Swedish Cinnamon Rolls or “Kanelbullar”

Kanelbullar which directly translates to cinnamonbuns are a Swedish delicacy that you eat with…you guessed it: a good cup of coffee! (The Swedes are in the top five coffee drinking nations in the world, with Finland topping the list…maybe because it’s dark in winter the Nordic countries love some coffee to keep them going?) In Sweden the smell of fresh roasted coffee beans gingerly mingles with the smell of freshly made cinnamon rolls and once you get used to that smell you might want more…

We decided to share two different recipes with you – one is a bit unusual using pumpkin in it, but you could exchange that for applesauce (potentially sweetened). These delicious rolls will be the perfect companion to the coffee beans you buy from us. By buying coffee online you save yourself the trip to the shop, so why not use that time to bake instead?

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Cinnamon Rolls, original recipe can be found here.

DOugh

  • 3 dl yoghurt (300g)
  • 25 g fresh yeast
  • Just about 7 dl wheatflour (400g)
  • 1/2 dl honey (60g)
  • 1/2-1 tsp ground cardamom
  • 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
  • 1/2 tsp salt

FILLing

  • 100 g marzipan (or almond paste – it contains sugar and almond)
  • 1 dl almonds, whole (NOT blanched) (ca.50g)
  • 1 dl raisins (ca.50g)
  • 1 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 dl applesauce
  • 1 egg for glazing

Instructions:

Ca. 24 buns

Crumble the yeast and add yoghurt at room temperature.

Add the flour whilst kneading, make sure you don’t get too much flour! Add honey, cardamom, oil and salt. Knead till you have a smooth dough.

Knead for about 10 min with a bread maker, or by hand. Let the dough rise to about double the size in a bowl covered by a clean towel in a room with no draft.

Take out the dough and roll with a rolling pin to an even square ca. 40×40 cm.

Grate the marzipan/almond paste. Chop or blend the almonds roughly, save 2 tablespoons for decoration. Mix marzipan, chopped almonds, raisins, cinnamon and applesauce.

Spread the filling over the dough, but save one thin line at one edge. Whisk the egg and brush the edge with no filling with it.

Roll the dough with the filling in it – roll so that you save the edge with the egg on it for last, using that to make the roll stick together properly.

Measure and cut the dough roll into 24 pieces for medium size cinnamon rolls. Cut it as soon as you’ve made the roll as if you wait it will be more difficult to cut as the dough will continue to rise. Use a sharp knife, preferably a bread knife.

Put baking paper on a baking tray and place the buns on it. You can also just put them straight on the tray if you butter it first, however, the buns might leave a mess for you to clean up on the tray. The buns will rise a lot, so leave a lot of space around each bun.

Brush the buns with the whisked egg and toss the chopped almond you have left over them for decoration.

Let the buns rise for about 50-60 mins (double in size – if they aren’t yet double in size let them stand for a while longer). Whilst rising cover them with a clean towel and ensure they are in a room with no draft and not in a cold spot either.

Then put the tray(s) in the bottom part of the oven – 225 degrees Celsius for 10-12 minutes. If you use a convection oven, you can keep it at 200 degrees instead. Once ready take them out to cool down on a grid covered by a clean towel once more. Serve warm.

Alternatively you can use butter, sugar, cinnamon and cardamom as filling.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls, original recipe here. 

Ingredients:

40 cinnamon rolls

  • 50 g fresh yeast for sweet dough
  • 900 g wheat or spelt flour
  • 1 dl granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp freshly ground cardamom
  • 150 g butter
  • 3 dl milk
  • 2 yoghurt
  • 1 egg

Pumpkin filling

  • 100 g margarine, room temperature
  • 100 g  granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 dl pumpkin puree
  • ½ dl pearl sugar (also known as nib or hail sugar)

Instructions:

  • Heat up milk and yoghurt to luke warm (no warmer than 36 degrees C). Crumble the yeast to small pieces with your fingers and add to the fluid once warm. Add cardamom, flour, and soft butter cut into pieces. Knead into a soft, smooth dough. Let it rise in a place with no draft, covered by a clean towel, for 40 mins.
  • Prepare the pumpkin puree by roasting, or boiling the pumpkin and then put it in a blender till it reaches the desired, smooth, consistency.
  • Mix all ingredients for the filling.
  • Using a rolling pin roll the dough into two rectangles about 0.5-1cm thick. Spread the pumpkin filling evenly over the rectangles.
  • Roll the dough (so that you start folding from the longest side, ie you end up witha  roll the length of the rectangle) and cut in 2cm slices. Cover a baking tray with baking paper. Whisk the egg lightly, brush the cinnamon rolls with the egg and toss some pearl sugar atop.
  • Let the cinnamon rolls rise for 20 mins, then put them in an oven for 10-15 mins, 220ºC in a convection oven (ie an oven that blows hot air around inside…).