One of my favourite memories of my time in Uppsalla was meeting up with my friends for Fika, which occurs about 3pm and involves drinking coffee and pastries. For me nothing symbolises Fika more than having a girlie gossip over a dark thick syrupy coffee and Warm Kannelbulle.
Kannelbulle translates as cinnamon bun and is a deliously warming treat originating from Sweden. Many countries have their own version and they are similar but there is something seductive about the simplicity of these cardamom and cinnamon swirls that the like of sticky Belgium buns fail to live up to.
Traditional Kannelbulle are topped with pearl sugar unfortunately the supermarkets near me don't stock that type of sugar so these are undressed Kannelbulle. I also ran out of cinamon so they look lighter than the recipe.
Ingredients
Dough
14g dried yeast
1 cup milk
75g butter (I used margarine)
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2-3 cups plain flour
Filling
50g butter (again I used margarine)
1/4 cup icing sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1. Warm the milk and whisk in the yeast until dissolved and according to the packet instructions.
2. Mix the dry ingredients together for the dough adding the butter and crumbling the ingredients together with your fingers.
3. Make a well in the flour mix and pour the milk mixing into a dough and knead slightly.
4. Place the dough in a bowl and cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place for 45-50 minutes.
5. In a separate bowl mix the filling ingredients together to form a smooth paste. I usually try and make double the filling to create a truly moist extra cinnamony bun.
6. Once the dough has risen, flour a work surface and empty the dough into it and knead. Depending upon how big you want the buns to be either divide the dough into two or keep as one and roll out thinly into a rectangle.
7. Once rolled out take a pallet knife and smear the butter mix over the dough leaving no gaps.
8. Roll the dough tightly from one long side of the rectangle to the other.
9. Cut the dough into sections at approximately 2cm to 3cm depending upon how big you want them to be.
10. Place each swirl in a bun case and glaze with a beaten egg.
11. Place in a preheated oven (220-210 degrees) for 30-40 minutes untill golden.
12. If you have pearl sugar scatter over the buns and eat.
N.b these can be froozen and enjoyed on a later date.
