Homemade Cinnamon Rolls but with a Twist
Homemade cinnamon rolls or sticky cardamom buns? Which one is your favorite?
Servings
Prep Time
Cook Time
Ingredients
Total Time
Ingredients
Dough:
- 350g all-purpose flour
- 50 g sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 40 g room temperature butter
- 125g lukewarm milk
- 3 g instant yeast
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
Cinnamon Filling:
- 125 g brown sugar
- 10g cinnamon
- 40g soft butter
- 2-3 apples
Cardamom Filling:
- 50 g sugar
- 7 g cardamom powder
- 20 g soft butter
- 20 g sweeten pistachio paste
- 70 g candied apricots
Cinnamon Topping
- 200 g dulce de leche
- 50 g milk
Cardamom Topping
- 40 g cream cheese
- 30 g powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- 1 Tbsp milk
- 30 g sweeten pistachio cream
Equipment
- Standing mixer
- Rolling pin
- Spatula
- Backing dish
- Saucepan
Instructions
I know that some of you might think I'm crazy, but for me, classic sticky cinnamon buns don't really do the trick. Yes, they are good, especially if they are warm, but I find them kind of dull.
However, I did manage to twist this Swedish dish by bringing apples and dulce de leche to the picture. The result? Well, the best cinnamon roll recipe I've ever had. So, if you are looking for a homemade cinnamon rolls dish that takes this dessert that extra mile, I strongly recommend you try this one. This being said, here is what you have to do.
- Place the yeast, one tbsp of sugar, and the milk in a bowl. Cover the bowl and let them rest for 10 minutes.
- Prepare your standing mixer with the dough hook attached. In its bowl, add the flour, the rest of the sugar, and the salt. Whisk to combine.
- Bring the butter to the mixing bowl and stir with a fork until you reach a sandy texture. Add the egg and pour the yeast-milk mixture.
- Start your standing mixer and knead for 10 minutes. When the dough reaches an elastic and smooth texture, place it in a greased bowl and cover it. Let it rise for 2 hours at room temp.
- When the dough is ready, give it a punch and take it out of the bowl. Knead it by hand for 30 seconds or so, then with the help of a rolling pin, shape it into a rectangle.
- Spread the softened butter all over the dough. Mix the brown sugar and the cinnamon, then sprinkle all over the butter.
- Peel the apples and cut them into 1 cm cubes. Place them on top of the dough along with the rest of the filling.
- Start rolling the dough from the bottom all the way to the top.
- Remove 1 cm from each margin, slicing them with a sharp knife. After that, slice the log into equal segments. I go for 7 pieces as I use a round baking dish. However, you can prepare 6 or 8 and use a rectangular one.
- Grease the baking dish with butter, then place the rolls in there.
- Cover the dish with a tea towel and let the rolls rise for another 2 hours at room temperature.
- Preheat the oven at 190 degrees Celsius (375F) and bake the rolls for 15-20 minutes.
- Take the baking dish out of the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes before taking the rolls out and placing them on your serving plate.
- While this happens, work on your cinnamon roll icing. Pour the dulce de leche along with the milk in a saucepan. Cook it on low heat, constantly stirring to soften the dulce de leche. When you reach a creamy texture, pour it over the rolls. Serve warm as they are crazy good.
However, if you are not a cinnamon kind of person or simply want to try something else, you can replace cinnamon with cardamom. I have to confess that I only recently discovered the Swedish cardamom buns during our last Stockholm visit, but they convinced me from the first bite,
Even though this way of cooking the rolls is not as famous as its sibling, the cinnamon bun recipe, I do believe that you should really try them out too.
Basically, you will have to follow the same easy cinnamon roll recipe and simply replace the filling and the topping.
- For the filling, combine the butter with the pistachio cream. Spread it all over the dough, then sprinkle the sugar-cardamom mixture. Chop the candied apricots and spread them all over the dough.
- As for the topping, whisk together the cardamom topping ingredients, then drizzle the glaze over the prepared buns.
And that's it - homemade rolls with either cinnamon or cardamom. I can't say which one I like better as both versions are amazingly rich and tasty. I do suggest trying them both, see which one suits your style, and tell us by tagging us on Instagram.
As for a quick wiki fact - cinnamon rolls are traditionally served all over Scandinavia. However, their origin lies in Sweden, where they are known as kanelbulle. Furthermore, each year on October 4th, they are celebrated as a national holiday.
* You can knead by hand if you don't have a standing mixer, but if you do so, you should knead the dough for at least 20 minutes
** Pistachio cream and candied apricots are not part of the original cardamom roll recipe. I use them to give the dessert another tasty, delicate layer and texture.
Nutrition Facts / Serving
- Calories 590
- Total Fat 18 g
- Cholesterol 264 mg
- Sodium 212 mg
- Potassium 506 mg
- Total Carbohydrate 89 g
- Sugars 58 g
- Protein 21 g