The Cooking Lair: I bought cardamom! What should I do with it??

Oh cardamom. You are weird and unique and not used often enough. And I have such fond memories of you. One of my college roommates used my coffee grinder to grind his cardamom pods - my coffee tasted like it for a while after. To be fair, he did ask me if it was OK. :) But I remember he made cardamom rolls - like cinnamon rolls, just replacing the cinnamon with cardamom. It was a very unique flavor. So when I was in Port Townsend at the beginning of September, I stopped by a spice shop there and saw they were selling cardamom! So I got some. Now, of course, I had to figure out what the heck I was going to make. Looking to rekindle some memories of my undergraduate career, I went looking for some cardamom roll recipes. And I was successful!

What recipe: Cardamom buns
What I changed: If you look at the link above, it looks like these buns have sesame seeds sprinkled on top. But it's pearl sugar! I don't have pearl sugar, so I just didn't include it. Turbinado sugar could be substituted too, though, if you have that.

*Let's talk about cardamom really fast. If you can find it pre-ground in the store, go for it! Otherwise, you'll want to find cardamom seeds (which are black and the size of a peppercorn). If you don't mind using your coffee grinder, put the seeds in there and grind the suckers up! If this isn't fine enough for you (and it wasn't for me), you can use a mortar and pestle to grind the seeds even finer. Here's a video of how to properly use a mortar and pestle.

I have a marble mortar and pestle, but there's many kinds out there. I've learned that you want a mortar that is deep enough for you to grind properly without seeds and whatnot flying everywhere, but also one that has texture on the inside of the bowl, which helps the grinding process. Here's an article if you want to read more on best materials for mortar and pestles.

Ingredients:
Dough:
- 2 tsp instant yeast
- 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 150 ml scalded and cooled low-fat milk (this is roughly 3/5 of a cup)
- 1 egg, whisked and divided in half (one half is for the dough, the other half is for a simple egg wash glaze).
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 1/3 cups all purpose flour (11.5 oz)

Filling:
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
- 2 tsp ground cardamom

STEP 1:
wtf is scalded milk? Well, it's milk you heat up to JUST below its boiling point. Here are three ways to scald milk - I did it on my stove. After you've scalded it, let it cool down to room temp (unless you're making the dough by hand, then you'll want the milk a bit on the warmer side, see below).

I am lucky and have a bread maker. So I just shove all this stuff in my bread maker and hit the dough cycle, which is incredibly convenient.

If you don't have one, which I know many don't, here's the skinny:

combine the flour and butter into a bowl until the butter is incorporated into the flour. This is best done by rubbing the flour and butter mixture with your fingers.
Fold in the salt, sugar, and nutmeg.
Ideally with your scalded milk mixture still on the warm side, add the yeast and let it sit for 5 minutes. This helps wake up the yeast.
Add the milk and yeast mixture, plus HALF of the egg to the dry ingredients above.
Stir until the dough starts to come together. Then knead the dough until it is smooth and stretchy, about 5-7 minutes.

Let your dough rise for at least 1 hour, until it has doubled in size. If your house is a bit cold, heat your oven on 150 degrees F (or as low as your oven will go) for JUST a couple minutes. Pop your covered bowl of dough in there, it'll act as a proofing cabinet (which is a warm area bakeries have to help their dough rise quickly).

While your dough is rising, cut a total of 12 squares (4" by 4") of parchment paper - these will act as liners for the buns, and it's gives these a really really pretty effect!

STEP 2:

Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a surface greased with canola or vegetable oil. Either use a rolling pin or flatten it out with your hands until it is in the shape of a large rectangle until the dough is about 1/4" thick.

STEP 3:

Mix together your filling - you'll want the butter more on the softened side, almost melted (ALMOST).

Spread this on your rectangle of dough, leaving a 1/2" border around the edges.

Roll your dough up (I would suggest rolling it along it's longer end, because this will make 12 buns).

STEP 4:
Cut this roll up into 12 pieces. I usually cut it in half, then cut a half in half, then cut each of those quarters into three pieces. If that made any sense.

Get our your muffin tray! And grab those pieces of parchment paper you cut earlier (remember those?). I squished the parchment paper into the muffin depression first, then put the cut piece of rolled dough into the depression.

Pretty tulips! Most delicious tulips I've ever seen.

After these have risen, they will fill out all that extra space we see nicely.

STEP 5:
Cover this tray with a towel and let it rise for another hour (until the rolls are doubled in size).

Even though my house isn't particularly cold yet, I still let my yeast doughs rise in my slightly heated oven.

STEP 6:
10 minutes before this rise is done, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Remember that half of whisked egg we didn't use? Add 1 Tablespoon of water and use this egg wash mixture to coat the tops of all the rolls. This make the tops of the buns shiny and brown nicely.

Once the oven is properly preheated, pop the muffin tray of cardamom buns into the oven for 10-12 minutes.