St. Lucia buns are a Swedish treat, served on the 13th of December – St. Lucia day. Normally made with saffron, in this recipe we've swapped the expensive and difficult to find spice with curcumin, which gives the buns a lovely yellow colour and yummy flavour. Click here for the video showing you how to shape the buns. Enjoy!

Directions

1. Cut the butter into small pieces and melt in a pot or the microwave. Warm the milk in a pot or the microwave so it's lukewarm to the touch. Mix melted butter and milk in a bowl. Add crumbled yeast and stir well until dissolved. Add egg and stir well.

2. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl: Sugar, flour, salt and curcumin. Add the dry mix to the milk and stir or knead the lot together.

3. At this point, the dough should be soft and a bit oily – but not sticking to your fingers. If it does, add a bit more flour little by little – but be very careful not to add too much, or the buns will come out dry.

4. Let the dough rise under a cloth for about an hour, then preheat the oven to 200 degrees fan assisted.

5. Split the dough into 16 pieces and sprinkle flour onto a tabletop. Roll the pieces one by one into long sausage shapes about 30 cm long. Now roll each end toward the centre in opposing directions – meaning, one end is rolled upwards and towards the centre, the other end rolled downwards and towards the centre. See the video at the bottom of the recipe.

6. Place the St. Lucia buns on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. Brush with beaten egg and press a raisin into each swirl.

7. Bake the buns for about 15 minutes, until they sound hollow when knocked on the bottom – that means they're done!

8. The buns can be enjoyed with butter, cheese or topping of your choice. Enjoy!

Tip

Tasks for younger kids in the kitchen: Let your kids help add ingredients to the mixing bowl. They'll definitely also enjoy shaping the buns and adding the raisins.