for a couple months now, i have been learning swedish, slowly and painstakingly, through books and online resources. the other day i came across a lesson on food vocabulary (HOORAY!) that was so kindly accompanied by photos of all the food. i say kindly because it was great to see snapshots of the words i was learning, but it was also incredibly frustrating because i wanted to eat every single swedish food that popped up. so, i decided that i would embark on a journey of making swedish delights. the first one that i want to show you is one of my favorite things in the entire world, cinnamon buns (kanelbullar)!
these sweet, yeasty, buttery buns are very traditional in sweden. its common to eat them while drinking some coffee or tea during a relaxing break in the middle of the day. this wonderful pastime is called "fika" and i plan on partaking in it daily when i visit stockholm this summer.
these kanelbullar are very different from the pillsbury ones you buy in the pop-tubes. but, don't worry, they are a million zillion times better! it is a bit of a time consuming process to make these beauties because there is a double-rise on the dough, but i assure you that they are worth every second. i've adapted this from the Rutiga Kokboken recipe on
this website, so i think its pretty darn authentic.
here's what you'll need (in american measurements!):
for the dough:
-1 stick of butter, melted
-2 c. whole milk
-2 packets of active-dry yeast
-1 c. sugar
-1 tsp. salt
-1 tsp. cardamom (optional, its expensive!)
-6 or 7 cups flour
for the filling:
-1 stick of room-temp butter
-1/3 c. sugar
-2 tsp. cinnamon
for the tops:
-1 egg
-pearl sugar (or sanding sugar)
we'll start with the dough, as it needs to proof for about 45 minutes. first, start by melting one stick of butter into a bowl. then, add the two cups of whole milk and heat them up together in the microwave until they are warm to the touch, but NOT boiling hot.
next, let's talk about yeast. if you don't work with it often, it can be intimidating, but its really very easy to use. most american recipes use active-dry yeast, or the stuff you see in the packets of 3 on the baking aisles. yeast is a leavening agent (aka the thing that makes your bread rise) and
its alive! so the idea with yeast is that you need to dissolve it in warm liquid and feed it with a little bit of sugar, and BAM! it expands like crazy!
for this dough, you'll need two packets of dry yeast. empty the two packets into a large bowl and pour a small amount of the warm milk/butter mixture in to the yeast (enough to cover all the yeast). at this point, you still need to feed the yeast, so add a tablespoon or so of sugar. stir all of this together until the yeast is mostly dissolved. once dissolved, combine the rest of the milk and butter in with the dissolved yeast. this is the base for your dough! next, we will tackle the dry ingredients.
to your wet mixture, add the cup of sugar, tsp. of salt, and the cardamom. if you don't have cardamom on hand, you can substitute cinnamon (like i did!). once this is all mixed in, start slowly adding 2/3 of the flour a cup at a time. mix the dough gently with a spoon until it comes together and off the sides of the bowl. if its really sticky, add more flour until the mixture forms a loose ball. here's what my dough looked like in stages:
 |
| after three cups of flour |
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| after five cups of flour |
once your dough is to this stage, cover it with a towel and leave it alone for 45 minutes so it can proof. it will almost double in size! while it proofs, its time to make the delicious cinnamon butter!
its super simple-- just take a bowl and smush your room temperature butter with a fork. then, add the 1/3 c. of sugar and 2 tsp of cinnamon (or more to your taste). stir it around and toss it in the fridge until your dough is finished proofing so it doesn't melt any further!
once that pesky 45 minutes is up, take the towel off the dough and check out how much it has risen. cool, right? here's what mine looked like:
take your fist and punch the dough down-- it will deflate almost immediately. dump it out on to a floured surface and knead it for a good five minutes, until it comes together into a smooth dough without any lumps or bumps. cut the dough in half and roll each half out into a thin, flat rectangle, one at a time. i used a large baking sheet for my guide. while you're rolling the dough out, take the butter and cinnamon spread out of the fridge and let it come back up to room temperature.
once rolled and flat, spread half of the cinnamon mixture all over the dough. make sure to spread out to all the edges and corners, too! start to roll the dough from the top to the bottom. roll this pretty tight-- you'll want a nice beautiful spiral when you cut the individual cinnamon buns!
take the whole roll and lay it out on a cutting board. get some pretty muffin papers out and set them on a cookie sheet. cut the cinnamon buns in to 1 1/2 to 2 inch rounds and place each one in a muffin paper. each roll should yield about 10 buns, but you can make them bigger or smaller to your liking. these make good individual sized sweets to eat with a cup of tea or coffee.
for the second proof, throw a towel over each cut cinnamon roll and let them proof again for 20 minutes.
after the second proof, brush the top of each kanelbulle with egg wash (one egg and a little bit of water or milk), and sprinkle them with pearl sugar or sanding sugar. this will give them a sweet crust and a golden brown top! place the buns in the oven (teehee) for 8-10 minutes on 450 F. but keep an eye on them! they puff up like crazy and can burn easily. so just make sure you peek every few minutes!
when they finish baking, you will officially be in heaven. if the 10 minutes in the weren't torture enough because of the intoxicating smell, just WAIT until you taste one! i really have to use a lot of self-control to just eat one of these little cuties.
i like them just the way they are, but you can whip up an easy icing for the tops if you choose. just take some powdered sugar, a little bit of your whole milk, and a dash of vanilla and drizzle it on the tops while they are still warm.
smaklig måltid! enjoy!
first things first, cream the butter and the sugar in a bowl with a big spoon. this is why you need room temperature butter-- so everything mixes up well. don't use melted butter or your dough won't turn out with the right consistency! 
