Fastelavnsboller

It is that day of the year again where Scandinavians makes buns and have them with jam, whipped cream and a sprinkle of icing sugar! Why? I am not entirely sure, but I think it has to do with an old tradition - one of the best traditions I know! It was a day where you would eat a little extra before the fast, sort of like Shrove Tuesday (Which is on this coming Tuesday, also know as Pancake Tuesday!).
Usually the children in Primary School also make "fastelavnsris" which are the twigs with little fluffy bulbs on them, decorated with colourful feathers and other little pretty things. You can also read about it on Wikipedia. There, it says that is a sort of carnival, which I wouldn't agree with as such, it's more just a sort of holiday where you do these little things that are o so nice!

Originally, this recipe was twice as big, but considering it was only my boyfriend and I who were going to have them, I decided to half it. I made six large ones, but I would recommend making 8 smaller ones, as they are quite filling!

Fastelavnsboller
(Makes about 6-8, 290-220 calories each without the filling and topping)

250-300 g plain flour (start with 250, then add more if the dough is too sticky)
50 g sugar
75 g flora light
150 ml milk (I used semi-skimmed)
25 g fresh yeast (or a sachet of dry yeast, not many shops in the UK sell it dry, I found some in a Polish shop!)
1/4 tsp hornsalt or heartshorn/ammonion bicarbonate (optional)
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 egg for brushing

Filling:
Strawberry jam
Whipped cream

Topping:
Sift a little bit of icing sugar on top

- Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

- Melt the butter in a pan and add the milk. It should be body temperature 37°C. Mix the yeast in with about half of the egg mixture.

- Make a well in the dry flour mix, and pour the liquid into the centre. Use a wooden spoon to blend it all together and then knead well, adding more flour if necessary. Leave the dough to rise somewhere warm for about 1 hour (I set the bowl in another bowl of hot water and covered it with a kitchen towel.

- An hour later and you can roll out the buns. Place them on a baking paper clad baking tray and leave for at least another half hour to rise some more. Make sure you have enough space between them as they will rise quite a bit!

- Preheat the oven to 180-200°C. In the meantime, crach an egg into a bowl and top each bun with some of the egg.

- Once the oven is hot, pop in the tray (or trays) of buns in the oven and leave to bake for about 12-14 minutes. I left mine in for a few minutes too much, they should have a nice golden colour. Take them out and leave them to cool down for 5-10 minutes.

- Cut each bun in half, spread over some jam, top with cream, place the lid over and sprinkle over some icing sugar using a sieve.

Original source:
http://forum.snartmamma.com/archive/index.php/t-113182.html and my mother to confirm that this was a proper recipe.

- Jules