Kanelbullar!

TRISTANTRISTAN@flickr

I was lucky enough to be blessed with the presence of one of the new competitors for next year's masterchef. This Swedish chef wanted to introduce me to the simple delights that are Kanelbullar.

Kanelbullar or cinnamon buns are a classic at Swedish coffee parties. During the golden age of home baking, such parties turned into orgies of sweet yeast breads, small cookies, cookies with fillings, pastries and cakes.

This tradition lives on in Sweden. If you are invited to someone’s home for coffee, you always get a cinnamon bun, a cookie or a piece of cake with it. And at cafés, dainty little cookies continue to compete with all those supersized American muffins. (www.sweden.se)

Ingredients
For the dough:
100g unsalted butter,
500ml whole milk, lukewarm,
50g lump of yeast,
120g caster sugar,
1 tsp ground cardamom,
1/2 tsp salt,
600g plain wheat flour,
200g full spelt flour,
(Or a total of 800g plain wheat flour, if you don´t like wholemeal flour)
For the filling:
80g sugar,
2 tbsp cinnamon powder,
100g unsalted butter, lukewarm
For the topping:
1 egg, slightly beaten,
Pearled sugar for the topping