Festive Bread
It feels like we haven’t posted a new bread roll recipe in a long time, which is abnormal for us! We love bread, and we love coming up with new recipes to share with you all. Sometimes, we wonder if we will run out of bread recipes to share at some point. But something tells me that we will never tire of coming up with new ways to incorporate our favorite flavors into bread. Now that it is December and the holidays are coming up quickly, we have a cute festive bread roll recipe to share with you! I suppose these would be classified as pastries instead of bread rolls, as they have various fillings that give them their signature flavor. Nonetheless, we hope you enjoy and try out this recipe. These would make an amazing addition to a holiday brunch or even Christmas day breakfast!
Today’s Recipe
These funky-looking buns are called “kløbenboller,” or “Kløben” buns. Kløben is basically a Danish version of the German Christmas bread called Stollen. It is a sweet bread with raisins, sukat (candied orange peel), and sometimes marzipan or almonds. And, quite simply, these are a bun version of that bread! We also add cardamom to our dough to give it some extra flavor, as well as cranberries to give it some tartness. We often can’t find sukat in the US, as it just isn’t as common as in Denmark. Hopefully, the cranberries can instead provide a bit of that missing tartness and fruitiness to the bun. However, you can really add whatever you like and have in your pantry. For example, pecans or walnuts would work well instead of almonds!
Rustic-looking Buns
The fun thing about making kløbenboller is that they are very rustic-looking and have a strange shape. This means you can whip them up without worrying about being perfect, and they also have a great texture! The way to shape them is a bit strange. Basically, you let your dough rise without the fillings, then you chop the fillings into the dough along with an egg. You just want to chop until the dough is in little chunks and the fillings are distributed somewhat evenly. Then, you can shape them into blobs and these are your buns! Do NOT chop the dough too much, as the buns will end up homogeneous and you don’t want this. The chopped way of shaping them gives them a great texture, kind of like a pull-apart bread but in a smaller bun form. Try these out this holiday season – we promise they will be a hit!
Kløbenboller (Cardamom Rolls with Marzipan & Dried Fruit)
Ingredients
DOUGH
- 200 ml (about 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp) milk
- 2 tsp instant yeast (2.25 tsp active dry yeast, 17.5g fresh yeast) *if you're using individual packets of instant/active dry yeast, use 1 packet!
- 1.5 tbsp sugar
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 385 grams (about 3 1/4 cups) all purpose flour
- 42 grams (3 tbsp) unsalted butter
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- Lemon zest from one lemon
TOPPINGS
- 50 grams (1/3 cup) raisins
- 50 grams (1/3 cup) dried cranberries
- 100 grams (3.5 oz) marzipan, grated (you can use our recipe for marzipan or use store bought!)
- 1 egg
- Flaked/chopped almonds
- Pearl sugar (optional)
Instructions
- If using active dry yeast, heat the milk in the microwave or on the stovetop until it is “fingervarm” (finger warm), meaning it should feel warm to the touch but not hot. Add your yeast, stir, and leave it for 5-10 minutes until the mixture starts to bubble up. If using instant yeast, simply add the yeast to the milk – there is no need to dissolve it.
- Combine the egg, sugar, cardamom, and lemon zest in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Once the yeast mixture has bubbled up a bit, add it to the egg mixture, or if using instant yeast, add immediately. Mix well.
- Then add the salt, softened butter, and flour. Mix with a wooden spoon until the dough starts to come together, or you can use a stand mixer to mix it together. Tip it out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Add more flour if needed – the dough should be soft and smooth, not dry and not sticking to the surface. If using a stand mixer, allow it to knead the dough together for about 10 minutes.
- Cover the dough with cling film or a clean dishtowel and place in a warm place to rise for anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours, or until doubled in size.
- Once the dough has finished proofing, it's time to shape the rolls. This is a bit of an unusual way of shaping rolls! Take your dough out of the bowl and press the dough into a rough rectangle on your work surface.
- Spread raisins, cranberries, and grated marzipan evenly across the top surface of the dough.
- Press the ingredients gently into the top of the dough.
- Whisk together an egg in a bowl, then add the egg over the top of the dough (it doesn't have to be evenly spread across, just dump it on top!)
- Taking a bench scraper (you can also use a knife!) Cut the dough into little squares, about 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches in size.
- You should now have a bunch of little squares of dough. Take your hands or the bench scraper and begin tossing the squares together until the egg is evenly distributed.
- From this mixture, we are going to form 8 rolls. We simply do this by collecting together the little blobs of dough (you can press them together very gently if needed!) and then transferring to a parchment or silicone mat lined baking sheet. They do not have to look even, just mostly grouped together.
- Cover the rolls and let them proof for another 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F (176C)
- Once the dough has finished rising, you can adjust any that have spread too far by gently collecting them together again without pressing out too much air. Top with chopped or flaked almonds and pearl sugar.
- Bake for about 15 minutes, or until they are golden (check the bottoms of the rolls to make sure they are done – they should be golden brown and if you tap the rolls, they should sound hollow!)
- Enjoy – these pair great with a cup of coffee!
