Grandmothers recipe for Cardamom buns.

I was talking about my Grandmother  which I always called Mamma, in my last posting.

She was great at doing many things, among, crocheting and cooking…  and baking. 

Surely she had time to learn all kind of things since she lived long and interesting life before fallen to eternal sleep last summer at the age of ninety. She was very close to me, and these cardamom buns, that we call Korvapuusti (slapped ears)  in Finnish, remind me of her where ever I see or smell them. We had a joke that I have nose that can smell her baking cardamom buns no matter how far I was. The smell of cardamom and yeast that fills our house when the dough is rising instantly takes me back to childhood – that is the fragrance of a true home in my mind.

Your kids will stand in line for Finland's version of "slapped ears": cardamom buns filled with brown sugar and cinnamon. This recipe is really worth of trying!! 

Prep Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours, 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• For pastries:
• 1 cup lukewarm milk
• 4 Tbsp. melted butter (room temperature, if it is too hot, it burns yeast)
• 1 pkg. dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. freshly ground cardamom
• 1 beaten egg plus 1 beaten egg for final glaze
• 4-5 cups all-purpose flour
• Pearl sugar or rock sugar for dusting
• .
• For filling:
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 heaping Tbsp. cinnamon

Preparation:

In a large mixing bowl, combine milk, 4 Tbsp. melted butter, yeast, and sugar. Allow to sit 10 minutes until yeast begins to bubble. Stir in salt, cardamom, and beaten egg, then gradually stir in 4-5 cups flour until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. Kneading by hand, work the dough until it is smooth, shiny, and has lost most of its stickiness. Place in a greased bowl, cover with a towel or cling wrap, and allow to rise 1 hour or until doubled.  Remember, softer your dough is, softer your buns are in the end.

Punch down dough, then divide into two equal halves. Roll each half into a 8x14 rectangle; brush each half with melted butter then sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon ( don´ t save ingredients at this point..)  Starting from the long side, tightly roll each half into a long "snake"; with a sharp knife, make diagonal cuts every 2 inches to make 7 triangular rolls (14 total).

Place each roll, point up, on slightly greased cookie sheets, then use a finger or a spoon to press down each tip to form ear-shaped rolls. Cover with clean towels and allow to rise another hour, until doubled.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Brush each roll with beaten egg, sprinkle with pearl sugar, and bake on center rack for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Yield: 14 large korvapuusti.

Here is useful image to visualize baking process!

Drawing was found from axis-of-aevil.net


I love eating these with cold skimmed milk, or huge cup of coffee.