Lucia's cats

In this case, we are not talking of real cats, but of buns that are usually baked for Saint Lucia, which occurs the 13th of December.
For the Italians, it will be so strange to read that saffron is used for baking, but, incredibly enough, it actually does work.

Ingredients for 30 buns:

• 50 gr yeast
• 150 gr butter
• 250 gr quark
• 1 gr saffron
• 2 dl sugar
• 5 dl milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs (one for brushing the buns)
• 1 1/2 dl raisins
• 960 gr flour

The ingredients

Crumble the yeast in a bowl.

Yeast

Melt the butter and in the meanwhile, pound the saffron with a little bit of sugar in a mortar. 

Saffron and sugar

Add the saffron to the butter.

Milk, butter and saffron are warming up

Add the milk and keep the temperature around 37 degrees.

Take a little of the mix and add it to the yeast and mix it together. 

Adding a bit of yeast to part of the mix

Then add the rest of the mix, the sugar (a bit at the time), the quark, the salt and the egg. Add also the raisins.

Starting to add all the ingredients together in the mix

Add almost all the flour (a bit at the time) and whisk everything. When the flour has been added, whisk the dough for 10 minutes (if by hand, otherwise 5 minutes).

Adding the flour

The mix is now a recognizable dough

Top the dough with a bit of flour, cover with a cloth and let it yeast for 35-40 minutes.

Take the dough on a workbench where you have been spreading some flour.

Add the remaining flour and make sure that the dough is quite soft.

It is now time to work the dough with the remaining flour

Prepare an oven plate with oven paper and beat the egg.

Start to take small pieces of the dough, roll it and give it the "S" shape. Put 2 raisins in the bun, after laying them on the plate.

Ready to be cooked in the oven!

Turn on the oven to 225 degrees and let the buns yeast for another 35-40 minutes and when done, brush them with the egg.

Bake them for 8-10 minutes. Let them cool down covered by a cloth.

Enjoy with some glögg :-)

Ready!