Also known as cinnamon knots, rolls or swirl buns, these are an amazing combo of cinnamon, sugar and butter swirled in a cardamom-spiced light buttery dough to create delicious pastries with a crisp outside and soft fluffy centre. I read somewhere they’re not too sweet and even better than classic cinnamon rolls and I totally agree! A work colleague tested mine and repeatedly commented on their amazingly fluffy pull-apart texture and yumminess. And I have the lovely Cooking the Chef group to thank for this discovery! The chosen chef for this month’s challenge is world-renowned Danish chef Claus Meyer (more about him later) who serves these pastries of Norwegian origin in his bakeries! The English recipe for kanelsnurrer is on his website and a youtube video that demonstrates the whole process, including the knot-twisting technique. The video’s in Danish but you’ll get the gist. I’d really recommend these kanelsnurrer as the most wonderfully fragrant and textured Scandinavian cinnamon twist buns! It was love at first bite. I think you should make them! 😉
Kanelsnurrer – Danish cinnamon twist buns,
Look, it’s crispy outside but soft and fluffy inside!
Kanelsnurrer – Danish cinnamon twist bun
Kanel means cinnamon by the way and snurrer is ‘swirl’ or ‘twist’. Yum.
THE RECIPE
For these kanelsnurrer I followed Claus Meyer’s cinnamon swirls recipe but substituted about one third of the 00 flour with glutenfree to make the buns lower-gluten and used slightly healthier unrefined golden caster sugar. The milk was warmed a little before stirring in the yeast and the dough left overnight before shaping and baking – a slow overnight rise in the fridge improves the flavour and texture. Plus the chilled dough is easier to handle the next day and it’s great for scheduling – you can shape and bake the pastries more quickly in the morning. Oh and the quantities are halved so as not to use a whole kilo of flour – just had to recalculate the rectangle sizes.
On facebook there’s a nice Insider dessert kanelsnurrer video in English with info about them and how they’re made. Claus Meyer’s kanelsnurrer video recipe in Danish helps a lot with the shaping but photos I’ve seen of these buns show them in all shapes and sizes so they don’t need to be perfect. Hurray!
Kanelsnurrer – Scandinavian cinnamon twist buns
Ingredients – for about 9 buns
Dough
- 250g/ml full-fat milk
- 25g/0.88oz fresh yeast
- 1/2 medium-large egg, beaten (27-30g), keep the other half for brushing the buns
- 500g/17.6oz (4 cups) 00 flour (or strong bread flour) – I used 350g 00 flour and 150g Doves Farm self-raising gluten free flour
- 75g/1/3 cup caster (superfine) sugar, preferably unrefined golden caster sugar
- 7g (1 and 1/2 level tsp) fine sea salt
- 5g (2 and 1/8 level tsp) ground green cardamom
- 75g/1/3 cup or 2/3 stick unsalted butter, good quality
Filling
- 100g/1/2 cup less 3 tsp softened unsalted butter, whisked to creamy texture
- 100g/1/2 cup less 1 and 1/4 tsp caster (superfine sugar), preferably unrefined golden caster sugar or light brown demerera sugar
- 10g (4 level tsp) ground cinnamon
Assembly
- the 1/2 beaten egg remaining from above
- a little sugar for sprinkling
Method
DAY ONE
Note: if the dough’s a little sticky don’t add extra flour. If it’s very liquid add a little flour after Stage 4 above and keep kneading another 5-10 minutes. If the dough’s very stiff then add a little liquid and keep kneading.
DAY 2
Here’s that link again to see someone shaping kanelsnurrer: Claus Meyer kanelsnurrer video recipe.
- When almost doubled in size pre-heat oven to 180°C/350°F (fan-assisted) or 200°C/400°F (static, non-convection oven). When you poke a bun with your finger the dough shouldn’t spring back completely but only a little, leaving a slight soft indent. How long they prove depends on how warm the environment is.
- When ready to put in the oven brush each bun with the 1/2 beaten egg reserved from before. Sprinkle a little caster sugar on top.
- Bake 12-15 minutes until golden brown (cover with aluminium foil if they start getting too brown).
- Allow to cool a little before eating.
Eating and storing
Kanelsnurrer are best eaten fresh the same day. Store at room temperature in airtight tupperware or wrapped well in plastic film. Day 2 or 3 you can reheat in the oven on a baking tray 5-6 minutes at 180°C/350°F (fan-assisted) or 200°C/400°F (static, non-convection. You’ll get a crispy outside again with the warm soft centre. Yum. Wrapped in plastic film the buns also keep in the freezer up to a month or so. Reheat in the oven directly from frozen.
