Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Skolebrød
Cardamom buns cradling a pool of vanilla custard, iced and edged with coconut, a Norwegian bakery favorite.
Norwegian · medium · serves 12
prep 40 min · cook 15 min
~414 cal · 7g protein · 59g carbs · 16g fat · 3g fiber · 12g sugars · 12g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Skolebrød, school bread, also called skolebolle, is a classic Norwegian sweet bun, so named because it was a treat packed into schoolchildren's lunches. It remains a fixture of every Norwegian bakery counter.
It starts with a soft, -scented yeasted dough, the same base as many Nordic buns. Each is pressed with a well that holds a spoon of vanilla custard, and after baking the edges are brushed with icing and dipped in shredded coconut, framing the golden custard eye in a white ring.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 12
4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 tsp instant yeast
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp ground
2 tsp vanilla sugar, or vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups vanilla custard, made from milk, sugar, egg yolks, cornstarch and a vanilla pod
1 cup icing sugar and shredded coconut, to finish
Instructions
1
Make a soft dough with the flour, warm milk, yeast, sugar, cardamom, and vanilla, knead it well, then work the softened butter in last and let it rise until doubled.
✎ Chef’s note
Adding the butter at the end, once the gluten is already developed, is what gives these buns their pull-apart softness.
2
Shape into buns, prove them 40 minutes, then press a deep well in each with the back of a spoon and pipe or spoon in the vanilla custard.
3
Brush the dough around the custard with beaten egg, then bake at 425F (220C) until golden, about 10 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Press the custard wells deep and refresh them just before baking, or the custard sinks and disappears as the buns rise.
4
Cool completely, then spread icing around the custard and press the bun face down into a bowl of coconut. Coconut will not stick to the custard eye, which is what leaves it framed in white.
Norwegian bakery tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Vestland (Bergen). Vestland is the fjord coast around Bergen, where a fish market has traded for eight hundred years. Cod, salmon, and shellfish dominate, preserved by salting, drying, and smoking through long winters, and turned into creamy fish soup, fishcakes, and the cured salmon Norwegians eat year round.
🗺️
Norway. Brunost is not cheese in the ordinary sense: it is whey boiled down for hours until the milk sugars caramelise into a firm brown block, sweet and faintly fudgy, shaved in thin curls onto bread with a slicer designed for the job. It is a preserving trick that turned a by-product into a national habit.
🌍
Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Norway
FårikålNorway's national dish: lamb and cabbage layered with whole peppercorns and simmered until tender.
Norwegian Vafler (Heart Waffles)Soft, cardamom-scented waffles cooked in a heart-shaped iron, served warm with brown cheese, jam, or sour cream.
FiskekakerLight pan-fried fish cakes bound with milk and potato starch, a Norwegian everyday staple served with vegetables.
Browse all Norway recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
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FårikålDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Skolebrød?
Cardamom buns cradling a pool of vanilla custard, iced and edged with coconut, a Norwegian bakery favorite.
Where does Skolebrød come from?
Skolebrød is a Norwegian dish from Vestland (Bergen), Norway.
Can Skolebrød be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Skolebrød recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Skolebrød safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Skolebrød take to make?
About 55 minutes total (40 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 12.
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