Mums Filibabba: It's Cinnamon Bun Day

October 4th - marked on my calendar

Exactly one year ago, I was introduced to kanelbuullar, a brilliant Swedish twist on the cinnamon bun.

October 4th marks Kanelbullar Dag, or Cinnamon Day.  That's right.  Sweden loooooves its food days (I can think of four food days off the top of my head).  It's a day where supermarkets and bakeries are overflowing with this sweet treat, and as you walk past open windows, the sweet smell of cinnamon spice and everything nice lures you inside.

In the land of Vikings, cinnamon buns are probably more popular than cookies.  On the back of the flour packages, you will always see a recipe for cinnamon buns, just as you see a recipe for oatmeal cookes on the back of Quaker or Toll House cookies on the back of Nestle chocolate chips.  Ikea even carries them in the freezer section (which aren't bad, but pale in comparison to homemade baked buns).

How are kanelbullar different from regular old cinnamon buns? The dough is spiced with cardamom, a spice that is often used in baking.  As well, there is no rich cream cheese icing or icing of any sort slathered on top.  Nope.  A gentle sprinkle of pearl sugar, and you're set.  Sometimes they'll also fill the buns with a delicious almond paste which I haven't found in Van yet.  Yes, the Swedes do know their sweets!

Unfortunately, this year, I won't have time to make cinnamon buns on the actual day.  However, a few weeks ago, I showed Nic how to make them.  Staying true to the recipe, I got fresh yeast from the Whole Foods bakery (something like $3 for a large brick, and you can freeze any unused yeast) and found the package of pearl sugar that managed to make it back to Van with barely a dent.  The buns were absolutely perfect - though I would have used more butter had Nic not stopped me from doing so - and I think the fresh yeast had something to do with it, as well as a new kneading technique that I learned from my friends overseas.  I will describe it in more detail in the recipe, but basically they don't add all the flour at once, so that you reduce the risk of forming a tough bread.  You use a wooden spoon and with a whipping motion, mix and work the gluten in the dough that is still in the bowl.  Then you can add a bit more flour, knead again, and allow the very very soft dough to rise, before adding the final amount of flour needed to form a non-sticky dough.

These guys bake up quickly in a very hot oven, and once cooled, can be packed into the freezer for future munching.  On a side note, when you insert the kanelbullar recipe into google translate, you get a pretty interesting recipe:

Issues dough according to recipe Kardemummabullar:


Melt the fat in a saucepan.  Add the milk.  Warm until everything is warm, about 37.  Dissolve the yeast in degbunken in a bit of dough-broth (haha what!).  Added the rest of the broth and then salt, sugar, nystott, or ground cardamom and about 2/3 flour.  Work the dough to make it shine and smooth.  Added more flour but saving 1-2 dl to utbakningen.  The dough is ready-worked when placing degunkens edges.  Sprinkle a little flour on the surface so that it does not dry.  Thanks to a kitchen towel.  Stable dough draft-free.  Jas it to double size...

Right.  And here's a more accurate set of instructions if you're set on making this (and yes yous should).  Note that I've written in decilitres (dl) instead of regular ml, simply because this is the typical measurement in Sweden.  I'm sure you can do the math to figure out how many cups you need.

Typical jelly roll shape or a more elegant  twist form - yum either way 

Kanelbullar (Swedish Cinnamon Buns)
makes 40-45 buns

Cardamom bun dough

150 g butter
5 dl milk
50 g fresh yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1-1 1/2 dl sugar
2 tsp ground cardamom
1.3 litre flour (I used all-purpose)

Melt the fat in a pot, then at in the milk.  Warm until it reaches 37 degrees.
In a large bowl, crumble the yeast and stir in about 1/3 of the milk and melted butter mixture.  Add the rest of the liquid and then stir in the salt, sugar, and cardamom.
Gradually (about 1 cup at a time) add the flour until about 1/2 is used.  Using a wooden spoon and a bit of muscle, mix the dough quickly and forcefully (dough should still be in the bowl) so that you are starting the kneading process.  Continue this for a couple of minutes, until your arm gets sore.
Add more flour until a very soft dough (can still be a bit sticky) and continue to knead with the wooden spoon.  Cover with a damp towel and let proof for 1 hour, until doubled in size.

Cinnamon filling

75-100 g butter, softened
1 dl sugar
2 tsp (or more as you like) ground cinnamon

Topping
1 egg
pearl sugar (optional if you can't find any, or slivered almonds or coconut)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment.  Punch down the dough and sprinkle with enough flour so that is not sticky.   Divide into two pieces and roll each piece into a large rectangle, as thinly as possible (if the dough breaks don't worry, just patch it up) to create as many layers as possible.
Smear the whole rolled pieces with butter, then sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.  Roll up the long side into a jelly roll, and then cut into slices and lay on the baking sheets.
Beat the egg in a bowl, and then brush onto the slices.  Sprinkle with pearl sugar and bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown.  Watch the bottoms to avoid burning.  Allow to cool for just a minute before devouring!

If you loved these, you say mums flilbabba! Roughly translate to mmmmmhh yum!