Cardamom Buns

 

A platter full of these fragrant and delicious buns has become the accompaniment to gift opening on Christmas morning. They come together quickly - I start them in the morning around 7:30 and they are ready by 10 or 10:30 when the children and grandchildren arrive. Forming the buns is an art form which I don't quite have. For instructions on how to twist and shape the dough, look at this video. There are a number of ways to shape the buns, and mine are a rough approximation of Cecilia's. This recipe is also based on hers. 

Dough: 

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon white sugar

1 envelope active dry yeast (7 grams)

1/3 cup (67 grams) brown sugar

3 1/4 cups (400 grams) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup (75 grams) butter at room temperature, cubed

Stir together milk and white sugar. Sprinkle yeast over and let activate for 10 minutes.

Mix the brown sugar, flour, cardamom, and salt. Add the milk and the yeast. Mix until the dough comes together. Then add the butter, mixing well with a stand mixer, or by hand, until fully incorporated. Knead for 5 minutes or so. I knead the mixture in my Kitchen Aid, as the dough is quite loose. You don't want to add too much flour. 

Place in greased bowl and let rise for 40 minutes in a warm spot. 

Filling:

4 1/2 Tablespoons (63 grams) butter, softened

1/3 cup (67 grams) brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom

Mix the filling ingredients together. Set aside.

Roll dough to 13 x 21 inches. Spread the filling over. Fold in half, making a 13 x 10 1/2 inch piece of dough. Flatten slightly with rolling pin. Cut 3/4 inch (2 cm) strips and wrap as desired. 

Let rise 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake 7-10 minutes, watching carefully so they don't burn. 

Brush buns with the following mixture immediately after removing them from the oven.

Topping:

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Heat just to dissolve sugar. 

After brushing the buns with the sugar/water mixture, sprinkle them with a bit of granulated sugar mixed with 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom.

Note: You can grind your own cardamom for the freshest taste, but I find the seeds quite hard to crush in a mortar and pestle and usually use about half pre-ground cardamom from the store and half coarsely ground cardamom that I've prepared in my mortar and pestle.