Christmas in February?

 Lussekatt and coffee for breakfast. 

Who wants Christmas in February? I do, I do! Well, not really. But you see, the Swedish saffron buns, also known as Lussekatter, that are present in every Swedish home throughout the month of December were conspicuously absent in ours last year. And only because I couldn’t find fresh yeast anywhere near. And I just can’t bring myself to make these fragrant, bright yellow buns using dry yeast. I’m simply not good with dry yeast.

Then the other day on a trip to our local grocery, imagine my surprise when I came across a couple of old packages of fresh yeast*, hidden in a different space from where they were last seen in 2013. It felt like the holidays! I rushed to pick up saffron and a big bag of flour, and then my son and I went to work.

Swedes call them Lussekatter and begin making them around December 13^th, which is Saint Lucia’s Day in Sweden – an important day celebrated by everyone and one which, in spite of its name, is not religious. But much as we may like to think the beloved saffron bun has something to do with Saint Lucia, we’re wrong, the “lusse” in Lussekatter has to do with Lucifer, the Devil. The “katter” means “cats”, which would then translate the name as “Lucifer’s cats”. They come in all kinds of shapes, these devilish cats, but the S-shape is the most common, and the one that you can buy in pastry shops all over Sweden during the Christmas season. Lussekatter has been around for a great many years, so many in fact, that the real symbolic behind both the name and the shape has been lost. Today, nobody knows for sure what these buns are meant to symbolize; but to Swedes they are simply the harbinger of the Christmas season. However, nobody will think ill of you if you eat them at other times of the year!

Here’s how you make them.

Ingredients

¼ teaspoon saffron (I use quite a bit more than that)

150 g butter

1 ¾ cups milk

50 grams fresh yeast (I use an entire Fleischmann’s package of yeast, 57 g)

2 cups milk

1 egg + 1 egg later on for brushing.

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

About 7 cups all purpose flour

Raisins for decoration

1. Crumble the yeast into a big mixing bowl.
2. Melt the butter in a pot and add the milk. Stir until the mixture is about 98F. Make sure you stir well.
3. Pour some of this mixture into the bowl with the crumbled yeast and stir until the yeast has been dissolved. You have to work quickly; if the milk/butter mixture gets too cool the yeast won’t let the dough rise later on.
4. Add the rest of the milk/butter mixture to the mixing bowl and stir. Add the saffron, the sugar, the egg, and the salt. Stir. You might want to use your food processor (I use a hand mixer).
5. Now add flour, a little at a time. I like to use my hands for this step. You have to add flour and work the dough until it’s smooth. It shouldn’t be sticky, but also do not use too much flour or your saffron buns will become dense.
6. Put a clean kitchen towel over the mixing bowl and let the dough rise for about 30 minutes.
7. Put the dough on a slightly floured table. Knead it until smooth and shiny. You might want to add more flour.
8. Cut the dough into 4 parts, then cut each of these into 2 equal parts, and so on. You should get about 20-30 buns (I tend to make mine slightly bigger, so I always end up with fewer).
9. Roll each of these parts into “snakes”, approximately 10 inches long, and make an S-shape. At the center of each curl, you put a raisin, the eyes of the “lussekatt”. Don’t be afraid to really push the raisins into the dough, or they’ll get burnt in the oven.
10. Put the buns on lined baking sheets, and cover with a clean towel. Again let rise for 20-30 minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 425F.
11. Beat the egg and, using a pastry brush, brush the tops and sides of the uncooked buns.
12. Place them in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes.

* I’ve found that using slightly older fresh yeast (not too old, obviously) actually works better than using very fresh yeast.