I made a recipe for these last year as well, and although they were super delicious I wasn't 100% happy with how they turned out aesthetically. So, this year I tried to make a few modifications and damn did these turn out delicious! Now here's some of the backstory to this delicious treat that I shared with you all last year: "Lussekatter" is something I grew up eating every year on the 13th December in Norway. When researching the origins of them though it seems they originated in Sweden. The tradition of "Luciadagen/Lussinatt", which is what we used to celebrate on the 13th of December seems to be a bit complicated as it is tied with two different cultures and legends. It is somewhat based off of the nordic legend of "Lussi", a mythical female creature that would be out that night which was thought to be the longest night of the year, checking that all households had finished their Christmas preparations. However, the holiday is also tied to St. Lucia who was a christian martyr. Feel free to read up on this more if you want, I find it quite fascinating! Either way I hope you decide to try this delicious treat out for yourself and partake in the lucia-celebrations!
Ingredients
0.5g saffron
420g soy milk (I used a sweetened one)
60g vegan butter
90g granulated sugar
2 tsp cardamom
1.25 tsp dry yeast
a good pinch of salt
700g all purpose flour
a few tablespoons maple syrup as "egg wash"
a handful of raisins for decoration
Method: If your saffron isn't crushed already add it to a mortar and pestle and smash the strains until they become a powder. Add it to a bowl with about 30ml of the soy milk to allow it to incorporate into the milk and release some flavour. In a large bowl add the flour, sugar, dry yeast, cardamom and salt and mix well. Melt the vegan butter in a saucepan and add the rest of the soy milk into the saucepan. Once the wet mixture reaches room temperature pour it into the dry mix along with the saffron-infused milk. Make sure all of the saffron is added to the mix! Knead until you have a fairly smooth dough, cover and let rise for 1h. Knock out the air and knead again until your dough is super sooth and stretchy. Divide the dough into segments about 80-90g each and roll into sausages/snakes/logs that are no more than 1cm wide. Shape it into an s shape by rolling up each end in opposite directions, or make it into any other characteristic lussekatt-shape you want. No te: The thinner your dough is rolled out, the more swirls your lussekatt will have and the "nicer" in my opinion it will look. If you find it hard to roll it out super thin then don't fret! You can absolutely roll it out thicker and create fewer swirls as well. As long as it tastes good that's all that matters!
Place each lussekatt on a tray lined with parchment paper, cover and let them rise for another hour. Then, press in raisins into the center of all the swirls, glace them with maple syrup and bake them at 180C in the middle of a preheated oven for 13-15 min until golden and cooked through. Let them cool on a wire rack before enjoying. Happy Lucia!
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