Baking in Scandinavia pt. 1

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Originally uploaded by watermirrors

So some Swedes and I decided to have a party and we all had to bring something. Given the chives in the garden, I decided to make some cheddar-chive biscuits. I also thought the currants in the garden would make a lovely batch of scones. However, when I arrived at the grocery store I realized that I was going to have some trouble. I adapted, but only after learning a few things
1. Baking soda is less common here. In America we use it often for cooking and most households also keep it around for cleaning. Here it is uncommon and comes in little expensive packets that you find in the spices section labeled "bikarbonat."
2. Vanilla extract is also less common here. Most cooks prefer the beans themselves or vanilla sugar. I haven't experimented with the latter, but I plan to since Swedes claim it is superior.
3. Argh. The metric system is sort of mixed with the traditional system here. For example, my IKEA measuring cups use DL and teaspoons/tablespoons. That's nice, since that means I only have to convert cups when I am making my American recipes, but it's still an annoyance.
4. Which is why I invested in a cooking scale, which allows me to make European recipes that use grams...and it's a nice European way to cook or something.

Verdict:
Converted cheddar biscuits: too dry!
British Red Currant Scones made with cooking scale: delicious!