Cinnamon Buns' recipe, my fav Scandinavian treat

3 min.

Let’s go to Sweden today, thanks to their yummy cinnamon buns recipe! We can’t travel the world right now, but tasting and cooking international food does actually help…

Cinnamon buns are my favorite Scandinavian treats and are probably the most popular of Swedish pastries as well, so popular since 1999 October 4th is the official Kanelbullar International Day!

Kanelbullar, once generally reserved only for wealthy families, was made popular in Sweden in the 1920s. You can now have them at breakfast or at fika time, in small cafes or at friends’. I’d have them all day long!

It’s not a super healthy recipe cause of the amount of butter, ok, but it’s oh so yummy and perfect for treating yourself to on a chilly winter day or whenever you need something a little indulgent…

Cinnamon buns recipe

I learned to make cinnamon buns during my last trip to Stockholm, right before last January lockdown… making it my actual last sweet travel memory!

The ingredients

For the dough (16 buns):

80 gr butter, at room temperature
250 ml milk
25 gr fresh yeast
40 gr granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon ground cardamom
500 gr white strong flour
1 egg

Cinnamon filling:

80 gr butter, at room temperature
80 gr granulated sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Topping and brushing:

1 egg, beaten for brushing
Pearl sugar or chopped almond

Making homemade cinnamon buns

Heat the milk till more or less 37°C and then add the fresh yeast, stirring until it’s fully dissolved. Add the sliced butter, the sugar, the ground cardamom, and the salt. Stir for a few minutes, and then add the flour.

Work the dough for about 5 minutes until it feels smooth and just a bit sticky. Cover it with plastic wrap and allow it to rise for about 30 minutes (or until it has doubled in size).

Turn the dough onto a floured surface, knead through with your hand for a few seconds, and then roll it out to a rectangle.

Mix the filling ingredients into a bowl, spread the mixture over the rolled-out dough using a wooden spatula, roll it lengthways, and, with a wooden knife, cut 16 strips.

How to roll cinnamon buns

Take one strip of filled dough and carefully twist it a few times, then curl into a rose shape, ensuring both ends are tucked under. Place the buns on a baking sheet and let rise another 30 minutes under a kitchen cloth. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C.

Brush the buns with a beaten egg, sprinkle with pearl sugar or chopped almonds and bake for 10 to 12 minutes (until they are golden!).

If you don’t eat them right away, to keep the cinnamon buns moist, store them airtight, wrapping them individually in a freezer bag.

Freezing the cinnamon buns

In case you make a lot of cinnamon buns, you can freeze them after baking once they cool down. When you feel like having one – or some – defrost at room temperature!

What’s the difference between cinnamon rolls and cinnamon buns?

Cinnamon buns are pretty famous in the US, but the Swedish original version includes cardamom in the dough and is topped with pärlsocker (i.e., pearl sugar).

Well, I’m pretty sure they both send an amazing smell of cinnamon wafting through the kitchen, but US buns are mainly called cinnamon rolls and are placed directly into a baking dish and topped with a cream cheese glaze right after baking, when still warm.