Gratitude Is Mine:SWEDISH CINNAMON ROLLS

Beautiful Swedish Cinnamon Rolls – They are delicious and fun to make! Swedish cinnamon buns are typically twisted and tied into these cute little knots.

Serving: 16 buns

INGREDIENTS

1 envelope active dry yeast

3 cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ cup granulated sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¾ cup lukewarm milk 115°F

1 tablespoon sour cream

¼ cup unsalted butter, melted

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

FILLING:

1/3 cup unsalted butter, (room temperature)

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1 ½ teaspoon whole cardamom seeds

GLAZE:

1 beaten egg

1 tablespoon water

Nib or Pearl sugar

DIRECTIONS for Swedish Cinnamon Rolls

In a small bowl, add yeast to the lukewarm milk with 1 teaspoon granulated sugar and stir until yeast has dissolved. Let activate for 5-10 minutes.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, mix together flour, granulated sugar cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

Change the attachment to the dough hook attachment.

After yeast has been activated, add your yeast/milk mixture to the flour mixture and mix on low until dough begins to come together. Increase speed to medium and add unsalted butter, sour cream and pure vanilla extract. Increase speed to high and knead for another 5 minutes. You want this to be a fairly loose dough, so whatever you do, don’t over knead.

Scrape dough out onto a lightly floured surface and shape it into a bun, tucking the edges toward the center. Place in your greased bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Place bowl in a warm place and let it rise for at least 45 minutes.

FILLING

Meanwhile, crush cardamom seeds with spice grinder or mortar and pestle. In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine unsalted butter, dark brown sugar, and freshly ground cardamom seeds and mix together on medium-low until creamy and smooth. Set aside.

Punch down dough and on floured surface with a floured rolling pin roll into a 15- by 20-inch rectangle. Spread filling onto the rolled out dough rectangle so that it covers the entire area from edge to edge.

With a long side facing you, roll up dough jelly-roll style and cut crosswise into approximately 1 ½ -inch-thick slices with a cut side down. Working with 1 slice at a time gently twist opposite ends of slice around twice to form a figure eight. Crimp ends together. Arrange rolls, a swirled side up, on a buttered baking sheet about 2 inches apart and let rise in a warm place until increased 1 1/2 times in bulk, about 1 hour.

Swedish Cinnamon Rolls

Place buns on your lined baking sheets, (giving enough room for dough to rise and spread), cover and let rise for about 30 minutes.

While rolls are rising, preheat oven to 350 F.

Brush buns with an egg wash, sprinkle with pearl sugar, and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Allow buns to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Serve and enjoy!

NOTES

–Buns are best the same day they are made, but can be frozen for up to 2 months and reheated in the oven before serving

-Feel free to sprinkle on any type of sugar that you have on hand.

-Chopped almonds, or granulated sugar, to sprinkle on top, optional

-Pearl Sugar or Nib sugar -(also pearl sugar and hail sugar) is a product of refined white sugar. The sugar is very coarse, hard, opaque white, and does not melt at temperatures typically used for baking.