Kanelbullar (Swedish cardamom cinnamon knots)
50 min · 8 g protein · 126 cals / serving
The knotted buns from a Stockholm bakery window: a yeasted dough fragrant with freshly crushed cardamom, a thin layer of cinnamon butter folded inside, each strip twisted and tied, and a scatter of pearl sugar on top. Quark replaces the milk and a scoop of protein powder takes the place of some of the flour, and a little butter still goes into the dough, so the buns are soft and springy, a little lighter and less rich than the bakery kind, with a faint tang under the spice. Best warm, on the day they are baked.
Ingredients
Dough
- 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp quark, plain
- 25 g fresh yeast, or 7 g (2 1/4 tsp) dry yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 egg, beaten; keep 1 tbsp aside for brushing
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (bleached), plus a little for rolling
- 2 1/2 tbsp vital wheat gluten, brings plain flour up to bread-flour strength
- 1 2/3 scoops (50 g) whey protein, unflavoured or vanilla; a whey-casein blend if you have one, as pure whey gives a drier bun
- 1 1/2 tsp cardamom, seeds, freshly crushed in a mortar
- 1/4 tsp salt
Dough and filling
- 2 tbsp butter, very soft; 10 g for the dough, 20 g for the filling
Filling
- 1 1/2 tbsp packed brown sugar
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
Topping
- 1 1/2 tsp granulated sugar, pearl sugar (pärlsocker)
Steps
- Warm the quark in the microwave for 30–40 seconds, stirring, until it feels just lukewarm on your finger (about 99°F; hotter kills the yeast). Crumble in the yeast, add the sugar and stir until the yeast dissolves.
- Add the egg (minus the spoonful for brushing), flour, wheat gluten, protein powder, cardamom and salt and knead for 8 minutes, by hand or with a dough hook, until smooth and stretchy. Add 10 g of the soft butter and knead it in for the last 2 minutes. The dough is soft and slightly tacky; resist adding much flour. Cover and leave somewhere warm for 45–60 minutes, until nearly doubled.
- Mash the remaining 20 g of very soft butter with the brown sugar and cinnamon into a spreadable paste.
- On a lightly floured counter, roll the dough into a rectangle about 30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 inches), long side towards you. Spread the filling thinly over the lower half, right to the edges, fold the top half down over it and press lightly. Cut across into 12 strips about 3 cm (1 1/4 inches) wide.
- To knot each bun, hold a strip at both ends and twist it in opposite directions, then wind it twice around two fingers, tuck the end through the middle and set it on a lined baking sheet with the end underneath. Cover with a tea towel and leave 30–40 minutes, until puffy. Heat the oven to 435°F.
- Brush the knots with the reserved egg, scatter over the pearl sugar and bake in the middle of the oven for 8–10 minutes, until deep golden. Cool under a clean tea towel so the crust stays soft.
Good to know
How do I get the knot to hold?
Twist the strip tightly before you wind it, so the filling shows in a spiral, and always finish with the loose end tucked underneath. A knot that unwinds in the oven still tastes the same; it just looks like a swirl.
Can I use more butter?
Yes. Doubling it makes the filling melt and caramelise into the folds the way a bakery bun does, and the buns come out at about 21 instead of 30.
Do they freeze?
Very well. Freeze them as soon as they are cool, in a bag, and warm them from frozen for 5 minutes at 300°F, or 20 seconds in the microwave.
Alternatives
Per
- Calories
- 278
- Protein
- (26%)
- 18 g
- Fat
- (21%)
- 6 g
- Carbohydrates
- (53%)
- 38 g
- of which sugar
- 9 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 210 mg
More desserts
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 1514 kcal goes into the pot and 610 g of ingredients comes out as about 544 g of food: 278 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.