More baking!

Baking is such a relaxing and rewarding activity. Today is a perfect day for baking Swedish Bullar- a yeast dough sticky-bun kind of bun without the stickiness. There are many varieties. A few days ago, one of my dearest friends in Småland (Sweden) posted a photo on her store Face Book page of some really delicious looking buns: Rosendalsbullar. (https://www.facebook.com/butikenmockelsnas/photos/a.623120761079222.1073741828.151242704933699/836898739701422/?type=1&theater)

However, I feel like baking my favorite bulle: Snäckor. Come to think of it, my friend’s mom used to bake those. They were delicious and I was hooked for life! In my family, both my mom and dad were bakers. My mom would bake all the sweet goods and my dad would bake an amazing whole-kernel dark bread in his wood-fired wall oven- something to aspire to!

Here is a recipe for Snäckor. I translated it from “Sju Sorters Kakor” an indispensable book in many Swedish kitchens. These Snäckor  with a cup of Sörgårdste is pretty much as close as you can get to Swedish Fika Bliss!

SNÄCKOR   (yield: ca. 45)

Oven temp: 475 deg. F

DOUGH:

10 Tbsp butter

2 1/2 Cup milk

3 packages of dry yeast

1/2 Cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cardamom

About 9 Cups of flour

FILLING:

1 1/2 Tsp whole cardamom seeds

8 oz of marzipan

4 Tbsp butter

GARNISH:

1 egg (whipped)

Pearl-sugar ( can be purchased in specialty stores carrying Scandinavian foods. If you can’t find it, you can use sliced almonds instead)

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the milk and heat until it’s about 105 deg F (a little warmer than body temp). Take off heat, pour into baking bowl and add the dry yeast. Stir well. Let sit for 5 min and stir again. Add the salt, sugar, and cardamom. Mix well. Add half of the flour and knead it. Keep adding flour until it doesn’t stick to the bowl. Save up to 1 Cup of flour for later. Cover the dough and let rise until double in size. Meanwhile prepare the filling: Grind the cardamom seeds with mortar and pestle. Grate the marzipan.

Take dough out of bowl and knead on counter with the remaining flour. Divide the dough into 3 pieces. Roll out each piece to about 10″x20″. Spread the butter on top of each piece, then spread the cardamom and the marzipan on top. Fold the dough lenghts in half lenghtwise. Cut  the lengths into 1 1/2″ pieces. Make a cut on each 1 1/2″ piece from the “open” side towards the folded side, but don’t cut all the way through. They will look like “V” s. Take the “legs”s (on each side of the cut) and “tie together” in a knot. Place all the knots on a buttered baking pan. Cover and let rise until double. Brush with the egg. Spread the sugar on top. Bake in the middle of the oven about 8-10 min.

Enjoy!