Swedish Coffee Bread (Tea Ring)

A Simply Recipes reader recently informed me that Swedish coffee bread is a Christmas tradition in Sweden, along with Swedish meatballs and other goodies served on Christmas Eve.

According to Sara Sabo, “it is a lot of work but the Swedish tomte that lives under the floorboards helps, and you better do your part or the Jul goat will butt you. This is the day all distant relatives and many friends decide they want to be Swedish.”

With that kind of intro, wouldn’t you be intrigued? Sara sent me her 40 year old recipe for making this cardamom spiced yeast bread and I’ve now made three batches (with some recipe tweaking on my part). By the way, this pastry is known both as a “tea ring” or a “coffee bread”. It has neither tea nor coffee in it, but is a lovely pastry to eat accompanied by either coffee or tea.

Sara tells me that the bread is typically braided and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, but she likes to roll it up like a jelly roll and form it into a wreath. Cardamom is the essential spice in the dough, but pretty much anything goes for the filling. She recommends raisins, cinnamon sugar, and sliced almonds. Little dabs of almond paste in the filling is lovely as well.

I made the bread both ways, simply braided, and stuffed and formed into a wreath, and all of the loaves were great. You can get creative with this one. Sara has made it with a cream cheese filling too, with a little sugar, egg yolk, and a dash of vanilla, then added some diced apples or peaches.

From the recipe archives, first posted 2010. Merry Christmas!

Swedish Coffee Bread (Tea Ring) Recipe

It's best to start with whole cardamom pods - peel the pods (helps to crush them first) to release the seeds. Crush the seeds with a mortar and pestle or use a rolling pin to grind them.

Ingredients

Bread:

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2-pkg active yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water
• About 4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom

Filling:

• 2 Tbsp melted butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 Tbsp white sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 cup golden raisins (optional)
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds (optional)
• 1/4 cup almond paste (optional)

Egg glaze:

• 2 egg yolks
• 2 Tbsp cream

Sugar glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp water

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