Becky's Easter Brunch Recipe: Swedish Cinnamon Swirls

I’ve always wanted to try and make Swedish cinnamon swirls, ever since I went to Stockholm and had the traditional “Kanelbullar”. These homemade swirls certainly went down well around the office too. They are simple to make, but you just have to allow enough time to prepare them as the baking takes no time at all! If you’re making for the Easter weekend, I’d make them the night before and warm them up in the morning to serve for breakfast! You can even freeze them and save them for a later date. Serve them with fresh coffee and enjoy.

Becky's Easter Brunch Recipe: Swedish Cinnamon Swirls

Makes: 24

Ingredients

For the swirls

• 35g fresh yeast
• 100g demerara sugar
• 350ml milk
• 1 large egg
• 110g butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp ground cardamom
• 660g all purpose flour

For the filling

• 110g butter, at room temperature
• 50g demerara sugar
• 2 tbsp cinnamon

For the glaze

• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp dememera (or 2 tbsp pearl sugar which is the traditional recipe)

Icing (optional)

• 3 tbsp icing sugar
• 2 tbsp water

Instructions

1. Find a large bowl and break up the lump of yeast. Pour a couple of tablespoons of milk over the yeast and mix. Melt the butter and pour over the mix. Add the rest of the milk. The mixture will look quite split but stir as much as possible. 2. Add the rest of the swirl ingredients, combine well until you can take out the whole dough and put onto the work surface as a solid lump. 3. Knead the dough for approximately 15 minutes. This is an important step to make sure the swirls are light, airy and chewy. Let the dough rise while covered at room temperature for about 45 minutes. 4. Take a rolling pin and roll out the dough so it is about 5mm thick, 30cm wide x 50cm high approx. Make a buttery mixture with the butter (room temperature), sugar and cinnamon and spread it over the dough. 5. Roll the dough width ways, along the longest length. Cut the roll into about 24 slices. Line a baking tray with baking paper and place the cut pieces onto the tray. Let them rise under a tea towel for about 1 hour until the swirls have expanded in size. 6. Beat together the egg and water. Brush the mixture carefully over the swirls and sprinkle the demerera (or pearl) sugar on top. Bake in the oven to 200 degrees Celcius for 6-7 minutes. 7. Allow to cool a tiny bit before serving, but these taste delicious when they're warm, served with fresh coffee! Or you can allow them to cool and drizzle icing sugar back and forth over the top for extra sweetness, but this part is up to you! Recipe adapted from Del's Cooking Twist. We will certainly be baking these Swedish cinnamon swirls for the bank holiday! What will you be making? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @wearethought. You might also enjoy reading our bank holiday brunch post from last year!