Swedish Cinnamon Buns "Bullar"

This was my Delishhh SRC assignment for January

This recipe is featured on RecipeNewZ

Source: Delishhh blog

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 3 (out of 5)

Ingredients
For the dough
• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (1140 cal)
• ¾ tbsp active dry yeast
• ½ cup butter (815 cal)
• 1 cup milk (120 cal)
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ cup sugar (195 cal)
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
For the filling
• 2 tbsp butter at room temperature (200 cal)
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1/3 cup unpacked brown sugar (180 cal)
Total: 24 buns, 2650 cal, 110 cal/bun

Directions
1. Mix the flour with the yeast.
2. In a small pan warm the butter and the milk over low heat until the butter melts. Add the sugar, the salt and the cardamom and stir well until the sugar dissolves. The mixture should be lukewarm (about 115F).
3. Pour the warm milk into the flour and mix well. Knead until the dough is smooth. In a stand mixer with a dough hook it should take about 4-5 minutes on low speed.
4. Cover the dough with a plastic wrap or a wet paper or cloth tower, and leave it to rise in a warm place for about an hour to an hour and a half until it doubles in size. The rise times depend on the temperature in your kitchen.
5. Once the dough has risen, divide it in 2 halves. Dust a work surface and roll each half into a ¼ inch thick square. You can also freeze half of the dough, and defrost in the refrigerator overnight before use.
6. Spread the butter over the dough and sprinkle it with the sugar cinnamon mixture.
7. Roll the dough into a cylinder and cut it into 12 pieces. Place the buns into greased muffin tins and let rise covered once again for another 30 minutes.
8. Brush the buns with egg wash or a little cream mixed with sugar and bake in an oven preheated to 450F for 20 minutes or until you can smell the cinnamon and the buns are golden brown.

Afterthoughts
• These buns are getting raving reviews from cinnamon lovers :-). Unfortunately, I have not learned to love cinnamon yet, so I have not tried them… Why did I make cinnamon buns then? Because I am going on a detox week, and my bf is not. He loves cinnamon, I don’t. So what better dessert can I make for him to make him happy and me not tempted ;-)? But I still have half a batch of the dough waiting for me in the freezer, for after the detox. Only that time I will mix sugar with grated orange zest instead of cinnamon, and I can try my own version, maybe a little less Swedish…
• This recipe comes from a wonderful blog Delishhh that I’ve been following for a long long time now. Ewa is originally from Sweden and has an amazing collection of Swedish recipes (and an equally amazing collection of non-Swedish ones ;-) ). I have never made Swedish food, so I’ve been eyeing those recipes for a long time. Unfortunately for me, many of them have cinnamon, so I have been hesitant to try them. But even for someone like me, there are some cinnamon-free recipes, that I have on my list to make after my detox, like Swedish pancakes, Swedish saffron cake, and Swedish sandwich cake (you must check this one out, it’s gorgeous!)
• This was my Secret Recipe Club assignment for January 2012. SRC is organized by Amanda Formaro and led by several brave volunteer hostesses, who each month assign you a blog, from which you choose a recipe and post the results on a reveal day. It’s a lot of fun to participate and I am very thankful to Amanda and Jane Bonacci, the hostess of our group, for doing all the heavy lifting and making it possible!