I made my first fastalavnsboller yesterday.
Fastalavnsboller is a pastry bun thing we eat in Denmark in February for our kind of Halloween. It is where kids dress up, but it is not scary. you eat these, and get candy by going door to door singing. It is difficult to explain. But the buns are good 🙂
I got this recipe from Valdemarsro.dk, you can see the original here
I translated it into American measurements, and I will list both here.
First though, I have to give the recipe for marzipan, for the recipe calls for that, and that is not something you can buy in the US, but it is very easy to make.
Marzipan:
10.5 oz/300 gr. (I only made half a portion as I only needed 3.5oz/100 gr.)
Ingredients:
- 0.5 cup of water (1 dl.)
- 5 tbsp of sugar
- 2 cups of almond flour (200 gr.)
How to:
- Pour water and sugar in a pot, and let it simmer for about 5 min.
- Put the almond flour in a bowl
- Slowly add the sugar water a little at a time, while stirring
- When it is all combined put it in a bag, and put it in the fridge until needed
Fastalavnsboller:
15 pieces
Ingredients:
Dough:
- 1.25 cups of milk (1.5 dl)
- 3.5 oz of butter (100 gr.)
- 3 tsp of active dry yeast (25 gr. of fresh yeast)
- 2 eggs
- 4 tbsp of sugar (50 gr.)
- 0.5 cup of whole spelt flour (1 dl.)
- 2-3 cups of all purpose flour (4-5 dl.)
- 1 vanilla bean, the seeds (you can also use 0.5 tsp of vanilla extract)
- 1 tsp cardamomme
- 0.5 tsp salt
Remonce:
- 3.5 oz sugar (100 gr.)
- 3.5 oz marzipan (100 gr.)
- 3.5 oz soft butter (100 gr.)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Vanilla creme:
- 1 vanilla bean, the seeds
- 2 tbsp of sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp corn starch
- 2 cups of milk (2,5 dl)
- 2.5 oz of chopped skinless almonds
To do:
Dough:
- warm the milk in a pot until it reaches 100 degrees fahrenheit (40 celcius)
- Take the pot of the heat, add the butter. When the butter is meltet add the yeast and stir.
- Put the spelt flour in a bowl, mix in the vanilla seeds, sugar, salt and cardamomme. (if you use vanilla extract, add it to the milk instead)
- Add the 2 eggs and the dry ingredients to the pot. Mix it well before adding the all purpose flour, a little at a time.
- Knead the dough on the counter for about 5 min. The dough should be soft and not stick to your fingers.
- Let the dough rise in a bowl covered with a clean kitchen towel for 30-45 minutes.
Vanilla creme:
- Whisk egg, sugar, cornstarch and vanilla together in a bowl.
- Warm the milk in a pot till it reaches 140 degrees fahrenheit (60 celsius), and add it to the egg mix while stirring.
- Mix it together, and pour it back in the pot.
- Whisk while slowly heating the mixture. As the mixture heats it will thicken. It is supposed to be thick and smooth. So make sure to whisk under the entire heating process.
- When the creme is thick take it of the heat and add the chopped almonds.
- Put it in the fridge to let it cool
Remonce:
- Knead together sugar and marzipan, make sure it is mixed well
- Whisk in the butter and cinnamon with an electrical mixer, do it fast, and make sure not to over whisk it.
Making the actual fastalavnsbolle:
- When the dough has finished rising, you roll it out to one big square about 0.2 inches thick (0.5 cm).
- Cut it into squares of 6*6 inches (15*15 cm)
- On each square you put a tbsp of the vanilla creme and the remonce.
- Fold the corners over the stuffing and make sure to squeeze the dough where the dough is open, if they are not completly closed the stuffing will run out.
- Put them on a sheet pan covered with parchment paper, make sure the side with the closing is down.
- Let the fastalavnsboller rise for 30-45 minutes under a clean kitchen towel.
- When they are finished rising, you brush them with a little milk.
- Put them in a 350 degrees fahrenheit (175 celcius) oven for 15-30 minutes.
- When the buns are out of the oven let them cool.
- While they are cooling you can mix some frosting.
- 2 tbsp of confectioners sugar, 2 tbsp of cocoa, add water, drops at a time until you have a frosting that is not to runny,
- Put a good scoop of frosting on each bun, and enjoy 🙂
Happy baking
Maria 🙂