Swedish Cardamom Rolls

These Swedish soft and sweet rolls are a popular snack during 'Fika': a Swedish tradition of socializing around 4 o'clock while enjoying a cup of coffee and something sweet. Lycka till! Do you knead by hand? Then a dough scraper comes in handy.

8 pieces
3 hours preparation time

Ingredients:
20 cardamom pods
175 ml whole milk
75 grams of butter
275 grams of patent flour
115 grams SweetLife Natural Xylitol (birch sugar)
½ bag of dried yeast of 7 grams
¼ tsp cinnamon
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla extract

Preparation:
1. Crush the cardamom pods in a mortar and remove the membranes. Grind the seeds finely.
2. Heat the milk in a pan until it is lukewarm. Remove from the heat and add a quarter of the pounded cardamom and 25 grams of butter.
3. Mix the flour, yeast, 50 grams of Xylitol and ⅛ tsp salt in a large bowl. Stir the melted butter into the milk, add to the bowl and stir until all the flour is incorporated. Knead the (very sticky) ball for 10-15 minutes until it is even and only slightly sticky. Return the ball to the bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place in the house for 1 - 2 hours until the ball has doubled in size.
4. Melt the rest of the butter over low heat and mix in a bowl with 50 grams of Xylitol, three quarters of the rest of the cardamom and the cinnamon. Let cool for 10 minutes.
5. Dust the counter with flour and roll out the dough into a piece of 20 cm wide and 35 cm long. Spread the cloth with the butter mixture. Fold the top third over half of the dough and repeat with the bottom third.
6. Cut the envelope widthwise into 8 strips. Cut each strip 1 cm from the top into two strings and gently stretch them until they are twice as long. Braid the strands together. Then loosely twist the braid around your fingers and hide the ends under the bun. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper and let rise covered for 45 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Beat the egg with 1 tbsp water and brush the rolls with it (you will have some left over). Bake the rolls for 15-18 minutes until done and golden brown.
8. As soon as the rolls come out of the oven, brush them with a mixture of the rest of the cardamom, 1 tablespoon of Xylitol, the vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of boiling water.