Lussekatter ( Santa Lucia saffron buns)

On Friday in Sweden it was Santa Lucia’s day. Children get dressed as Lucia and everybody’s baking and eating lussekatter, saffron buns. They are very nice and fluffy with a nice saffron aroma and taste, very enjoyable with a glass of milk and reminding you that it is soon Christmas. 

Lussekatter

Recipe from here

100 g (1/2 cup) butter

200 ml (1 cup) sugar

25 g dry yeast or 50 g fresh yeast (1 package)

1g saffron

500 ml (2 cups) milk

½ teaspoon salt

250 g quark (kesella)

1700 ml (about 8 1/2 cups) flour

Raisins

1 egg for brushing

Start by melting the butter in a pan or the microwave. Add the milk. Make surethe mixture is lukewarm about 37^oC /99 ^oF (warm to the finger touch). If it’s not warm it a little more. Put it in a big bowl, add the yeast and stir to dissolve. Add the sugar, saffron, quark, salt and in the end the most of the flour. I used about 1600 ml of the flour, it didn’t need more. Work the dough with your hands or the mixer until it becomes smooth and nice.  Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for about 40 minutes or until it becomes double in size.

Knead the dough and divide it into 32 pieces. Form each one to a piece, then start forming a double S. There are other shapes too but this is the most common. Put one raisin on each edge and cover them with a towel. Let them rise for about 20-30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 225 ^o C/ 435^oF. After the 30 minutes brush the buns with the egg and put them in the oven for 5 -8 minutes. Let them cool covered with a towel. Pastries with saffron tend to dry very easily.