Kardemummabullar (Cardamom Buns)
A buttery yeast dough with cardamom, rolled around a butter-sugar-cardamom filling, shaped into knots, glazed and baked, sprinkled with pearl sugar. The sweet, spiced companion to coffee.
A buttery yeast dough with cardamom, rolled around a butter-sugar-cardamom filling, shaped into knots, glazed and baked, sprinkled with pearl sugar. The sweet, spiced companion to coffee.
Between two pages and two quarrels, one must have coffee—and coffee calls for one of those warm buns perfumed with cardamom. You pound the seeds in a mortar, and suddenly the whole kitchen smells of the Orient brought by our ships. Roll the dough, butter it, sugar it, twist it into a knot like you knot a plot, and into the oven! Dipped in black coffee, it consoles many sorrows—and God knows I had my share.
- •Wheat flour — according to the dough (base)
- •Yeast — a piece (leavening)
- •Milk — warm (liquid)
- •Butter — generously (richness)
- •Sugar — as desired (sweetness)
- •Pounded cardamom — abundant (signature spice)
Kardemummabullar (Cardamom Buns)
A buttery yeast dough with cardamom, rolled around a butter-sugar-cardamom filling, shaped into knots, glazed and baked, sprinkled with pearl sugar. The sweet, spiced companion to coffee.
Why this dish? Fika—the coffee break with a pastry—was the daily ritual of Swedes and the stage for the café conversations Strindberg loved. Cardamom, the cherished spice of Scandinavian baking, perfumed these buns that were dipped in black coffee.
Between two pages and two quarrels, one must have coffee—and coffee calls for one of those warm buns perfumed with cardamom. You pound the seeds in a mortar, and suddenly the whole kitchen smells of the Orient brought by our ships. Roll the dough, butter it, sugar it, twist it into a knot like you knot a plot, and into the oven! Dipped in black coffee, it consoles many sorrows—and God knows I had my share.
Ingredients (period version)
- Wheat flour — according to the dough (base)
- Yeast — a piece (leavening)
- Milk — warm (liquid)
- Butter — generously (richness)
- Sugar — as desired (sweetness)
- Pounded cardamom — abundant (signature spice)
Ingredients
- Wheat flour — 500 g (base)
- Fresh yeast — 25 g (leavening)
- Warm milk — 250 ml (liquid)
- Soft butter — 75 g (dough) + 75 g (filling) (richness)
- Sugar — 80 g (dough) + 75 g (filling) (sweetness)
- Ground cardamom — 2 tsp (dough) + 1 tsp (filling) (signature spice)
- Egg — 1 (for glaze) (finish)
- Pearl sugar — for sprinkling (decoration)
Method
- Dissolve the yeast in warm milk. Add the sugar, cardamom, soft butter, and flour; knead into a soft dough. Let rise for 40 minutes.
- Prepare the filling by mixing soft butter, sugar, and cardamom.
- Roll the dough into a rectangle, spread the filling, fold, and cut into strips that you twist into knots.
- Place on a baking sheet, let rise for another 30 minutes, brush with egg, and sprinkle with pearl sugar.
- Bake at 220°C for about 8-10 minutes, until nicely golden. Enjoy warm with black coffee.
How it was made : Cardamom, imported in quantity by Swedes from the 18th century onward, became the flagship spice of their baking. Sweet yeasted buns (bullar) were common in Strindberg's time; the cinnamon roll version only became popular in the 1920s—hence the choice of cardamom, more faithful to the turn of the century.
The contemporary twist : Brush the warm buns with a cardamom syrup for a shine and fragrance worthy of today's Stockholm cafés.
Sources : Charles Emil Hagdahl, Kokkonsten som vetenskap och konst (1879)
August Strindberg · Charactorium
