Almond paste filled saffron knots

Saffron buns are Swedish classic Christmassy dessert and are made all throughout December. This recipe is with a little twist or addition of almond paste which makes anything taste 10 times better!



Ingrediens for ca 15 knots

For dough

2,5dl milk

2gr saffron

25gr yeast

1/4tsp salt

2dl sugar

125gr quark

50gr butter

8-11dl flour

For filling

100gr almondpaste

100gr butter

1dl sugar

 

1 egg

Almondflakes

For sugar syrup

1,5dl water

1dl sugar

Process

In a sauce pan, melt butter then add milk and warm up until finger warm or 37 °.

In a big bowl, crumble yeast then using a fork, mix it with milk and butter mixture until the yeast dissolves. Add sugar, salt, saffron, quark and mix. Add flour gradually while mixing in between. Mix until the dough comes together then sprinkle over lightly with some flour, cover with a kitchen towel and leave on a warm place until it doubles in size, 1-2 hours. 

I like my sweet dough to be soft and light so I usually add around 9dl of flour. That also means that the dough doesn’t hold its shape very well. If you want it to hold better shape add more flour.

Grate almond paste and combine with soft butter and sugar. 

When the dough has risen, on a lightly floured surface kneed it with some additional flour until it is no longer sticky. Try not to add too much flour. 

Roll out the dough into a square shape about 0,5cm thick and ca 40cm long. Using a palette knife distribute the filling evenly over the dough. Take half of the length and place it over the other half. Using a pasta cutter, cut the dough into stripes 1-2cm wide. 

Hold second and third finger on one hand wide apart. With other hand take one stripe and make it go around the two fingers twice. To help and hold the stripe in place in the beginning use a thumb. Then as you are making next round, instead of going around make it go between fingers from top side and around third finger, then up between fingers again and end it down between fingers. 

Place all the knots on a baking tray lined with some baking paper, cover with a kitchen towel and leave on a warm place until they double in size, around 30 minutes. 

Brush each knot with the egg wash and sprinkle over some almond flakes. Bake on 200 °C for around 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. 

While the knots are baking, place sugar and water in a sauce pan and bring to boil. Cook until all the sugar dissolves. Set aside. 

As soon as knots are out of the oven brush them with the syrup. 

Enjoy!

M