Pressbyrån Sweden launches date-baked "lussekatt" saffron buns.

Every year in Sweden, the real holiday season begins when every bakery and shop begins baking "Lussekatter", Swedish saffron buns. In any Swedish household, these must be baked before Lucia, which is the 13th of December. Why? Because if you haven't finished your Yule-prep by then, the Lussetroll is going to get you. Or so some of the old stories go.

A "Lussekatt" is best when it is steaming fresh, straight out of the oven. Dip it in your coffee and enjoy.

That's why Pressbyrån is now launching a "certificate of freshness", a time stamp that is baked directly into the Lussekatt by changing something that has looked the same forever: the baking sheets.

The technology consists of both water-cut aluminum sheets and silicone mats. The Lussekatt saffron buns are put on the sheet, and when they are finished baking, they have a relief that indicates exactly at what time they were baked.

- The idea comes from the fact that we bake all day, something that many people might not think about. You can come after work and still have a freshly baked bun in your hand. So we thought that actions speak louder than words and want to prove it in a fun way, says Maria Isaksson Marketing manager at Pressbyrån.

The Lussekatten is the only bun that can challenge the cinnamon bun on the coffee tables in Sweden, during December anyway. At Pressbyrån, the lussekatt-fever is already noticeable in November, although it is on Lucia itself,the 13th of December, that it culminates.

- Days like Lucia, when all sellers are shouting the same thing, it's important to come up with something that stands out and is interesting to our customers. It feels good to use something as simple as the baking sheet to develop our products. It had been a while since something happened to it.

The certificate of freshness is available at selected stores in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö.

In all other stores, the freshness of the buns is guaranteed by a clock on the bun baskets that indicates the baking time.