Kanelsnurrer – Scandinavian cinnamon twist buns
Claus Meyer and sharing
Claus Meyer is not just a chef but also described in the Wikipedia article as a culinary entrepreneur, food activist, cookbook author, professor and TV host. He’s one of the founders of the New Nordic Cuisine philosophy, promoting unique Nordic cuisine around the world. So it’s great to be sharing these kanelsnurrer cinnamon twist buns here and with friends.
In a whatsapp a friend just thanked me again for the kanelsnurrer she ate a week ago! So it’s a memorable bun – very happy to have discovered it so thank you again Aisha and Abril at the Cooking the Chef group! If you’re interested in looking at more Nordic cuisine please check out the recipes for the Claus Meyer challenge. There are some lovely savoury dishes and a few other kanelsnurrer recipes in Spanish along with comments about how they loved these pastries. You can never have too many. 🙂
Let’s have another nibble. I really love these kanelsnurrer cinnamon buns!
Kanelsnurrer – Scandinavian cinnamon twist buns
Farewell dear reader! Wishing you a lovely week ahead with some happy baking and eating! 🙂 Lili x
lili's cakes 
Estos bollos son los preferidos de mi sobrino, eso sí la versión americana con el glaseado por encima. Me parece mucho más sencilla de hacer esta forma que la enrollada.
Perfectos y ricos tus bollitos.
Bss
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Muchas gracias Rosalía, me alegro que te hayan gustado. 😍 No he intentado nunca hacer los bollos versión americana (que son deliciosas también es cierto) pero sí que esta manera escandinava de hacer la forma me ha gustado mucho – es divertido. Si algun día las haces les podría probar tu sobrino también! A ver que ne piensa… 😉 Besos
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Estos bollos han sido los triunfadores y no me extraña porque son riquísimos.
Bss
Elena
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Muchísimas gracias Elena! 😍 Sí que estoy super feliz de haber hecho el desafio y encontrado la receta de Claus Meyer. Pronto iré de visitar a ver las otras recetas del desafio. 😊Besos, Lili
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Delicious! I love the pictures, so funnies!
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Aw thank you Marta! 😍 Happy you like the illustrations. 😊Besos
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que me gustan tus “como se hace”, me encantan los bollos con canela y cardamomo, le da un gusto muy rico, perfecta tu aportación al reto, pintaza que tiene y desde luego que no tenemos suficientes, feliz semana para ti tambien, besos
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Muchas gracias Bea, me alegro que te gusten. 😍 Sí que con sólo pensar en la combinación canela-cardamomo estoy deseando sacar un bollo del congelador para comer ahora mismo! 🙂 Tus kanelbullar son perfectos, me gustaría probar uno de esos también! Que tengas una buena semana con muchos bollos! Besos
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Impresionantes. Me encanta ese puntito de crujiente y tierno, y la canela que me pierde…
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Gracias Ana! 😍 Si, los kanelsnurrer del Claus Meyer son una passada…y la canela también como dices..😋😋:) besos
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Esta receta ha triunfado en el reto. Una maravilla porque ese sabor de canela y cardamomo es espectacular. Los dibujitos te han quedado adorables.
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Gracias, me alegro mucho que te hayan gustado los dibujitos. 😍 Estoy completamente de acuerdo – eso del sabor canela-cardamomo es increible. Que felicidad haber participado en el reto y encontrado la receta del claus meyer. 🙂 besos
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They’re very pretty little knots! I’d like one with my afternoon tea please. 🙂
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Thank you Deborah, they’re a lot of fun to shape and tie! One’s on its way to you… probably for breakfast now..! 🙂 😉
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Tak for posting this recipe. I ate a delicious kanelbrød in København so I want to make it at home.
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You’re very welcome. Hope you’ll recapture that wonderful moment eating kanelbrod in Copenhagen. 🙂
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Thank you so so much for this amazing recipe! I made it last night / today and they turned out absolutely beautifully. Just as good as the ones I had in Stockholm a while ago! Very moist and such a delicious flavor with cardamom and cinnamon. The illustrations are fun and with the pictures you included it was super easy to follow the steps.
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You’re very welcome and thank you for the feedback! It makes my day to know you enjoyed these kanelsnurrer so much. I’m also really pleased the illustrations and pictures helped you. You’re inspiring me to make some again now! 😁 Have a lovely day and weekend! x
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