Maille felt as though he had fallen headlong for the rapturous promises of a cookbook. Nevertheless, he closed his eyes and tried to feel the north breeze blowing from Mount Majorin on his skin.
Cinnamon rolls with cardamom
Kanelbullar can be found on every coffee table in Sweden, although this roll was apparently only invented in the 1920s. The pastry smells not only of cinnamon, as its name leads one to expect, but also of cardamom.
Which adventurous route could a spice such as cardamom have possibly taken from its tropical homeland into this traditional Swedish roll? That is one of the many questions Secret Agent Hektor Maille is confronted by when his culinary encounter with this traditional Swedish roll transports him, momentarily, mentally back from Buller to his home-island of Santa Lemusa.
For the dough:
2 dl milk
1 cube fresh yeast (42 g or less)
70 g butter
500 g wheat flour
½ teaspoons salt
75 g sugar
20 capsules cardamom - the seeds only, pulverized in a mortar
For the filling and coating:
70 g butter, warm and so easy to spread
40 g sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon, freshly ground
1 egg
1 small cup coarse sugar
More about the travel adventure of Secret Agent Hektor Maille:
While eating these preparations Hektor Maille became aware of some strange connections between his tropical home and intrinsically Swedish traditions:
Während Geheimagent Hektor Maille im Keller Wasser für das Testessen holte, naschte Geheimagent Tristan Canaille heimlich vom schwedischen Hefegebäck Kanelbullar. Es schmeckte ihm vorzüglich und er entschloss sich, es in seiner Heimat Neukaledonien einzuführen, um es dort als neustes Nationalgericht zu etablieren. Voerst hatte er aber eine komplexe Aufgabe in der Nordschweiz zu erledigen, es galt eine kaum bekannte Hefesorte zu entwenden…
Simon Baur, Basel (1. November 2009)
First Publication: 1-11-2009
Modifications: 23-1-2011, 18-6-2011, 14-11-2011, 13-12-2011