Tall Skoleboller (Skolebrød) Norwegian "School Bread" from Lille Betong
Skoleboller are popular sweet cardamom buns filled with a bit of vanilla custard in the center and topped with icing and shredded coconut. This extra tall version made popular at Lille Betong in Oslo are baked in a jumbo muffin or mini cake form and filled with an extra large portion of vanilla custard.
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Servings: 6 buns
Equipment
- piping bag (optional)
- mini cake form (or jumbo muffin pan)
Ingredients
Skoleboller dough
- 1 cup milk
- 3 tsp instant yeast (or 25 g fresh yeast)
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar (or vanilla extract)
- 3 3/4 cups flour
- 5 tbsp butter (softened)
Vanilla custard
- 1 1/4 cups whole milk
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 tbsp corn starch
- 1 vanilla pod
Decoration
- 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, 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.
- Roll the dough into a cylinder and cut into six equal parts. Roll each piece into a round bun and set them in a greased muffin/cake tin. Cover and let rise until doubled in size (about an 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 corn starch in a bowl. Add the egg yolks 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 medium/low 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
- Use the back of a measuring spoon and/or your fingers to make a large well in each bun. 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 a heaping portion of vanilla custard in the well of each bun. Add as much custard as possible, as the custard will sink and the buns will rise in the oven.
- Preheat oven to 390°F (200°C) top/bottom heat. As the oven preheats, the skoleboller can rise again one last time. Bake for about 20 minutes in the bottom third of the oven, until the tops and bottoms are 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 sides of each bun. Then roll the bun in the coconut, pressing down to coat the entire sides. Then spread the icing over the top of the bun and press it down in the coconut to coat the entire top.