Bolludagsbollur (II)

Rose Monday bale

The custom of eating large quantities of bales on Shrove Monday - before the start of Lent - was probably introduced to Iceland by Danish or Norwegian bakers. Nowadays these balls are usually made from yeast dough or choux pastry.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the bales were still made from cake dough, usually based on a Jólakaka recipe, which was then slightly modified.

So here's a classic old Bolludagsbollur recipe:

Ingredients

100 g soft margarine
125 g brown sugar
4 eggs
200 g flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 pinch of cardamom
100 ml sour milk


Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C) upper/lower heat.

In a large bowl, mix the margarine with the sugar until fluffy...

...then stir in the eggs.

Add the flour, baking powder and cardamom.

Finally pour in the sour milk...

...and work everything into a smooth dough.

Traditionally, you bake the dough in small "blobs" on a baking tray - but I put the dough in muffin tins because it spread a lot on the tray and baked it in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat for approx. Let bake for 20 minutes.

Then remove from the oven and, if possible, serve warm and spread with butter and jam.

Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]