Ia’s Cinnamon Buns

Ia’s Cinnamon Buns

Cinnamon buns. Quite possibly the best buns in the world, and pretty hard not to love. Fill your freezer with the perfect picnic treat, whatever the time of year.

There are endless ways to tweak a cinnamon bun recipe. I’m not very good at following recipes to the letter, so this one is a mix of different recipes I’ve found, tried and made my own.

Baking cinnamon buns takes a little time, but I like to think of it as mindfulness. Put on a podcast or an audiobook and get baking.

Dough
– 1 tbsp cardamom seeds, crushed
– 200 ml milk
– 100 ml whipping cream
– 50 g fresh yeast
– 150 ml granulated sugar
– ½ tsp salt
– 150 g butter, softened
– 1 egg
– 1.1–1.2 litres plain flour

Filling
– 250 g almond paste, grated
– 200 g butter, at room temperature
– 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
– 50 ml ground cinnamon
– 2 tsp ground cardamom
– 100 ml granulated sugar

For topping
– 1 beaten egg
– Chopped almonds, optional
– Pearl sugar

Sugar syrup
– 150 ml water
– 100 ml granulated sugar

200°C fan oven, 9–11 minutes. Makes about 30–35 buns.

How to make them

1. Crush the cardamom seeds as finely as you like, depending on whether you want a bit of crunch or not. I like the crunchy bits.

2. Warm the milk and cream until lukewarm. If you’re making the dough by hand, you can melt the butter with the liquid. If you’re using a mixer, leave the butter for later.

3. Crumble the yeast into a bowl and dissolve it in a little of the warm liquid. Add the remaining liquid, sugar, salt, cardamom, diced butter and egg.

4. Gradually add the flour and knead for about 10 minutes, until you have a smooth and elastic dough.

5. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for about 60 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Meanwhile, make the filling

Grate the almond paste and mix it with everything except the butter.

Add the butter in pieces and mix or mash everything together until smooth.

You’ll also have time to make the sugar syrup while the dough is rising. It’s not essential, but it helps keep the buns glossy and wonderfully moist.

Bring the sugar and water to a boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Leave to cool.

Time to make the buns

1. Divide the dough into two pieces and roll out one piece at a time into a thin rectangle.

2. Spread the filling all over the dough and fold it in half lengthways. If the dough shrinks back, simply roll it out a little again after folding. I also added chopped almonds to some of mine.

3. Cut into strips about 2–3 cm wide and twist them into buns.

If you don’t fancy making twisted buns, just roll the filled dough up into a classic log and cut it into 2–3 cm pieces.

4. Place the buns in paper cases or on baking paper. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for another 45–60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan.

5. Brush the risen buns with beaten egg and sprinkle with pearl sugar and, if you like, some chopped almonds.

Bake in the middle of the oven for about 9–11 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

Brush the warm buns with sugar syrup and leave to cool under tea towels.

Pour yourself a glass of cold milk and dig in.