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skoleboller (skolebrød)

Skoleboller (Skolebrød) Norwegian "School Bread"

Skoleboller are popular sweet cardamom buns filled with a bit of vanilla custard in the center and topped with icing and shredded coconut.
4.91 from 10 votes
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Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: Norwegian
Keyword: buns
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Rising Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Servings: 12 buns
Author: Silvia

Equipment

  • piping bag (optional)

Ingredients

US Customary - Metric

Skoleboller dough

  • 1.5 cups milk
  • 4 tsp instant yeast (or 50 g fresh yeast)
  • 0.5 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp ground cardamom
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla sugar (or vanilla extract)
  • 5 cups flour
  • 7 tbsp butter (softened)

Vanilla custard

  • 2 cups milk
  • 0.5 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1 egg
  • 2.5 tbsp flour
  • 1.5 tbsp corn starch
  • 1 vanilla pod

Decoration

  • 1 egg (whisked for egg wash)
  • 1.75 cups powdered sugar
  • 2-3 tbsp water
  • 1 cup shredded coconut

Instructions

Skoleboller dough

  • Heat the milk until it's lukewarm. Add the yeast and dissolve.
  • Add the sugar, cardamom, baking powder, vanilla, and about 2/3 of the flour.
  • Mix the dough together either by hand or in a mixer with a dough hook, slowly adding the rest of the flour. You might need a bit more or less flour to form dough that isn't too sticky to knead. When the dough forms a nice ball, add the softened butter and continue to knead the dough for about ten minutes.
  • Cover and let rise until doubled in size (about one hour).

Vanilla custard

  • Heat the milk and half of the sugar in a saucepan. Split open the vanilla pod with a knife and carefully scrape out the seeds and add them to the milk.
  • Mix together the rest of the sugar and the flour and corn starch in a bowl. Add the egg yolks and egg and whisk together until smooth.
  • Once the milk mixture starts to bubble pour about half of it into the bowl with the egg mixture, whisking quickly the entire time. Then return the saucepan to the heat and pour the egg and milk mixture from the bowl back into the saucepan, whisking the whole time. Let the custard cook for 2 minutes, whisking the entire time. By the end it should be quite thick and harder to whisk.
  • After 2 minutes remove the custard from the heat and pour into a clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, placing it directly touching the top of the custard. Let the custard cool while the skoleboller dough finishes rising.

Assembly

  • After the dough has risen, turn it out onto your counter and roll into a long cylinder. Cut it into about 12 even slices. Roll each slice into a round ball and place them all on baking sheets lined with baking paper. Make sure to leave plenty of space between the buns, as they'll grow in the oven.
  • Flatten each ball a bit and then use a spoon and/or your fingers to press down a good well in each bun. Be sure to press the dough all the way down and make a bigger well than you'll actually need, as the dough will puff back up a bit in the oven.
  • Use a piping bag or spoons to place vanilla custard in the well of each bun (about 1 - 2 tbsp of custard). Cover with plastic wrap and let rise again for 30 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 410°F (210°C) top/bottom heat. Whisk egg (you can add a splash of milk if you like) and gently brush each bun with egg wash. Bake for about 10 - 14 minutes in the middle of the oven, until golden brown.

Decoration

  • Slowly add water to powdered sugar and stir until you get a thick icing. Pour shredded coconut out onto a shallow bowl or plate.
  • Once the buns are cooled, spread the icing over the top of the skoleboller, around the custard center. Then dip the bun in the coconut, pressing flat to coat the entire top.

Video