Foretaste of Christmas

Days started to grow shorter significantly and the autumn dimness and chill finally reached Budapest as well. I'm wandering around the stores looking for gingerbread cutters (I came up with the idea that I want an angel gingerbreat cutter). I'm working out a winter & Christmas menu for the cafe... In my favourite English bookstore I bury myself in reading the Christmas edition of Good Food magazine, looking through the cookbooks trying to decide which ones should be mentioned in a letter to the Santa Claus (my family tradition - impossible to skip).

Yesterday I received an amazing parcel - full of teas and Christmas accents, straight from my mum. Sweet Pear, Cinnamon Start Sencha (Japanese green tea), St. Claus Favourite, Banana Sencha, Chocolate Rooibos... smells like Christmas, doesn't it?

Beautiful scents of apples and cinnamon are floating in the air at home... I baked Swedish cinnamon buns (kanelbullar) and have started to test different recipes for "szarlotka" - Polish apple cake/pie - in search of the best one, one that I could call my favourite. The recipe for the buns comes from Liska's blog (thank you!). I modified it a bit because I didn't have cardamon and instead of it, I used gingerbread spices (which worked really well). Liska calls the buns 'cardamon', however, I know them under the name 'cinnamon' (in Swedish - 'kanel'). The buns are the best just out of the oven, still warm with a glass of milk (P.'s version) or Cinnamon Star Sencha (my version). On the following day, I made a bread & butter pudding with them and it was equally good to the one based on croissants. I have two more recipes: one for the cinnamon buns and one for the saffron ones - both straight from Sweden. Hope to try them out soon :)

Kanelbullar (Swedish cinnamon buns)

12 buns

1 tablespoon sugar
50ml warm water
2 1/4 teaspoon dry/ instant yeast
200 ml milk
1 teaspoon cream
100g butter
450g all-purpose flour
120g sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon gingerbread spices (or green freshly grated cardamon)

Filling:
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled down
3 tablespoons sugar + 2 teaspoons cinnamon - mixed together

Glaze:
1 egg beaten with one teaspoon water
almond flakes and brown sugar (I used demerara sugar)

1. In a bowl mix together 1 tablespoon sugar, warm water and yeast. Put aside for about 10 minutes until it starts to bubble a bit.

2.  In a pan mix together milk, cream and butter. Warm them up until butter melts. Put aside to cool down a bit and then mix with the yeast. In a seperate big bowl mix flour, sugar, salt and gingerbread spices together. Connect them with the wet ingredients and knead the dough (you can use the mixer). Let the dough rise in a warm place while covered (around 1h).

3. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Roll out the dough - you want to get a rectangle (40 x 45cm). Spread the butter on top, sprinkle with a cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Roll the dough the long way and the cut the roll into about 12 pieces 3,5cm thick. Place them with the cut edge upward onto a baking sheet. Spread the remaining butter on them. Let the buns rise in warm place while covered for about 30 - 60 minutes. (though they won't rise too much).

4. Brush the buns carefully with the mixture of egg & water, sprinkle with brown sugar and almond flakes. Bake for around 25 minutes, until the buns are golden.