Recipe: Finnish Cardamom Braids

Sometimes, on the weekends, I like to make some sort of sweet bread for my family to enjoy. We like banana bread, cinnamon rolls—we have excellent recipes for both.

But I think my favorite is Finnish Cardamom Bread. Mom, Brian, and I first made these wonderful braided loaves when Urban was a baby. We were living in Bloomington, Indiana, then, and Mom came to stay with us for nearly a month to help out when Urb was born. Mom has a weak spot for bread (as do Brian and I), so we enjoyed this very much.

Since then, I’ve made this bread on several occasions; but I hadn’t since we lived in North Carolina—I recall sending a plastic container with pieces of it, already sliced up, for Brian’s colleagues in the math department at Gardner-Webb to enjoy.

This past Friday, I made the braids again—yum! I thought I’d share the recipe and a photo.

Of course I must give credit where credit is due. This recipe originally appeared on page 49 of the Oct./Nov. 2000 issue of Taste of Home magazine. It was submitted by Anne Heinonen (a mother of 14 children!, from Howell, Michigan), and is an old family recipe of hers. Thank you, Miss Anne! The vanilla glaze drizzled over the top is a standard cookbook recipe.

Finnish Cardamom Braids

2 packages (1/4 ounce each = 4-1/2 tsp.) active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water (110° to 115°)

2 cups warm milk (110° to 115°)

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

2 eggs

7 to 8 cups all-purpose flour

In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add milk, sugar, butter, salt, cardamom, eggs, and 3 cups flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead* until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a large greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Divide each half into thirds. Shape each piece into a 13-inch rope. Place three ropes on a greased baking sheet. Braid ropes**; pinch ends to seal and tuck under. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Yield: 2 loaves.

*If you have a mixer with a dough hook, you can use it instead, but honestly, kneading by hand is easier and a lot more fun!

**This is so much easier than it sounds! I was always intimidated to try such a thing, but it’s a piece of cake—far easier than braiding hair, I kid you not!

Basic Vanilla Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

2 to 3 tablespoons milk

Beat all ingredients in small mixing bowl until smooth. Drizzle over bread loaves with a spoon.

You can enjoy this bread with or without butter/margarine on the slices. You can also forgo the glaze and keep the bread plain. We’ve never had it that way, but according to Miss Anne, it makes delightful toast!