One part of my childhood that I will never forget, is making “boller” with my grandmother. I loved making them as much as I loved eating them. It was always a hit on hikes and picnics.
Boller tastes similar to cross buns. In Norway and other Scandinavian countries it is enjoyed as a treat for young and adults and it can be served for breakfast, lunch, tea, snack and dessert.
Yesterday Irene and her friend made boller at our house. It is always fun to see how much fun kids have making them. I think the dough feels like play dough and they like to use their hands to make food. Of course it helps if it tastes good as well.
This recipe can be used for cinnamon buns and be filled with bits of chocolate, custard and raisins. We are getting ready to make fastelavensbolle (lent bolle) next Friday.
My favorite is to serve them when they still warm with Norwegian brown cheese
Recipe:
1 stick (100 grams) butter
5 1/2 cups (500-600 grams) flour
1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
1 tsp cardamom
1 1.5 cups (3.5 dl) milk milk
8 grams yeast or 1 sachet of yeast
Melt butter in a pot and add. Make sure you heat to body temp (98°F/37°C) Add your sugar, cardamom and yeast and stir together.
Add flour and mix it to dough. Knead the dough for 5 minutes by using your hand.
Let the dough rise for 25 min.
Spread dough out on a flour board, make long rolls of dough and cut into 16 pieces. Roll each piece into a little ball.
I find it a little bit hard to describe how to shape buns with words, but a blogger in Norway (My Little Norway) describes it like this.
The technique of rolling boller is quite an art. The bollers are made into tight balls but they also need to keep the air inside so they will rise in the oven… It’s hard to explain but here goes: ball a dough piece in the palm of your hand against the flour board. Your palm adds pressure while your thumb shapes the dough. You use a circular motion against the board until the surface of the boller becomes smooth.
Place them on a greased baking pan and let rise for 20 minutes. Mix egg in a small bowl and lightly brush egg mixture on your rolls.
Place in middle rack and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 12 – 15 minutes until golden brown.
