Skoleboller (Norwegian Vanilla Buns)
Every Norwegian knows of this bun. Literally translated, skoleboller means ‘school buns’ because these buns are often added to packed lunches or sold at bake sales. We prefer making these with pastry cream – but, if you choose to use a custard, you need to heat and thicken it a bit with cornflour/cornstarch otherwise it will spread too much when baking (also, make sure the well in the bun is deep before adding).
Servings: 12 buns
Ingredients
- plain/all-purpose flour for dusting
- 1/2 x quantity Basic Bun Dough see this link for cinnamon buns (warning: only make half or you'll end up with 24 big buns) https://scandikitchen.co.uk/how-to-make-the-best-ever-real-scandi-cinnamon-buns/
- 1/2 x quantity Pastry Cream see here https://scandikitchen.co.uk/pastry-cream-marzipan-and-more/ – you can also make this super easy ready-in-30-second cheat version here https://scandikitchen.co.uk/product/dr-oetker-kagecreme-vanilje-instant-vanilla-creme-3x85g/
- 150 grams icing sugar
- 100 grams desiccated coconut
- 1/2 beaten egg for brushing
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas 4.
- Dust the work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Knead the dough with your hands and work in more flour if needed. Cut the dough into 12 equal-sized pieces.
- Roll out so the buns are uniform in size and shape and place on the prepared baking sheet, well spaced out. Leave for about 10 minutes to rest, then prod a large hole in the middle of each one and flatten slightly – so you end up with a well around 4 cm in diameter.
- Add a heaped tablespoon of the pastry cream to each one. Leave for another 15 minutes to rise, then brush the sides of the buns with the beaten egg.
- Bake in the preheated oven for around 10–14 minutes or until done and golden along the sides. This depends on your oven.
- When the buns have cooled slightly, make the icing by mixing the icing sugar with a few drops of hot water until you have a syrup-like consistency.
- Carefully – we use a pastry brush for this – brush the icing around the edges of the buns, then scatter the coconut on top (try not to get too much on top of the custard, the coconut should just be on the edges.
- Leave to set before serving.
Notes
Variation
In Sweden, the same bun is known as Vaniljbullar (Vanilla Buns). There, instead of the icing and coconut, the just-out-of-oven buns are brushed with a bit of melted butter and dipped in caster/granulated sugar. This recipe is taken from our book ScandiKitchen Cookbook - it can also be found in Bronte at Home: Baking from ScandiKitchen. Available in all good bookshops across the world. Photo by Pete Cassidy, published by Ryland, Peters and Small.
In Sweden, the same bun is known as Vaniljbullar (Vanilla Buns). There, instead of the icing and coconut, the just-out-of-oven buns are brushed with a bit of melted butter and dipped in caster/granulated sugar. This recipe is taken from our book ScandiKitchen Cookbook - it can also be found in Bronte at Home: Baking from ScandiKitchen. Available in all good bookshops across the world. Photo by Pete Cassidy, published by Ryland, Peters and Small.
