Kanelbullar

One thing that the Swedes do well is fika. Fika is referred to as a type of coffee break and is often served with a baked good. I talked a little more about fika here. The most traditional baked good that is served during fika is kanelbulle (Literally translated it means cinnamon bun). Swedes even have a national day dedicated to kanelbulle. I remember they were everywhere, at the grocery store, coffee shops, people’s homes, etc. The recipe that Hans and his family uses is from the back of a flour packet, and Hans’ mother (the one who taught me all I know about food) told me that this one is the best recipe that she has tried but unfortunately we have no Swedish flour here so I will have to post this exact recipe later. I baked kanelbullar a few weeks ago and I used this recipe (It shows photos of how to assemble the kanelbullar if you need it). They tasted exactly like the kanelbullar that are served in the Swedish bakery but they are not quite as good as the recipe that is on the back of the flour packet. Kanelbullar are similar to cinnamon rolls, but they are not near as sweet and they could fit in the palm of my hand. Here is the recipe that I used a few weeks ago translated to English. My translating skills are pretty good as far as ingredients goes but I had to get a little help from Hans to translate the instructions.

For the dough:

2.6 oz butter
1 1/4 cup full fat milk
2 tsp yeast
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
3 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp cardamom

For the cinnamon sugar:

4 oz butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar*
6 tbsp cinnamon*
*Combine to make cinnamon sugar

On top of each kanelbulle:

1 whisked egg
pearl sugar

Melt the butter and mix it with the milk and bring to finger temperature. Mix the yeast with butter/milk and let dissolve. Add salt, sugar, and cardamom and mix well. Slowly add flour to the mixture, 1/2 cup at a time until the dough is not overly sticky. Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough into a 10×22 inch rectangle. Spread the 4 oz of butter onto the rolled out dough. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top of the butter. Roll up the dough length-wise and cut about 0.8 of an inch slices.  Let rise for 30 more minutes. (This is where the photos from here would help.)

Whisk the egg and brush on top of each kanelbulle and sprinkle with pearl sugar.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes at 435 F.

I am hoping for Hans to write a guest post tomorrow! Good night!