Description
This Swedish cardamom buns recipe creates impossibly soft, buttery buns shaped into knots and finished with a glossy brush of simple syrup.
Ingredients
Scale
Tangzhong Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup plain milk
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Dough Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup plain milk
- 1/3 cup (76 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 1/4 cups (390g) all-purpose flour, divided
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 1/4 teaspoons (7 grams) instant-rise yeast
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground cardamom (see note below)
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 large egg
Filling Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup (76g) unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup (55g) packed light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly-ground cardamom (see note below)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping Ingredients:
- 1 egg, whisked together with 1 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon coarsely-ground cardamom seeds (see note below)
- granulated sugar
- simple syrup (1/4 cup granulated sugar + 1/4 cup water)
Instructions
- Make the tangzhong. In a small saucepan, whisk together the milk and flour until smooth. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking frequently, for about 3-5 minutes or until it thickens to a thick, pudding-like consistency. Remove from heat and transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment.
- Mix the dough. Add the milk, butter and half of the flour to the tangzhong and beat on medium-low speed until combined (the tangzhong will warm the milk). Add the remaining flour, sugar, yeast, cardamom, sea salt, egg and beat on medium-low speed until combined. Continue beating for 6-8 minutes on medium-low speed until it’s smooth, elastic, and slightly tacky but not sticky.
- First dough rise. Form the dough into a ball, place it in a greased bowl and cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm space for 1 to 1 ½ hours, or until it has doubled in size.
- Mix the filling. Meanwhile, stir together the filling ingredients in a separate mixing bowl until evenly combined.
- Roll out the dough. Once the dough is ready to go, turn it out onto a large floured work surface. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a 20-inch square. Carefully and evenly spread the filling mixture across the entire surface of the dough. Fold the left third of the dough in towards the center, and fold the right third of the dough over that towards the center, like you’re folding a business letter (as pictured above). Gently run the rolling pin over the dough to smooth out any big bubbles.
- Form the buns. Using a pizza cutter, pastry cutter or a knife, cut off the uneven edges of the dough. Cut the dough into 12 even strips, then cut each strip into two “tails” (as pictured above), leaving the top 1cm connected. Separate the two tails to make one long strip and twist it several times. Hold one end of the strip and wrap the dough around two fingers 2-3 times, like a bandage. Then loop the rest of the dough perpendicularly around the wrap so that it forms a knot, and tuck the loose end in at the bottom. Transfer the dough to a large parchment-covered baking sheet, and repeat with the remaining dough strips.
- Second dough rise. Loosely cover the dough buns with a clean kitchen towel and let them rise for 30-45 minutes.
- Brush and sprinkle. Heat the oven to 375°F. Brush each bun with the egg wash, then sprinkle with a pinch of cardamom and granulated sugar.
- Bake and brush. Bake the buns for 13-15 minutes, or until they’re lightly golden and cooked through. While the buns are baking, make the simple syrup by combining ¼ cup granulated sugar and ¼ cup water in a small saucepan. Heat over medium, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from heat. Once the buns are out of the oven, brush them generously with the warm simple syrup while they’re still hot to give them a beautiful sheen and a touch of extra sweetness. Transfer to a wire rack, let cool for 15 minutes, then serve warm and enjoy! These buns are best enjoyed the same day, but see tips below for storage instructions.
Notes
Cardamom: I highly recommend buying cardamom seeds and grinding them yourself — you can either use a mortar and pestle, or pop them in a ziplock bag and crush them with a meat mallet or rolling pin. Alternately, you can buy whole green cardamom pods and remove and ground the seeds yourself. Or in a pinch, you can also use pre-ground cardamom. (Although if you’re going to all of the work to make these, I really feel like you should use freshly-ground!)
You’ll want the cardamom to be finely-ground for the dough and filling. But it’s traditionally a bit more coarsely-ground for the sprinkle on top, as you can see in the photos here.