Orange Cardamom Buns

These are really very good fresh out of the oven, but of course they’re always good heated up/toasted with some olive oil (and/or butter and honey if you’re that sort of person) the next day too! One day, I was really wanting orange cardamom something, so this is what happened.

Total time (including rising): 3 hours. Makes 9 buns.

Materials: Mixing bowl; large high-sided pan (I use either 8×8″ or 9×11″ depending on how large I want the rolls); measuring vessels; wooden spoon; dishcloth. Missing materials or ingredients? Look here.

Instructions:

1. Activate 1 packet yeast in ½ cup warm water for 5-10 minutes.
2. Add 1 ⅛ cup warmed milk and 2 tbsp melted butter, 2 tbsp maple syrup (or 4 tbsp sugar), orange zest, ½ tsp salt, and ½ tsp cardamom. Make sure the milk and butter aren’t too hot or they will kill the yeast. Wrist temperature is what I use! Stir to combine.
3. Whisk 2 eggs and add all but a drop (for painting the tops at the end), and mix well.
4. Stirring, slowly add the ~4 ½ cups of all purpose flour. Knead everything so it comes together and is a nice, soft dough (may be sticky). You may need to add a tad more flour, but don’t overdo it.
5. Let rise for 1 hour. Split into buns using a knife and arrange in pan. To make swirled buns, roll the dough into a large rectangle, paint it with some melted butter, then cut into long strips and roll up the strips. Optional to add some melted butter between the buns in the pan as well.
6. Let rise 30 more minutes. Paint the tops with the leftover egg.
7. Bake at 350˚F for 25 mins. While baking, can prepare the glaze of orange juice and confectioner’s sugar. When the buns come out, pour this over them.