Looking for a nice and vegan Christmas recipe to make your holiday sparkle? We've got you covered with this ‘Lussekater’ recipe, Swedish saffron buns, by Sofia Tegnefur from The Nordic Kitchen.
"Hi there! I’m Sofia. I’m a plant-based food stylist & photographer, living in Stockholm (Sweden) together with my boyfriend Kalle and our son, Adam. I am a solopreneur and spend most of my days creating recipes and photographing food.
I love early mornings, blueberries, drawing, cinnamon rolls, strawberries, cashew butter, dahlias and dark chocolate. I drink my coffee black and real strong. I almost always wear only black. I am a minimalist and I’m allergic to clutter. Russel Crowe is my favorite actor. I love the Nordic moody light and I dream about living in a house with a big garden, where I can grow my own vegetables, fruits and flowers. Nature is my biggest source of inspiration and I love to use natural materials in both my home and my work.
Here is the recipe:
VEGAN ”LUSSEKATTER” – SWEDISH SAFFRON BUNS - makes 40 buns
◦ 50 g fresh yeast
◦ 150 g vegan margarine
◦ 1 g saffron
◦ 1 1/2 dl granulated sugar
◦ 5 dl | 500 ml plant milk
◦ 1/2 tsp salt
◦ 15 dl | 900 g wheat flour
TOPPING
◦ 3-4 tbsp melted margarine for brushing
◦ 80 Raisins
◦ 1-2 dl Mulled wine
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Crumble the yeast into a large baking bowl.
2. Melt the margarine.
3. Grind saffron and 1 tbsp granulated sugar in a mortar and pestle, and add it to the melted margarine.
4. Add the plant milk to the margarine and reheat to 37°C.
5. Add a little of the margarine to the yeast and stir until completely dissolved.
6. Now add the rest of the margarine, sugar and the salt and stir together.
7. Stir in most of the flour and work the dough for about 10 minutes.
8. Let the dough rise covered until it has doubled in size, this takes about 45 minutes.
9. Place the dough on a floured surface and work it for a minute or so. Add more flour if needed.
10. Divide the dough into 40 equally large pieces.
11. Roll out each piece of dough so that it looks like a long snake, about 1 cm in diameter.
12. Curl the ends (in opposite directions), forming an ”S”.
13. Place the buns on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and repeat with the rest of the dough. Don’t make the buns too large, since they’ll rise to twice the size in the next step. Also, leave some space between them on the sheet.
14. Let the buns rise (covered) for about 30 minutes.
15. Heat the oven to 225°C.
16. Soak the raisins in the mulled wine. Set aside while the buns are rising.
17. Brush the buns with melted margarine and put a raisin in each end of the buns.
18. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes (one sheet at a time).
19. Let cool under a kitchen towel before serving.
20. Freeze the leftover buns as soon as cooled down, it’ll prevent them from becoming dry."
Recipe and photographs by Sofia Tegnefur, The Nordic Kitchen : If you want to see more of her life in Sweden, you can follow her on Instagram (@thenordickitchen) and read her blog (https://www.thenordickitchen.com).
