Boller

I am part Swedish, but I tend to ignore Scandinavian cuisine for the most part – I’m not a big herring fan, I can easily pass on turnips, and I don’t even really like potatoes. However, Scandinavian cuisine uses one of my favorite spices of all time. And it uses it really really well.

Cardamom is possibly the most expensive item I have in my cupboard right now, but it was worth every penny. It’s addition to baked goods is almost sublime; when you use it, the whole house just smells warm and inviting. My mother tends to use it in coffee bread with pearled sugar, but when I saw this recipe for raisin buns and cardamom, I knew I had to try it. And it was amazing.

Boller med roisner (aka Scandinavian Raisin Buns)

From Five and Spice 

When I made these I forgot to add about half a cup of the flour, which lead to a very sticky dough. So instead of forming balls for buns, I spooned the dough into a muffin tin and baked them that way. They still tasted great, but I think the traditional bun shape is best. If you really hate raisins you can omit then, but seriously – rainsins are delicious. Why would you want to take them out?

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup warm milk, about 100F

4 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cardamom

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup raisins

1 egg white, for an egg wash

Equipment:

Large mixing bowl, baking sheet

In a large mixing bowl, mix together warm milk, melted butter, sugar, and yeast. Let stand 10 minutes so that the yeast is activated (ie looks like it has rabies from all the foaming). Stir in the salt and cardamom. Add the flour slowly until incorporated and add raisins. The dough should be a bit sticky at this point. Cover the bowl with a cloth and allow it to rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour.

Grease baking sheet. Punch down the dough and turn it onto a lightly floured surface. Knead it very briefly, about a minute. Break pieces of dough off the main ball and form them into small balls, about the size of a golf ball. Place onto cookie sheet. The measurements here should make about 7 buns. Cover the sheet and let rise in a warm area for another 30 to 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Once heated, take the cloth off the baking sheet and brush the buns with egg white. Bake for about 20 minutes until buns are golden brown on top. If you tap on the bottom of the bun, it should sound hollow. Allow to cool on cookie sheet for about 15 minutes.

These are good reheated or toasted for several days. Serve with butter, jam, goat cheese, or whipped cream.

Serves: 1 (ok fine, 7)