Every year around Christmas time we will celebrate Santa Lucia, a Scandinanavian tradition. On the morning of the 13th of December, kids will dress up in white robes with garlands and candles and sing the Santa Lucia song and serve Santa Lucia buns.A fun part of the tradition is to bake Santa Lucia buns with the kids; it is just like working with play dough, but you get something tasty out of it.
You can read more about the Santa Lucia tradition here
This is how you do it:
150gr or a little more that 1/2 cup or 1 1/3 stick butter
5dl or 2 cups of Milk
20gr or 3 packages of instant yeast
1 gr or 2 teaspoons saffron
150 gr or> 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoonsalt
2 teaspoon cardamom
13 dl or 5 1/2 cups flour
1 egg
1 dl or 1/2 cup of raisins
Heat the milk and butter in a small saucepan until the butter has melted and the temperature has reached 100 degrees F (38 degrees C). Stir in the yeast.
Add saffron, sugar, salt, and flour in bowl and add the yeast mixture with the flour mix. Mix the dough in the bowl until it becomes shiny and silky, adding more flour as needed until it begins to come away from the sides of the bowl. Cover, and let rise for 40 minutes.
Prepare 2 or 3 baking sheets by covering each with a sheet of parchment paper. Lightly flour a work surface, punch down the dough and divide into 30 pieces.
Roll each piece into a rope, 5 to 6 inches long. With the rope lying flat on the work surface, roll each end towards the center, in opposite directions, creating a curled S-shape or other fun shapes. See our Lucia buns.
Place the buns on the prepared baking sheets, and garnish with raisins if desired. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise for an additional 30 minutes while you preheat your oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
Gently brush each bun with a beaten egg, then bake in the oven until puffed and golden, 5 to 10 minutes.
Happy Santa Lucia Day !
