I’ve been following Signe on twitter for ages now, and there’s always something very familiar about her flavour combinations and recipes… That’s not to say that I’ve found them available widely, on the contrary, but having grown up in Germany there’s something about the Scandinavian palate that resonates strongly with my childhood. We spent a lot of time living around Bremen, and Hamburg, right at the top of Germany and not far from Scandinavia proper. And since Signe released her new Baking book, I’ve been dying to delve into it to try something.
Originally I’d said that I’d cook a pavlova, and I will at some point, but it’s the spiced things that have been drawing me in… In a quick poll on twitter at 7am this morning, the consensus (of two) was that I should go for the Chelsea buns first. I must admit the cardamom twists are still calling to me, like a baking siren…
So, Chelsea buns first… Of course I made a few variations, not to the spicing, but to the fruitiness – just because of my kids, but Signe did give us the option to play with the tea etc.
Dough
340ml whole milk
75g butter
550g refined spelt or plain flour (I used 50/50)
60g of golden caster sugar
1.5 tsp cinnamon
1.5 tsp fine sea salt
20g fresh yeast or 10g of fast action dried yeast
2 medium eggs, beaten
Filling
80g currants (actually, I used craisins)
80g sultanas (I used orange river)
1 large mug (at least 250ml) strong Lady Grey Tea (I used mandarin and cranberry)
150g buter
100g light brown muscovado sugar
1 tsp vanilla salt
1.5 tsp cinnamon
0.5 tsp mixed spice
demerara sugar or natural sugar crystals for sprinkling (optional) (I used cinnamon sugar)
Glaze
1 jar marmalade (284g)
40g butter
zest of 1 lemon (and lemon juice, optional)
“In a saucepan scald the milk and allow the butter to melt in the hot milk. Set aside to cool to below 50 C otherwise the heat will kill off your yeast.
In a large bowl sieve flour, sugar, dried yeast (if using fresh yeast add a spoonful of sugar to it in a small bowl before adding to the mixture just to check it’s alive), spices, salt and stir thoroughly to distribute all the ingredients.
So, amazing, sticky, tart, sweet and spicy – love them – really tangy with the marmalade! I popped mine back into the oven as it cooled, to allow the glaze to seep into the buns…