDonna Hay \u201cPeanut butter and jam drops\u201d<\/a> \u2014 An actual variation with egg, brown sugar and peanuts; pressing a hole with a finger and baking the jam in; suggestion to add more jam afterward.<\/p><\/li>

  5. \u30fbLyckas med mat \u201cRecept p\u00e5 Klassiska Hallongrottor\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The origin story of a S\u00f6derhamn bakery and a competition requiring Bj\u00e4re jam.<\/p><\/li>

  6. \u30fbSwedish Academy dictionary \u201cgrotta\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The noun grotta, meaning cave, and its plural grottor.<\/p><\/li>

  7. Editorial note (Japanese re-editing)<\/h3><\/li>

  8. Contemporary records of the competition involving Kalles Hembageri in S\u00f6derhamn and the food company Bj\u00e4re have not been confirmed. The main text presents it as an origin story told by a baking supply shop and does not treat it as established fact about the cookie\u2019s creation.<\/p><\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Hallongrottor are small Swedish cookies baked with raspberry jam in a hollow at the center. Each pale golden round of dough holds a single glossy red circle. The name means \u201craspberry caves.\u201d A single bite brings together a crumbly buttery shell and the slightly sticky sweetness of fruit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7326,"menu_order":143,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Hallongrottor","subtitle":"Red raspberry baked into a small cave of butter dough","topics":"Bound with butter, without eggs \/ Pressed from a ball or cut from a log \/ Firm jam protects the cave \/ Set out one by one on the fika table","country":"Sweden","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["fruit","butter","egg"],"texture":["crumbly"],"occasion":["tea"],"method":["baked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[151],"class_list":["post-8372","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"auto","sweetlore_related_articles":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t