Kanelbullar

Or, cinnamon buns.

Shall we continue the Swedish theme? Okay, then!

Hmm, that name looks familiar, you might be thinking. Well, if you have visited IKEA lately and hung out by the grocery section, you will be right.

These are amazing little pastry blobs of sweet cinnamon delight, Swedish-style. Now, Sweden doesn’t often get sweet things right. They have an affinity for cardamom, for one. And those lime-green marzipan abominations.. Don’t even get me started.

But these are wonderful. Smaller than their American cousins, and less in-your-face sweet too. I took this recipe from a great little red gingham Swedish cookbook which my Swedish boyfriend assures me is a staple in any Swede’s kitchen.

Frankly, any Sunday where I get to mess around with dough is just swell by me. If you’re the same, you need these in your life.

Makes about a dozen, depending on how thick you like them

Ingredients for dough

• 50g butter
• 160ml milk
• 2 tsp dried yeast
• ¼ tsp salt
• 50g sugar
• 375g plain flour

Ingredients for filling and finishing

• 75g butter
• 50g caster sugar                   
• 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• Pearl sugar (nib sugar, or crushed sugar cubes) optional

Method

Begin by making the dough. Melt the butter in a pot, and add the milk. Heat until lukewarm, you want the temperature to be approx 45 degrees Celsius for dry yeast. It is really easy to overshoot this, so I normally reserve about 30ml of milk and add it after heating to easily bring the temperature down.

Add th yeast to a bowl and pour in approx 30ml of the milk mixture and stir.

Add in the remaining milk, salt, sugar and flour, mixing to combine. Kneed the dough for approx 10 minutes, adding more flour if needed. Cover and let rise for about an hour in a warm place, until approximately doubled in size.

 

Just before getting ready to work with the dough again, combine the ingredients for the filling: the butter, sugars and cinnamon.

When risen, punch down the dough and kneed again, using more flour if needed.

DOUGH PUNCH

Roll out into a rectangle approx 35cm by 55cm.

Spread the filling evenly across the rolled out dough, leaving a 1 inch gap at the narrow end furthest from you. Spread a little milk over the non-filled part.

Beginning to roll

Roll up from the end that's got filling right to the edge. Seal closed with the un-filled end (the milk acts as a glue) and cut into even slices approx 1 inch thick. Place them side up onto a lined baking sheet.

Cover and allow to rise until doubled in size. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle on sugar, if using. 

Bake at 200 degrees Celsius (in a preheated oven) until golden brown on top. It'll be a lot quicker than you think - probably 8 minutes will do it.

Allow to cool on a wire rack. Eat at least one while still warm from the oven.

Mild filling spillage

Box up for freshness.