Kanelsnurrer – Norwegian Twisted Cinnamon Buns

Scandinavians sure love their cinnamon buns, so it’s no surprise they have so many different variations of them. In Norway you’ll find kanelboller, skillingsboller, kanel i svingene, and kanelsnurrer – also called kanelknuter. These names are often used interchangeably, but kanelsnurrer and kanelknuter are usually slightly smaller buns twisted into a knot.

The twists actually make kanelsnurrer extra delicious, because there’s cinnamon sugar butter folded into each twist. Plus I just love the texture of these.

Bergen is actually famous for its skillingsoller, so I may have broken a law or two by baking kanelsnurrer here instead – please don’t tell anyone in Bergen.

This is the classic version of kanelsnurrer, made with a buttery cardamom dough and filled with cinnamon, brown sugar and butter. They’re simple but oh so tasty. You can use a stand mixer to make these, or you can knead them by hand.

Tips

If you’re using a mixer, dissolve the yeast in cold milk instead of warm, as the dough heats up quite a bit in the mixer, which apparently can kill the yeast. But if you’re making these by hand you’ll want to dissolve the yeast in lukewarm milk. In Norway we usually use fresh yeast for baking, but you can also use instant dry yeast instead.

You can use ground cardamom for this recipe, but if you have a mortar and pestal I highly recommend grinding cardamom seeds instead, as freshly ground seeds are much more flavorful. If you only have ground cardamom, I would double the amount in the recipe.

 It’s best to wait to add the butter until you’ve already kneaded the dough for a bit, as the fats affect the gluten. It’s definitely messier to add the butter later, but you’ll get a nicer dough! You can also add another handful or two of flour after adding the butter if the dough is too greasy to continue kneading.

And be sure to knead the dough long enough, until it’s nice and elastic. Put on some music and enjoy the process!

I roll out the dough and shape it before letting it rise. This makes the kanelsnurrer easier to shape. Then you can let them rise for about two hours, until about doubled in size (they will likely rise faster in a warmer room). When you poke them gently with your finger the dough should fully bounce back.

I like my kanelsnurrer on the smaller side, so I cut the dough into about 16 – 20 pieces. If you want larger buns you can cut the dough into thicker strips.

I’ve seen many different ways of forming the knots, and I don’t think your technique here matters too much. Just make sure that you twist the dough a lot before making the knot. To form the knots, I twist each strip of dough and then I hold out two of my fingers and wrap the twist twice around my fingers and then push the end through the hole in the middle. See the video below if you’re confused.

After brushing the kanelsnurrer with egg, I like to sprinkle them with pearl sugar, but this is optional. Norwegian pearl sugar is clear, but you could use Swedish pearl sugar instead, which is white. Or you could use demerara sugar, or whatever coarse sugar you have on hand.

Be careful not to over bake these, as then the buns can become dry. I bake mine for exactly 12 minutes – until the tops are golden brown and the bottoms light brown. The exact time will depend on your oven and how large you make the kanelsnurrer.

These are best served warm! These also freeze well, and then if you pop them back in the oven they’ll taste freshly baked again. I also sometimes simply defrost them in the microwave and then toast them.

You can switch the recipe from US measurements to metric by clicking from “US Customary” to “Metric” under Ingredients.