Ok folks, another Swedish Christmas recipe
Christmas buns with raisins and saffron (Lussekatter)
You need:
50g of fresh yeast (if you use dried yeast approx. 28-30 g)
200g butter
5dl milk
2,5-3dl sugar (ordinary white sugar)
1g of saffron (in Sweden that's 2 packages)
A pinch of salt
3 tablespoons of tepid water
2 eggs
15-16 dl of plain wheat flour
1,5 dl of raisins (save some for decoration)
1 egg for brushing the buns with (just before they go into the oven)
Start off by melting the butter in a saucepan; add the milk and heat to approx. 37 degrees C (a nice lukewarm (finger warm?) temperature.)
If you use dry yeast, heat the liquid to around 40-50 degrees C (or whatever it says on your packet of yeast, just a bit warmer then with fresh yeast, ok?)
Grind the saffron (with a pinch of sugar) in a mortar and add it to the warm milk and butter mix
Crumble the fresh yeast into a big bowl, add sugar, salt and water, stir until the yeast is dissolved. (If you use dried yeast, just mix it in the flour or dissolve it in the lukewarm water)
Pour the warm milk, butter and saffron mix into the bowl and stir. Add the eggs and the raisins
Then add the flour little by little and work it into the fluid until you've got a nice dough (it doesn't matter if it is a little bit too runny and sticky at this stage, just work the flour in vigorously)
Dust the dough surface lightly with flour, cover it with a clean cloth and allow the dough to rise for about an hour.
Scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface, knead the dough and if necessary add a bit more flour until the dough behaves nicely.
Divide into approx. 30 equal lumps, roll each lump into a stick about an inch in diameter and shape it like an S (Can't visualise it?
see this link for a picture and alternative shapes
www.luciamorning.com/treats2.html )
Place the buns (with quite a lot of space in between them) on a baking tray (You'll actually need two
) and cover them with the clean cloth.
Allow the buns to rise to double size, then brush them with a lightly beaten egg and place two raisins in the spirals of the S.
Bake for approx. 7-8 min in a hot oven, 250 degreesC ( 480 degrees F) until golden brown.
Enjoy! Yummmmy!
If you don't want to eat all of them on the baking day, freeze the rest as soon as possible, as they tend to dry rather quickly.
"It is impossible for human nature to believe that money is not there. It seems so much more likely that the money is there and only needs bawling for."
--Dorothy Sayers, Busman's Honeymoon
Weird, en't it?
