So, I have this gorgeous girlfriend called Kristina. And every couple of years I pop up to Malmo Sweden via Coppenhagen to have a girly weekend with her. We eat, we talk, we play, we shop and we moan about another love lost. As soon as I arrive the first thing I do is pick up a ‘fransk korv med brod’, or basically a delicious fresh hot street hot dog, as these people do them best!
and then we go for walks and sit in cafes and have ‘ficka’ which is basically coffee and cake. Oh but my lord, it was National ‘Kanel Bullar’ day when I was there, which is basically ‘cinammon bun day’, can you believe it? So we munched our way through these beauties!
And drank rich strong Swedish style coffee which is very intense. So, just in case you want the recipe for these delicious little Cinammon cakes, I have added this one by Kari Diehl It’s spice rather than vast amounts of sticky sugar that lend distinction to these light and tasty cinnamon rolls. No napkins required.
KANEL BULLAR (Cinammon buns)
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups milk
- 1 1/2 cups melted butter plus 1/3 cup melted butter for filling
- 1 cup sugar for dough plus 2/3 cup sugar for filling
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. freshly ground cardamom (from about 25 cardamom pods)
- 2 pkg. dry active yeast (4 1/2 tsp.)
- 8-9 cups all purpose or bread flour
- 2 Tbsp. cinnamon
- 1 egg plus 2 Tbsp. water, lightly beaten together into an egg wash
- pearl sugar (or crushed sugar cubes) and / or chopped or slivered almonds
Preparation:
Prepare your Basic Cardamom Bread Dough using the first 7 ingredients listed above (this takes about 1 1/2 hours).
After punching down dough following its first rise, remove from bowl and knead lightly on floured counter until smooth and shiny. Divide dough into two halves.
Roll each half of dough into a 12” by 18” rectangle. Brush each rectangle well with melted butter. Combine 2/3 cup sugar and 2 Tbsp. cinnamon; sprinkle evenly over the 2 rectangles. Roll each rectangle crosswise, like a jelly roll, to form an 18”-long cylinder.
Using a sharp or serrated knife, cut each cylinder into 20 equal slices.
Place each slice into a paper cupcake wrapper and place on baking sheet. Cover with towel and allow to double in size, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 425º.
Brush risen cinnamon rolls with egg wash and sprinkle with pearl sugar and / or almonds. Place in the middle of a preheated oven and bake for 7 minutes, or until done.
Yield: 40 cinnamon rolls.
From left, Pernilla, Kristina and me, outside yet another Swedish ‘ficka’ cafe…Yum Yum! Do you have any favourite Swedish cafes? Please share!
