Finnish Cardamom Rolls

Before moving to Belize, I didn't do much baking. Maybe some cookies now and again, but nothing out of the ordinary. Now? I seem to be baking something almost every week. Some of it has to do with wanting to bring something to the weekly pool party, but it's also been a case of trying to learn new things in the kitchen.

So when Cardamom Rolls appeared on my Facebook feed, I thought it might be just the thing to stretch my baking skills.

I haven't used cardamom that much in the past, so I did some reading about this spice. 

Did you know --

• it's a member of the ginger family?
• cardamom sees are found in small pods the size of a cranberry?
• the pod shell will disintegrate while dishes like soups and stews cook?
• the spice is widely used in Scandinavian and East Indian cooking?

Well there you go.

So moving on to the recipe...

The first step was to make the dough. I warmed up milk, mixed in the sugar and yeast and let it sit until the yeast got bubbly.

In the bowl of my standing mixer, I whisked together the eggs, butter, cardamom, and salt. 

*Note - I used ground cardamom.

The yeast mixture was added into the mixer bowl and combined with the butter mix. Then it was the flour's turn to hop in -- one cup at a time.

Once the dough formed into a ball, I put it in a lightly oiled bowl, covered with plastic wrap, and let it alone to rise.

About 1 1/2 hours later, the dough had doubled in size.

I punched the dough down and, using my kitchen scale, measured out four equal pieces. 

One at a time, each piece was rolled out to measure about 12 inches by 18 inches.

Some softened butter was brushed on each piece and a combo of sugar and cardamom was sprinkled on top.

Each buttered, spiced piece of dough was then rolled up.

Each log was cut on the diagonal, to create chubby 'v' shapes and placed on parchment-lined baking sheets.

When all the dough was cut, the rolls were left to rise again for about 30 minutes.

Before popping them into a pre-heated 350 degree oven, I brushed each of the rolls with some egg wash and sprinkled some regular, white sugar over them.

After baking for about 18 minutes, the rolls were done.

The verdict?

For starters, I was blown away by the dough. I was expecting something a bit on the dense side, but it was light and airy -- almost croissant like. 

As you can probably tell from the above picture, I could have rolled the buttered filled dough a bit tighter and the rolls would better retain their desired shape.

Instead of putting a dozen rolls on a baking sheet, I will probably put eight the next time. The reason is that they puff so much and not all of them had adequate space. 

I personally thought the rolls could hold up to a bit more sugar in the filling. And speaking of filling, I think you could put any number of combos. Cinnamon and or nutmeg would be lovely, maybe even some kind of jam or jelly. Will have to play with that.

Bottom line is that while these rolls do take a bit of effort, the reward is a super tasty treat. And because they're so light and airy, they work great as a nosh for breakfast, a quick snack, or a dessert.