After discovering babka recently, I had a mad craving for cinnamon rolls (they’re also called kanelbullar, since this brioche is Swedish in origin).
What’s surprising in all this is that, to begin with, I’m not a big fan of cinnamon. And then I came across a few downright mouth-watering photos on Instagram that made me terribly keen to give it a go. So I went looking for a good recipe (knowing really nothing about bread baking). And it’s the recipe by Maxime from the blog Empreinte sucrée that I chose to test.
This recipe uses cardamom. As it happened, I had some in my cupboards even though I’d never used it until now. The smell is really powerful, so powerful that I was afraid to put in the 3 g recommended in the recipe (I put in 2 g) and I didn’t really taste it. So you can easily go with the quantity indicated, unless you really can’t stand cardamom. Maxime used ground cardamom directly, I didn’t have any, so I used the little food processor supplied with my Bamix to grind the seeds (if you do as I did, remember to grind more than you need). I then passed it all through a very small sieve to keep only the powder. That smell… whoaa!
As for shaping the cinnamon rolls, I was fascinated by the few videos I’d seen and so I wanted to try the knot shape. It’s a little knack to get, but honestly, if I did it, anyone can manage, with the help of a video of course (I’ve put the link in the recipe). My first rolls weren’t very pretty, I got the hang of it towards the end and ended up unrolling the first ones to redo them properly.
One last little tip, eat them warm, it’s just divine! For an afternoon snack or breakfast… and if you think you won’t eat them all at once, you should know that you can freeze them after shaping (and therefore before the 2nd proof). That’s what I did. Next time, you just need to take them out the evening before, for example, and let them defrost in the fridge. In the morning, you let them proof for an hour, and finish the recipe (egg wash and baking). They were just as perfect!
All in all, I loved it! The brioche is soft and fluffy and I’m now reconciled with cinnamon =)
Ingredients & Method
4 components · Full recipe
Leavened dough
Ingredients
- 500 g (17.6 oz) T45 flour
- 65 g (2.3 oz) sugar
- 6 g (0.2 oz) salt
- 3 g (0.1 oz) cardamom (ideally ground, otherwise grind it yourself)
- 1 egg
- 23 g (0.8 oz) fresh baker’s yeast
- 220 g (7.8 oz) milk
- 80 g (2.8 oz) cold butter
Method
1
Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk. In the stand mixer bowl fitted with the dough hook, combine the flour, sugar, salt, cardamom and egg. Add the milk and yeast mixture and knead for about 10 minutes at medium speed.
2
Add the cold butter cut into small pieces and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
3
Shape the dough into a ball, cover the bowl with cling film and leave to prove for 1 hour at room temperature (or until doubled in size).
Cinnamon filling
Ingredients
- 100 g (3.5 oz) butter (at room temperature)
- 40 g (1.4 oz) sugar
- 8 g (0.3 oz) cinnamon
Method
1
Mix the softened butter, sugar and cinnamon together using a spatula until combined. If your butter is too cold, soften it briefly in the microwave (10 seconds at a time) until it is pliable but not melted.
Shaping
Ingredients
- None
Method
1
Flour the work surface and roll out the dough into a large rectangle (approximately 40 × 60 cm (23.6 in)).
2
Spread the cinnamon butter evenly over the entire surface of the dough using a small offset spatula.
3
Fold the dough in three (like a letter), then roll it out again into a 30 × 40 cm (15.7 in) rectangle. Using a sharp knife or a pastry wheel, cut strips about 2 cm (0.8 in) wide.
4
Shape each strip into a cinnamon roll by twisting it and rolling it around itself. Place the rolls on a baking tray lined with baking paper, spacing them well apart. Leave to prove for 1 hour at room temperature.
Baking the cinnamon rolls (kanelbullar)
Ingredients
- 1 egg for egg wash
- a little pearl sugar
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 200°C / 400°F.
2
Beat the egg and brush it over each cinnamon roll. Sprinkle with pearl sugar.
3
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the rolls are golden. Keep a close eye on them as they can colour quickly.
4
Enjoy warm — they are at their very best straight out of the oven!
Gallery
