Recipe: Swedish Cinnamon Buns

With places like Bulle Bakery in Southern California and Fabrique in New York City constantly selling out of Swedish cinnamon buns, you’d think every day is Cinnamon Bun Day! But here’s the scoop: October 4th has been the official National Cinnamon Bun Day in Sweden since 1999, all thanks to the Swedish Home Baking Council, who gave us this tasty tradition.

And to celebrate the day, we’ve got a delicious recipe lined up so you can whip up a batch of these iconic buns right at home!

Swedish Cinnamon Buns
– 2 Pkg. Active yeast, dry (I used Fleischmann’s active dry)
– 1 ½ Cups Butter
– 2 ½ Cups Whole milk
– 2 Tsp. Cardamom, freshly grounded
– 1 Cup Sugar
– 1 Tsp. Salt
– 8 Cups All-purpose flour or bread flour
– 2 Tbsp. Cinnamon
– 1 large egg
– Pearl Sugar or thinly sliced almonds

1. 1. 1. Heat milk to a light boil, turning off the heat when it reaches the scalding point (with small bubbles across the top).
      2. Stir in melted butter, sugar, salt, and ground cardamom. Let mixture cool until finger-warm (still quite warm, but just cool enough to touch).
      3. Stir in yeast and let sit for 10 minutes.

         
         
         

      4. Add flour to mixture 1/2 cup at a time until dough is firm and pulls away from the side of your mixing bowl. If using a stand mixer, exchange the mixing paddle for the dough hook after you’ve added the first 5 cups of flour. Use the dough hook to mix and knead the dough as you add the remaining 3 cups of flour.
      5. Cover the dough in the mixing bowl with a clean towel and let rise until doubled, about an hour.
         
         
         
   1. 1. Punch down the dough, then remove from bowl.
      2. On a floured counter, knead dough lightly until smooth and shiny.
      3. Divide dough into two halves and use to make cinnamon buns.

   
   
   

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. Fold the rectangle upwards to make a double layer. Using a sharp or serrated knife, cut each cylinder into 18-20 equal slices. Twist each slice in opposite directions and roll into a bun, see pictures down below.

Place each slice into a paper cupcake wrapper and place on baking sheet. Cover with a towel and allow to double in size, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 425º. After that 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 8 minutes, or until done (I baked mine for 10 minutes).

This article was originally published on Oct 4, 2017, and has since been edited.