Swedish cinnamon buns, a delicious traditional Kanelbullar recipe made with a cardamom brioche dough with a delicious cinnamon filling.
You know those little buns that you can buy in that big Swedish furniture store. Small rolled buns with an original shape and spicy flavors, with a cinnamon filling and little sugar pearls.
Well believe me this is a very easy recipe to prepare and as delicious as the ones you can buy in a bakery.
Kanelbullar
Kanelbullar are traditional Swedish cinnamon buns made of a brioche dough flavored with spices and a filling of sweet buttery cinnamon filling.
They are very similar to the famous cinnamon rolls, but the recipe is different in the composition of the ingredients. Indeed these are prepared with a brioche dough flavored with cardamom and the shaping is like a knot while the cinnamon rolls are just rolled.

Useful tools for this recipe
- Baking tray
- Rolling pin
Ingredients note
Flour
Simply use an all-purpose flour like white wheat flour for this recipe.
Egg
An egg at room temperature, pre-beaten before being mixed with the other ingredients.
Sugar
Brown sugar or cane sugar, which you can substitute with white sugar for the dough and for more flavor use preferably brown sugar for the filling.
Milk
Warm milk that will be used to activate the baker's yeast, be careful not to let it get too hot. Do not exceed 25°C when heating the milk.
Butter
Use unsalted butter at room temperature so that it blends in better with the other ingredients.
Instant yeast
You can make this recipe with instant dry baker's yeast or use fresh baker's yeast. For the fresh yeast you can either put it in the warm milk or put it directly in the stand mixer with the other ingredients.
Salt
Salt is a flavor enhancer that brings out all the flavors so don't forget it in this recipe.
Cardamom and cinnamon
These spices are essential in this recipe and they complement each other. Use ground cardamom and cinnamon powder. If you don't like the strong flavor of these spices then reduce the amount a bit.
Pearl sugar
Sprinkle your buns with pearl sugar before baking them but just after gilding them with a beaten egg.






How to make the cinnamon rolls Kanelbullar?
- To start, rehydrate the dry baker's yeast in warm milk with a little sugar and let it rest for a few minutes.
- Then during this time, in your stand mixer, mix together the egg, sugar, butter and add the ground cardamom and cinnamon powder.
- Then add the milk containing the diluted dry yeast and while letting the stand mixer with turn, finish by adding the flour.
- Finally, mix until the dough is homogeneous. (it should start to come away from the sides but still remains a little sticky)
- And, with a dough scraper bowl, remove the dough from the bowl and place it in a bowl covered with a cloth.
- Then, let the dough grow at room temperature for 1h30 to 2 hours. (the dough must double in volume, you can let it grow in the oven at 45°C or let it grow overnight in the fridge).
- Meanwhile, prepare the filling by mixing all the ingredients together.
How to shaping the cinnamon rolls Kanelbullar :
- First, on a floured work surface, roll out the dough into a large rectangle.
- Then spread the filling over the entire surface.
- Finally, fold the dough in 3 (in a wallet - see photos).
- And, roll out the dough again with a roller to widen it a little.
- then cut small strips with a knife or a pizza cutter wheel.
- Then cut again in the middle of each strip leaving a few centimeters on the edge.
- Twist these two pieces of dough (see photos below) and roll them up to form a bun or a snail. (which seems simplest to you).
- Finally, place on a baking tray covered with a baking sheet and let it grow again for 30 minutes - 1 hour.
- Finish by applying a layer of egg gilding with a pastry brush.
- And sprinkle your Kanelbullar with sugar pearls and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes.






Other bun recipes


Don't forget to tag me @sweetlycakes on Instagram if you make my Suedish cinnamon buns Kanelbullar recipe and add a link to my recipe if you share it on your blog 😉
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Cinnamon rolls Kanelbullar
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 buns
Description
Delicious recipe of small soft buns flavoured with cinnamon and cardamom (for 12 small rolled buns)
Ingredients
Brioche dough
- 420 g Flour
- 1 beaten egg
- 45 g cane sugar
- 200 ml warm milk
- 75 g softened butter
- 10 g dry yeast
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tsp cardamome powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
Filling
- 80 g melted butter
- 2 tbsp cane sugar
- ½ tsp cardamome powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1 tsp liquid vanilla extract
For gilding and decoration
- 1 beaten egg
- 2 tbsp milk
- Belgian sugar pearl
Instructions
- Rehydrate the dry yeast by mixing it with warm milk and a little sugar and let it rest for about ten minutes.
- In your stand mixer, mix together the beaten egg, sugar and butter, then add the cinnamon powder, ground cardamom and salt.
- Stir the milk containing the dry yeast into the mixture and finish by adding the flour.
- Mix with the hook for about 5 minutes, until the dough forms a ball that comes away from the sides of the bowl.
- Cover with a cloth and leave to rise for 1.5 - 2 hours at room temperature (the dough should double in size).
- In the meantime prepare the filling by mixing all the ingredients together.
- Degas the dough on a floured work surface and spread it out in a large rectangle.
- Spread the filling over the entire surface of the dough rectangle and smooth with a spatula or spoon.
- Fold the dough in 3 (jacketed), then roll the dough out again with your rolling pin to make it wider.
- Using a knife, cut strips across the width.
- Cut these strips again, leaving a few centimeters on one side (like a pair of pants).
- Twist the 2 strips then roll up to form a knot or like a snail.
- Place the buns on a baking tray covered with baking paper and cover with a cloth and leave to grow for another 30 minutes - 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 374°F / 190 °C, brush each bun with egg and milk.
- Sprinkle with sugar pearls and bake for 15-20 minutes.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: breakfast, snack
- Cuisine: Suedish
Nutrition
- Calories: 271
- Sugar: 7
- Sodium: 115
- Fat: 12
- Saturated Fat: 7
- Carbohydrates: 35
- Fiber: 2
- Protein: 6
- Cholesterol: 57
Keywords: Brioche, buns, cinnamon rolls, kanelbullar
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