For Breakfast I have these ever so fragrant and delicious Vegan Cardamom Buns, also known as Swedish Kardemummabullar. These sweet, sticky buns are perfect for grabbing as you head out the door in the morning and will keep well in an air tight box for up to 4 days or so.
These delights are very similar to Cinnamon buns, but I like to think these are a slight step up, with the Cardamom bringing a more sophisticated flavour to the party.
As you can see in the picture, these buns are presented in pretty knots, but don’t feel intimidated by this, as you can see mine are far from perfect, but I think that adds to their charm, practise is really the key for uniformity here.
Traditionally Cardamom buns are made with Butter, Milk and Eggs, so these Vegan ones have all of those things replaced with plant based alternatives. This doesn’t really effect the flavour so much, but you will find them not quite as fluffy as they would be with the dairy, but still extremely delicious.
Ingredients (makes 6 buns)
- 15 Cardamom Pods
- 180ml Oat Milk
- 100g Vegan Butter (preferably the block kind, but spreadable will work)
- 250g Plain Flour
- 210g Caster Sugar
- 5g Dried Yeast
- 1 Tsp Salt
- Pinch Ground Cinnamon
- 50ml Water
Method
- Begin by breaking open the Cardamom pods using a pestle and mortar. Discard the casing and keep the black seeds. Grind up the seeds a little to make them more fine.
- Place 1⁄3 of the ground Cardamom seeds into a small saucepan along with the Milk and 25g of the Butter and heat on low for 5 minutes, do not allow to boil. This will help to infuse the milk with the floral flavour.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the Flour, 25g of the Sugar, Yeast, Salt and Cinnamon.
- Using a dough hook or paddle attatchment, blend the dry ingredients together, then with the mixer on slow gradually stream in the wet milk mixture until fully combined.
- Kneed on a medium low speed for five minutes until the dough is smooth and glossy.
- Transfer the dough to a well oiled bowl and cover. Allow to prove in a warm environment for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size.
- While the dough rises, prepare the butter filling by creaming together the remaining Butter with 85g of the Sugar and another third of the Cardamom for around one minute. Set aside at room temperature.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, knock back and transfer to a lightly floured work top.
- Roll out to a rectangle around 30 x 15 cm. Spread the Butter mix all over the dough, making sure not to leave any areas.
- With the short sides of the rectangle facing you, fold the top half to the middle of the dough, and then fold up the bottom half to the top, as you would a letter, to form three layers.
- Gently roll the dough out again slightly, try not to apply too much pressure as the filling may ooze out.
- Cut the dough into six equal strips. Cut each strip down the centre, making sure to keep it attached at the top of each strip.
- Gently twist each side of each twist three times, then tie into a knot, tucking the ends underneath. Lay the twisted and tied knots onto a baking sheet with baking paper on.
- Repeat this process on all of the buns.
- Lightly cover the buns with cling film and leave to rise for one hour.
- Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Once the buns have finished proving, bake for 25 minutes.
- Heat the remaining 100g of Sugar , Cardamom seeds and the water in a sauce pan until boiling.
- Remove the baked buns from the oven and immediately brush with the hot Sugar syrup.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool or enjoy warm from the oven.
