Cinnamon swirls/buns

Cinnamon buns... oh the word sends my taste buds spinning and my nose fills with the smell of freshly baked goods!

The sweet smell of cinnamon buns takes me back to my childhood. I dare say my mum is the queen of cinnamon buns. Whenever we had a birthday party, guests or a school event my mum always made cinnamon buns. She would get up early in the morning to prepare the dough, and put the first tray in the oven just in time for us wake up to the promise of a cinnamon bun for our 11 o'clock fika.

I made cinnamon buns for the first time today!

Cinnamon buns
Makes 25

25 g fresh yeast
75 g butter, melted
2 ½ dl milk
1 ml salt
 ½ dl sugar
1- 1 ½ tsp ground cardamom
7 dl flour

Filling
50 g room temp butter
½-1 dl sugar
1-2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 egg, beaten

Decoration
pearl sugar

1. Crumble the yeast into a large bowl. Mix the melted butter with the milk and heat until tepid. Pour some of the liquid over the yeast, allow the yeast to dissolve completely before adding the rest of the liquid.

2. Add in salt, sugar and cardamom, mix. Now, slowly add in a little flour at the time until you have a dough that does not stick to the edges of the bowl or to your hands. Set the dough to rest, covered, for 30 minutes.

3. Divide the dough into two. Roll out each part to a large rectangle. Spread with butter, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Roll into a long snake-shape, starting at the long edge. Cut each "snake" into about 12 pieces, 1 ½ cm thick. Place each piece in a small muffin paper cup. Place the cups on an oven tray.

4. Brush each piece with the beaten egg, and sprinkle the pearl sugar on top. Set to rest for 30 minutes.

5. Heat the oven to 225°C and bake the cinnamon buns for 8-10 minutes on the middle shelf.
Allow to cool, covered, on a wire rack.

Enjoy with a cup of coffee, tea, or a glass of lemonade.