Christmas Calendar 2012 Day 14 - Lucia buns a la Anna´s Food

Hannibal the Cat laying among the Christmas cards

Yes, I know, that I am behind - baking Lucia buns ONE DAY AFTER Lucia Day, but this week has been very busy all evenings with rowing spinning, gløgg evening, water aerobic and finally a tour in the local teater, so therefore I am first baking Lucia this evening !!!! Well I have managed to write the majority of my Christmas cards, which Hannibal the Cat took a special interest in, laying among the Christmas cards or even on top of them, as I wrote them :-)

In Denmark we do not have specific food, which we will eat in order to celebrate the Lucia Day, but this they have in Sweden, where I have locate this recipe on Lucia buns / lussekatter on a Swedish blog called Anne´s Food. So I have bake these Lucia buns following her recipe. And when I saw, that these buns contained saffron, I knew, that I needed to make them, as I have an addiction to saffron.

These buns taste fantastic with this combination of butter and saffron.

Lucia Buns: 

• 40 g yeast
• 200 g milk, full-fat with 3.5% fat
• 50 g full-fat whipping cream, 38% fat
• 100 g butter
• 0,5-0.75 g saffron 
• 100 g sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ egg, beaten
• 500 g wheat flour
• ½ egg, beaten
• raisins

1. Crumble the yeast in a mixing bowl.
2. Meanwhile melt the butter in a cooking pot, when add the milk and cream to the melted butter. Heat up to 37'C and not higher, as higher temperature will kill the yeast.
3. Add the butter-milk-cream mass into the mixing bowl, stir until you have dissolved the yeast.
4. Place the saffron together 1 teaspoon sugar in a mortar and mix it well. Add it into the liquid in the mixing bowl. 
5. Add sugar, salt, the beaten egg and the flour into the mixing bowl. Work into a silky dough, the dough is very, very sticky and moist in the beginning, but it only takes a little kneading to change the texture of it. I always knead on time, 10 minutes, so I am sure, that the dough it needed enough.
6. Let the dough rest/raise warm for 45 minutes.
7. Heat up the (conventional) oven to 200'C.
8. Divide the dough into 10 equal portions, I always a kitchen scale for this purpose in order to ensure equal baking of the buns.
9. The traditional Swedish shape of Lucia buns apparently is like a S-shape with a raisin placed in the middle of the swirls on each side.
10. Place the buns a baking tray covered with baking paper.
11. Let the Lucia buns raise for another 15 minutes.
12. Bake the buns at 200'C for 15-20 minutes.
13. Enjoy the Lucia buns together with a nice cup of home-made Christmas Tea