Tuesday 30 August 2011

Norway Memories Skillingsboller.



I'm sat on a train and there's an unexplained alarm ringing. Is it a fire alarm? Might I die? I hope not because then I wouldn't be able to tell you about these fabulous friends of mine.




They're called Skillingsboller (as in shilling bun, as in in olden times they cost a shilling) and I came across them on my recent trip to Norway. I didn't eat one myself but I saw them looking loveerly in a bakery and a travelling companion ate one and just darn instructed me to make them. 




Well as I mentioned before, I'm a bit of a fan of baking requests/instructions, so home I went to switch on the oven.




This is the sort of recipe that looks complicated and effort-ful, but it is actually veryvery simple and requires very little energy. And the end result is sweet and squishy and warmly spiced. The perfect partner for a big mug of coffee and a 'wee sit doon' (oh good heavens, it's a good job I'm spending some time south of the border). With Love and Cake.




Norwegian Skillingsboller
adapted in a round about way from Nigella's How To Be a Domestic Goddess
A few notes:
  • These are definitely best eaten on the day of making, after that a quick zap in the microwave helps them along a bit.
  • I started off with 300g of flour but needed to add heaps more to make a viable dough, so I'd start with 350g and be ready to add more if needs be.
  • Some recipes say to nestle the buns together and bake, so you have to tear off buns from a big sheet of them, others say spread them out...you do what ever you fancy but if you go for the spread out option they'll need 5 or 10 minutes less in the oven.
Makes around 10
You will need

a baking tray, lined

For the dough
350g plain flour
50g granulated sugar
3 tsp dried yeast
50g butter
200ml milk
1 egg

For the filling
75g soft butter
75g granulated sugar
1 heaped tsp cinnamon

  • First things first, pop the butter and milk into a saucepan and heat gently until the butter has melted.
  • This needs to be left to cool for a good 5 minutes, so meanwhile, weigh out the flour and sugar into a large mixing bowl.
  • Now whisk the egg into the buttery milk and pour into the bowl with the flour.
  • Time to get your hands in there and bring everything together to a soft dough, adding more flour if you need.
  • Turn onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes.
  • Pop the dough back in his bowl and leave somewhere cosy for an hour or until just about doubled in size.
  • Meanwhile make the filling by mixing the butter, sugar and spice together.
  • After the hour, turn the dough out onto a clean floured surface and roll to a rectange of about 40x25 cm.
  • Spread over the cinnamony butter and roll up from one of the long ends like a swiss roll.
  • Cut, with a nice sharp bread knife, every 2.5 cm and lay each bun, swirl side up/down onto the baking tray with a couple of cm gap between each one.
  • Now leave them to rise back in the cosy place for another 15 minutes to half an hour while you preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
  • When the buns have puffed up a bit, pop them in the oven for 20 minutes, until they look golden and beautiful.
  • Cool for a bit but eat while still warm, as soon as possible, while pretending you're tucked up in a wood cabin next to a roaring to fire.

4 comments:

  1. You actually managed to make them! Culinary genius...did they taste good?

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  2. Very good Jam...promise to get some your way asap.

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  3. These look yum and bring back good memories! I will attempt to make them at home and let you know how I get on. Still need to make bread too!

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  4. Good idea...Ill post the bread recipe soon. In a charity shop yesterday I saw mugs with 'Norwegian national dress' and super cheesy photos of Norwegian looking ladies on them. I really should have bought them xxxx

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