Ingredients

• 500 mL lukewarm milk
• 16 g yeast
• 180 g granulated sugar
• 1 ½ tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tbsp + 1 tsp ground cardamom (preferably freshly ground)
• 1 egg
• about 1 kg bread flour
• 170 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 150 g soft butter
• 6 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp + 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 egg
• pearl sugar, to sprinkle

Preparation

Combine the yeast with some flour and add to the warm milk mixture. Stir with a spoon until the yeast is completely dissolved. Add sugar, salt, cardamom, and egg and mix until combined. Gradually add about two thirds of the flour and knead. Add butter and knead until well combined. Continue to knead the dough, and gradually add just enough flour so the dough comes clean off the sides of the bowl and doesn’t stick to your hand.

Don’t overwork the dough or you’ll end up with hard rolls. Shape into a ball and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free place for about 1 hour, or until double in size.

Meanwhile, mix together the butter, sugar, and cinnamon for the filling. Set aside.

Line four baking sheets with parchment paper.

Punch down the dough and divide into two equally sized portions. Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour. Roll out the first portion of dough into a large, about 60-by-40-centimeter / 23-by-16-inch rectangle. Spread half of the filling evenly on top. Beginning with the long side, roll the dough into a tight tube shape, seam side down. Cut into 15 cylinders and press each point tightly into the center with your index finger.

Place the shaped cinnamon rolls on the baking sheets, spacing them about 5 cm / 2" apart. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for further 30 minutes, or until they’re double in size. Repeat with the second batch.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 225°C (435°F).

For the egg wash, lightly whisk the egg. Before baking, brush each roll with the egg wash and sprinkle generously with pearl sugar. Bake the rolls on the middle rack for 10 – 15 minutes, or until golden to dark brown in color. When the rolls are done, the bottoms will most probably be dark brown in color; this is totally normal and typical for Nordic cardamom-spiced sweetbread. Repeat with the other sheets of rolls.

The cinnamon rolls are best eaten while still slightly warm or on the same day. However, you can freeze them once baked and warm them up when ready to serve.

My Blue & White Kitchen

Ingredients

• 2 tubes canned cinnamon rolls with icing (one regular and one caramel)
• 2 small apples, gala or honey crisp
• 1/4 cup caramel sauce, optional

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Remove cinnamon rolls from the packaging and lightly flour your work surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out each cinnamon roll until flat enough to roll up, about double the original size. Place each cinnamon roll, seam side down, into a pie dish and form a circle. Add two additional circles (depending on your pie pan size), ending with one single cinnamon roll in the middle.

Peel and slice 2 small apples and push slices in between the gaps of each cinnamon roll circle. Cover with tin foil and bake until the cinnamon rolls are nearly cooked through, possibly as long as 30 minutes. Uncover and brown. [CP: This is a tweak to the recipe, which didn’t begin to cook all the way through the first time we made it; we haven’t tried it this way yet. Edit me to add times when we cook it again.]

Meanwhile, spoon regular icing into a microwave-safe bowl and heat in the microwave for 10 seconds or until warm and slightly runny. Drizzle over the warm pie. Repeat with the caramel icing. If you can’t find cinnamon rolls that come with caramel icing, simply combine the regular icing with 1/4 cup caramel sauce and heat in a microwave-safe bowl for 10 seconds as well. Stir to combine and drizzle over the top.

Deliciously Yum

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 cup milk
• 5 tbsp cinnamon sugar (or 1 tbsp cinnamon mixed with 4 tbsp sugar)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 300° F. Grease a tube pan or loaf pan. Cream the butter. Add the eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix well. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Add half the flour to the butter mixture. Mix to combine. Add the milk to the butter mixture. Mix to combine. Add the remaining flour to the butter mixture. Mix to combine. Sprinkle 1/3 of the cinnamon sugar on the bottom of the loaf pan. Add half of the batter to the loaf pan. Sprinkle 1/3 of the cinnamon sugar on top of the batter in the loaf pan. Add the remaining batter to the loaf pan. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar on the top of the batter. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Penzey’s Spices