Skolebrod - Norwegian School Bread with Vanilla Cream and Coconut
These buns, called School Bread, are a true Nordic indulgence, perfect for breakfast, a school snack, or a winter holiday dessert.
Inspired by Norwegian tradition, skolebrod combines the simplicity of yeasted dough with the refinement of vanilla cream, resulting in an aromatic and irresistible dessert. They are usually served alongside hot coffee or fragrant tea – a small Scandinavian joy that you can easily recreate at home.
Ingredients
Dough
800g all-purpose flour (type 000)
500g warm milk
15g dry yeast (or 50g fresh yeast)
120g sugar
2 packets vanilla sugar
20 green cardamom pods
150g soft butter (at room temperature; + soft butter for greasing the molds)
Vanilla Cream
500ml milk
100g sugar
4 egg yolks
30g cornstarch
1 vanilla pod (or/and vanilla extract; or 1 teaspoon vanilla paste; or 2 packets Bourbon vanilla sugar)
Decoration
150g water
3 tablespoons sugar
100g shredded coconut
Calories: 577 kcal / piece
How to prepare skolebrod - norwegian school bread with vanilla cream and coconut
- For the dough, dissolve the yeast in 150g warm milk with a little sugar and leave in a warm place until foam appears on top (about 10 minutes).
- Crush the seeds from the cardamom pods in a mortar. If you don't have a mortar, you can grind them in a coffee grinder along with a little sugar until fine.
- Mix the sugar with the vanilla sugar and crushed cardamom. Add the rest of the warm milk and mix.
- Add the flour and activated yeast on top and mix until the dough absorbs all the flour. Then continue to knead in a stand mixer for 3 minutes, until the dough is smooth.
- After the 3 minutes, while the mixer continues to knead, add cubes of soft butter gradually, adding each portion after the previous one is completely mixed into the dough. This step will take another 3-4 minutes. At the end, the dough is elastic but not sticky at all - it will be very easy to work with.
- Grease 12 muffin molds with a thin layer of soft butter.
- On the work surface (no flour needed, the dough doesn't stick) divide the dough into 12 equal pieces of about 130g each (first divide the dough in 2, then each piece into 3, then each piece into 2 again).
- Form balls from each piece and place them in the muffin tin. Put the tin in a bag and let rise in a warm place (about 26-28C) for an hour.
- While the buns rise, prepare the vanilla cream following the instructions here (the only difference is using less cornstarch so the cream comes out a bit softer). When the cream cools, transfer it to a pastry bag.
- Make indentations with your finger in the middle of each risen bun. The indentations should be as wide and deep as possible, but without piercing the bottom, this way more cream will fit in the buns.
- With the pastry bag, pipe vanilla cream into each bun, making sure to fill to the top - the bun will rise around it when it goes in the oven. Leave the buns in a warm place while you preheat the oven to 200C (about 15 minutes).
- Bake the buns for 25-30 minutes, on the second level from the bottom of the oven.
- While the buns bake, prepare a syrup from water and sugar, boiling it for 2 minutes after the sugar has dissolved.
- When the buns are nicely golden, take them out and let cool for 10-15 minutes. Then take each bun and brush it with syrup all over, including the base. Immediately roll it in shredded coconut.
- Place the buns on a platter and let cool completely. They're good warm too, but the vanilla cream is still soft. After cooling, they can be cut in half without the cream running out. They keep well for several days stored in a bag.
The buns filled with vanilla cream
Rolled in coconut
