Northern Norwegian Solboller (Sun Buns)
Northern Norwegians celebrate the day the sun returns after polar night with solboller, doughnuts filled with raspberry jam or vanilla cream and sprinkled with sugar.
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Servings: 20 buns
Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- piping bag (or squeeze bottle of jam) for filling
- chopstick or something similar to help with filling (optional)
Ingredients
- 7 tbsp butter
- 3/4 cup milk
- 4.5 tsp instant yeast
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 4 eggs
- 4 tbsp granulated sugar
- 5 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp vanilla sugar (or vanilla extract)
- 4 cups lard or vegetable oil for frying
- granulated sugar or powdered sugar for sprinkling
- 1 cup raspberry jam or vanilla custard for filling
Instructions
- Heat the butter and milk in a saucepan until the butter melts. Pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl and let it cool to lukewarm.
- Add the yeast, cardamom and eggs and mix until smooth. Then add the flour, baking powder and vanilla and knead the dough on a floured surface for about five minutes. You might need to add a bit more flour if the dough is too sticky to knead (but don't add more than necessary).
- Cover and let the dough rise until doubled in size (about 45 minutes, though time can vary).
- Roll the dough out into a thick (3/4 inch, or 2cm) sheet and use a glass or form to cut out round slices. Cover and let them rise again for 15 minutes before frying.
- Heat the lard or oil in a large pot or pan to 330°F (165°C). I use a cooking thermometer to monitor the temperature, but if you don’t have a thermometer, you can check that the fat is hot enough by sticking the end of a wooden spoon in the fat – if it bubbles the fat is hot enough. Then reduce the heat to low or medium so you can maintain a stable temperature.
- Gently drop the dough in the oil and fry on each side until golden brown (about 90 seconds per side). Transfer to a wire rack covered in paper towels. If using granulated sugar, roll the doughnuts in sugar while they're still warm.
- Make a small hole in each doughnut with a chopstick or something similar and use the chopstick to make a hollow in the middle of the doughnut (see video below).
- Use a piping bag or squeeze bottle to fill each doughnut with jam or vanilla custard.
- Optional: sprinkle with powdered sugar.