Spelt Cinnamon and Cardamom Buns

Simply put, Fika is the Swedish word that means "to drink coffee," but the word represents a much warmer tradition. To Fika really means to truly take time for a break in your day to, to breathe and rest, to have a coffee and a little sweet (or savory), maybe catch up with a friend or loved one. It's a such lovely idea that I am trying to work into my life right now as holiday craziness seems to start earlier and earlier every year...

Fika is also the name of the adorable cookbook that my college pal, Anna Brones and Johanna Kindvall released earlier this year. Fika is full of traditional and less traditional sweet and savory coffee and tea time treats (and illustrations by Johanna!). It also has a puffy cover, that my cat is cozily napping on as I write this post. 

Now let's talk buns! One of the most well known and loved Fika treats are cinnamon buns. Anna and Johanna's version of this classic recipe are swirled with a mixture of cardamom and cinnamon which is such a lovely and warming combination, perfect for this time of year. They are also totally beautiful and impressive looking! 

And one more thing!

THANK YOU all SO MUCH for your warm reception to my book, Sweeter Off the Vine. I can't wait to share more with you in the coming months. Pre-order links are in the sidebar! Thank you, thank you!

Spelt Cinnamon and Cardamom Buns

makes about 30 small buns

adapted from Fika by Anna Brones and Johanna Kindvall

The original recipe calls for 4 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, but I couldn't resist adding in some spelt flour instead. I also swapped in brown sugar for the filling and added a bit of salt, because sugar always needs just a bit of salt. There are a lot of ways to form and shape these buns, you can even make loaves, but I loved the swirls and twirls of the of the technique I used. I linked to a post within the recipe so you can see the shaping method for yourself, rather than try to explain it, trust me, it is much easier to see something like this than try to explain it :) 

Dough

7 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups whole milk

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

2 1/2 cups spelt flour

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup light brown sugar

4 teaspoons cinnamon

3 teaspoons ground cardamom

pinch salt

Topping

1 egg beaten, for egg wash

pearl sugar or sliced almonds

To make the dough: Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the milk and heat until warmed through. In a small bowl combine the yeast with a couple of tablespoons of the warm milk mixture. Let sit until foamy.

In the bowl of a standing mixer combine the flour, sugar, cardamom and salt. Add the yeast mixture and remaining milk. Stir until a dough forms. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic, 3-5 minutes. The dough should be tacky and soft, but not super sticky. If the dough is sticky knead in a bit more flour. Transfer the dough to a clean, lightly oiled bowl and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Make the filling and assemble: Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Stir the filling ingredients in a small bowl until well combined and smooth.

Divide the dough in half and roll one half of the dough to a rectangle roughly 11x17 inches with the long edge facing you. Spread half of the filling over half of the dough (lengthwise), making sure to spread it all of the way to the edges and fold the dough in half lengthwise. Slice the dough into 15-18 strips. Then check out this post on Pantry Confidential featuring Johanna Kindvall herself to see how she shapes the buns, scroll down towards the end of the post. Trust me, pictures are worth a thousand words here...Repeat with the remaining dough.

Cover the buns with a clean kitchen towel and let them rise for 45 minutes or until puffy. Preheat your oven to 425ºF.

After the buns have risen, brush them with egg wash and sprinkle with pearl sugar or sliced almonds. Bake the buns for 8-10 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking. Serve warm or cool the rolls completely, then store them in an airtight container in the freezer. 

Sam's Crunchy Peanutpepper Cookies

These treats may have the nostalgic look of classic peanut butter cookies, but they hold a punchy little secret: a generous amount of spicy hot cayenne pepper, and a perfect amount of salt to go with it. The recipe comes from Samantha Seneviratne's new book, The New Sugar and Spice, which is so chock full of great recipes that I have dog-eared pretty much every page. I mean, hello Hot Honeycomb Candy, Plum Galettes with Hazelnut Frangipane, and Bay Leaf Rice Pudding! I can't wait to bake more from this book this fall and winter, so many of the spice-forward recipes seem like they would be a perfect fit for the holidays.

The inspiration for these chewy-crunchy cookies was Hot Mix, which is a super tasty spicy-salty snack mix, and dang, those flavors translate perfectly. Salty-sweet-hot snacks are my jam. When I made these guys I thought I had peanuts in my pantry, but discovered late into the baking process that I definitely did not (ehem, that's what happens when you don't do your mise en place...). I used chopped up cashews instead and they were fab. 

Oooh and you guys are all so lucky because Elizabeth over at Brooklyn Supper is hosting a giveaway of this very book right now. Visit her blog to enter, seriously, you want this on your shelf. 

Sam's Crunchy Peanutpepper Cookies

makes about 2 dozen cookies

From The New Sugar and Spice: A Recipe for Bolder Baking by Samantha Seneviratne

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup granulated sugar, plus more for pressing

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup natural, well-stirred unsweetened peanut butter

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup roasted, salted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, cayenne, and baking soda. In a large bowl, stir the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until creamy. Stir in the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and stir to combine. Stir in the peanuts.

Scoop the dough into 2-tablespoon balls and place on the prepared sheets at least 2 inches apart. Using a fork dipped in sugar, gently press a crisscross pattern in the top of each cookie, flattening it out to a 2-inch circle.

Bake until the cookies are light golden brown around the edges and on the bottom, 12-14 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through. Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the sheets on the racks, then move them to the racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the freezer for 1 month.