cinnamon rolls - kanelbullar

With Easter knocking on our doors I thought a recipe might be a good idea...especially this one! It's a Swedish special and has become one of my absolute favorites! Maybe you'll try them for your Easter brunch?

What you need:

dough

75g butter

250ml milk

25g fresh yeast

100g sugar

½ tsp salt

at least 1 tsp ground cardamom

500g flour

filling

40g butter

ca. 1 tbs cinnamon

ca. 1 tsp cardamom

75-100g sugar

1 egg to brush

decorating sugar to sprinkle

How to do it:

Melt the butter then add the milk. The mixture shouldn't get too warm since you use it to dissolve the yeast. Pour it into a big bowl and add sugar, salt and cardamom. Then gradually add the flour. (I use a wooden ladle as long as possible, then my hands.) Knead the dough until it's smooth (You might have to add some more flour). Cover the bowl with a slightly wet cloth and leave it to raise for at least an hour (up to four hours would be better). 

Knead the dough again and divide it into 3 equal pieces. Roll the dough into rectangles of about the size of 20x30 cm. They should be approximately 0.5-0.8cm thick. (It depends on whether you prefer tastin more of the dough or more of the filling.)

Melt the butter for the filling and brush each rectangle.

Mix sugar, cinnamon and cardomom in a seperate bowl and disperse it over the butter. As you can see in the photo above, it is perfectly okay to also use your fingers for that. Otherwise it's rather difficult to have it dispersed equally.

Roll each rectangle lengthwise so you have three rolls of 30cm. (Make sure its rolled as tight as possible. If not you can still adjust it afterwards.) Then cut each into spirals that are about 2cm wide. Make sure the spirals' ends don't unwind. Put them on a baking tray with baking paper on it. Depending on the size there should fit about 16 to 20 cinnamon rolls on one baking tray.

Mix the egg in a small bowl and brush each cinnamon roll. Then sprinkle some sugar on them.

Leave them to raise again. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 220°C.

Bake them for circa 8 minutes or until they are golden.

When out of the oven cover every baking tray with some aluminum foil.

Voilà.

Eat them as fresh as possible! Even when they're still warm if you'd like that.

Keep the rest in a box or wrapped in aluminum foil, but definitely not for more than two more days.

Happy Easter everyone!