My recipe for kardemummabullar

I am a very big fan of cardamom and became a very big fan of kardemummabullar (cardamom buns) when we traveled to Sweden in 2019. I’ve now made iterations on this recipe 6 or 7 times and I’ve used a draft of this post each time.

They’re delicious and never last more than a couple days.

Ingredients

Sweet dough

• 156ml whole milk
• 1 egg and 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp (3g) vanilla extract
• 57g unsalted butter, cubed
• 11.5g cardamom, freshly ground
• 1/2 tsp (3g) salt
• 50g granulated cane sugar
• 375g bread flour
• 2 1/4 tsp dry yeast

Filling

• 64g unsalted butter
• 65g brown sugar
• 4.5g cardamom, freshly ground
• pinch of salt

Topping

• 1 egg for egg wash
• 12 healthy pinches of Swedish pearl sugar

Setup

• Leave milk, eggs, and butter out overnight so that they are the same room temperature when you start.
• (Optional) Measure everything out ahead of time to make the mix and go easy in the morning.
• Have a bread machine. This recipe works beautifully with our Cuisinart, but I’m sure it would work with others. If you don’t have a bread machine, you can still knead and rest like any normal dough.

Instructions

1. Add sweet dough ingredients in order listed to the bread machine container.
2. Start the bread machine on its dough setting. Be happy for the next hour and a half that you have a trusty bread machine.
3. While dough is being prepared, mix the ingredients for the filling. This takes minutes, so don’t worry about rushing.
4. Once dough is complete (around 1.5 hours), remove it from the bread machine and place it on a large cutting board. Punch the dough a bit.
5. Stretch and roll the dough out into a large rectangle, about a quarter inch thick.
6. Spread the filling evenly on one half of the dough.
7. Fold the dough in half along the filling line.
8. Shape and roll the dough some more until it’s in a nice enough looking rectangle that you think can be split into 12 rolls.
9. Make 12 equal cuts of the dough.
10. Make another cut down the middle of each piece, leaving about an inch uncut at the top. You’re giving each piece long legs.
11. Prep a large oven pan with parchment paper.
12. Pick each piece up by its head in one hand. Grab it’s legs in your other hand. Spool the legs around the head while twisting. (There’s no great way to explain this in words, but this video shows it well.)
13. Set wrapped pieces on your pan. These will expand quite a bit when cooked, so don’t pack them too close together.
14. Cover with plastic wrap or a towel and let sit for 45 minutes.
15. Prepare the egg wash. This is a fancy way of saying: whisk an egg.
16. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
17. After 45 minutes, remove the plastic wrap or towel and brush egg wash liberally on each bun. Once each has been washed, repeat.
18. Sprinkle a healthy pinch of pearl sugar on the top of each bun. Probably sprinkle a healthy pinch of pearl sugar in your mouth.
19. Place the pan in the oven and cook for 14 minutes or until brown. This time will vary.
20. Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack.
21. Eat at least one bun immediately.

Caveats

• I’m not sure the amount of cardamom matters. I’ve been trying to figure out how much is too much, but haven’t reached that point yet. At 11.5g in the dough, I can start to imagine the line, but we’ll see.
• I’m not sure how much the amount of sugar in the sweet dough matters. I once forgot it completely and they still tasted great. Go figure.
• The recipe I used as a base said 10-12 minutes in the oven, but I’ve always needed to leave them in longer. This may be for several reasons, one of which is that we’re at 2500 feet of elevation. Another may just be oven temperature and consistency. Another may be that I somehow decided to make massive buns.
• Don’t stress about shaping. They look completely different when they come out from when they go in. Wrap while twisting and tuck at the end and everything will work out.
• I originally made this as 12 buns, then started making 10. At some point I made 9. 12 is probably the right number.