Swedish Kanelbullar

I spend more time in bakeries than just about anywhere else in my travels. Museums are great. Getting lost on foreign named streets is actually a blast. But bakeries are my jam!

Nearly every scandinavian bakery has a cinnamon roll in one form or another, but even in their differences they're equally delicious and amazing.

My favorite is the kanelbullar, a simple sweet bread dough with cardamon, filled with a blend of butter, sugar, and cinnamon. Curled up and topped with pearl sugar, they're bound to be your favorite, too.

Here's everything you'll need to make the sweet bun dough

5 oz butter
17 fl oz whole milk
4 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1 teaspoon salt
90 g granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cardamom
800 g flour

Melt the butter in a pan, add the milk, and heat to 98.6 degrees. Dissolve the yeast in the milk and butter mixture in the bowl of a stand mixture. Add the salt, sugar, and cardamom, and then add the flour little by little while you knead the dough with the dough hook. Keep kneading for about 10 minutes until it comes off clean from the side of the bowl. Cover the bowl with a dish towel and leave for 30-40 minutes or until proofed to double the size.

If you're making this in a bread machine, follow nearly all of the same steps as above with melting the butter, adding the milk, and bringing to temperature. Add that mixture to the bread machine bowl. Add the salt, sugar, and cardamom, and then turn the bread machine on to the dough cycle. Add the flour one cup at a time. Allow the machine to do its magic, mixing, kneading and proofing.

While the bread is rising, allow 200 grams of butter to soften on the countertop. To the softened butter, add 100 grams of sugar and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon and mix well.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 24"x16". Visually separate the dough into thirds - don't actually cut it - like you would be folding a business letter. Using an offset spatula, spread half of the butter mixture to only the middle third of your letter...I mean, dough. Leave a clean border, and fold the left third of the dough over the middle section. Spread the remaining half of the butter mixture on top of the folded over section, and then take the remaining third, on the right, and fold over the top. With your rolling pin, roll the rectangle out a little more evenly and thinner. I promise to get pictures of this the next time I make them.

With a sharp knife, cut ribbons 2" wide. In the middle of each, make a lengthwise cut almost to the end. It will look like a pair of pants. Pick up the "pants" using your thumb and index finger and twist them into a spiral using your other hand. Keep twisting the "pants" as you start twisting it also around the tips of your index finger and thumb holding the other end. It should twist it into a know. When you start to run out of ribbon, let go of the end inside the knot and tuck the other end under the bun an place on a baking sheet.

Let proof for 15-20 minutes in a warm spot until the buns double in size. Cover with a simple egg wash (1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk) and top with pearl sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.