Chaps Can Bake Too.

Swedish Saffron Buns.

No Swedish Christmas is complete without buns... 

Saffransbullar, traditionally made for Sankta Lucia on 13th December, are eaten over the course of Advent. Most Swedish families will have their own recipe, however there are umpteen available online.

Along with pepparkakor (ginger-snaps) the smell of them baking, for me, is about as Swedish as it gets. For Swedes, these two things signify Christmas and the mere thought of a yuletide without them would provoke social collapse. (Well, people might start openly disregarding traffic laws or not retuning library books on time, which amounts to the same thing.)

By weight saffron, derived from dried stigmas of the Saffron Crocus, is the world's most expensive spice, so it is no surprise it's used only for high days and holidays. Your supermarket will generally have small sachets of the stuff available.

Interestingly, Cornwall has a long tradition of baking with saffron too, both in bun and cake form. As with Sweden this was only done on special occasions, as the name Revel or Tea Treat buns would suggest. The Cornish tradition is to spice things up with cinnamon and / or cardamon. A fantastically moist spiced saffron fruit cake we tried in St Ives lives on in the memory. (Alas the name of the bakery escapes me.)

The Swedes keep things simple, just adding raisins to the mix. (Well, they do consume cinnamon buns (kanelbullar) for the rest of the year, so advent probably comes as a welcome break.)
We've taken the liberty of adding a dash of rum - this intensifies the flavour and deepens the golden yellow colour of the finished buns.

Easy to make, saffron buns really are a treat, especially when washed down with lots of glögg. (Female Swedish helper optional.)

Ingredients:

• 1g saffron
• 2tbsp rum
• 50g fresh yeast
• 175g butter, room temp
• 500ml milk, room temp
• 200ml sugar
• 1/2tsp salt
• 800g white flour
• 100ml rasins
• 1 beaten egg, for glazing

Procedure:

• Mix the rum and saffron together in a glass and leave for a half hour to infuse
• Cube the butter
• Crumble the yeast and mix with the milk, butter and the saffron rum in a bowl or mixer
• Add the sugar, salt & flour and work together for 15 mins in a mixer, or 20 mins by hand
• Cover & leave to rise for an hour at least (or over night somewhere cool - some say this improves the flavour)
• Soak the raisins in water for 30 mins. (This way they won't rob the buns of any moisture when baked)
• Take the dough out of the bowl and, with a little flour, work in to shapes. (The S shape called Julgalt is most common, but there are several others)
• Place them on a baking tray, lined with paper, and leave to rise for 30 mins
• Pre heat oven to 225°C
• Plonk two raisins at the tips of the S and glaze with the egg
• Bake for 8 to 10 mins.
• Leave to cool on rack under a tea towel

Perfect for a boozy elvakaffe!

Chaps Can Bake Too...

Spiced Banana Cake.

Left recently with a glut of over ripe bananas Management suggested I ought to try banana cake.
Not having made it myself before I settled on a Hairy Bikers recipe.
I've spiced it up a bit with extra cinnamon and cloves, and dispensed with the vegetable oil in favour of a little more butter.

Don't let the loaf tins fool you. It's actually a cake.

(The original had pecans in, but as my dearly beloved is lethally allergic to nuts I skipped them. If you're minded too you can add chocolate chips rather than raisins.)

Ingredients:

1. 5 or 6 very ripe bananas
2. 150g/5oz butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
3. 335g/11½oz caster sugar
4. 4 eggs
5. 450g/1lb plain flour
6. 2 tsp baking powder
7. 1.5 tbsp ground cinnamon
8. 2 tsp ground cloves
9. ½ tsp salt
10. 225g/8oz rasins

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Grease and line two medium (or three small) loaf tins.
2. Mash the bananas in a bowl and set aside.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the mashed banana mixture until well combined.
4. Mix the flour, baking powder, ground spices and salt together in another bowl and lightly fold into the banana mixture. Add the raisins and fold together lightly.
5. Spoon the cake mixture into the loaf tins and bake in the oven for 1½ hours, or until risen and golden-brown. Check after one hour and reduce the oven temperature slightly if the loaves are browning too quickly on the top, or cover the loaves loosely with aluminium foil.
6. Leave the banana bread to cool in the tins, then turn out and serve in thick slices.

Goes perfectly with your tea on a Sunday morning.