These beautiful Swedish cardamom knots are easier to make than they look. A cousin to the classic cinnamon roll, these buns have ground cardamom, as well as a touch of cinnamon, in the filling, adding an alluring floral and citrus note to these buns. Feel free to use all cardamom in the filling if you’d like a more traditional cardamom bun. These buns require two resting periods to rise, so plan accordingly, or make the buns one day, let them rest in the fridge overnight, and bake them the next day!
Course bread, Breakfast, Snack
Cuisine Swedish
Keyword bread, buns, cardamom, cinnamon, swedish meatballs, sweet buns, yeast
Prep Time 45 minutesminutes
Cook Time 15 minutesminutes
Resting time 2 hourshours
Servings 12
Calories 362kcal
Author Irvin
Ingredients
Dough
1cupwhole milk
1teaspoondark brown sugar
2 1/4teaspoonactive dry yeast7 g or 1 package
6tablespoonsunsalted buttermelted and cooled
2large eggs
1/4cupwhite granulated sugar50 g
1 1/2teaspoonground cardamom powder
1teaspoonvanilla extract
1teaspoonkosher salt
4cupsall-purpose flour, plus more if necessary560 g
Make the dough by first warming the milk up on the stove in a small pan, about 15 seconds or so on high. You only want the milk to get warm to the touch, not hot. Remove from heat, stir in the brown sugar, then stir in the yeast until it dissolves. Set aside for 5 minutes to proof.
Once the yeast has proofed and bubbles start to form at the top of the surface of the milk, pour the liquid into the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Add the melted butter, eggs, sugar, cardamom, vanilla and salt. Stir with a whisk or a fork to combine.
Add the flour and turn the mixer on low speed and mix until flour has been absorbed and a shaggy dough has formed. You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl to help this along. Once most of the flour has been absorbed, increase the speed to medium and knead the dough for 4 to 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. The dough should not be sticky but slightly tacky. If you need to add more flour, knead it in 1 tablespoon at a time until you get the right consistency.
Grease a large bowl with cooking spray. Grab the dough and pull/stretch the sides of it until a smooth round ball is formed. Place the dough, rough side down, in the bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Set in a warm place to rise until double in size, about 1 hour.
While the dough is rising, make the filling by placing the butter and vanilla in a small bowl or glass measuring cup. Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and cardamom in a medium sized bowl.Prep two 12 x 17 baking sheets by placing silicon baking mats or parchment paper on each of them. If you’re using parchment paper, liberally spray the paper with cooking oil.Once the dough has risen, roll the dough out to a 12 x 18 inch rectangle. With the dough in a vertical “portrait” position, spread the filling over the top half of the dough, leaving the bottom half bare.
Fold the dough over, sandwiching the filling between two layers of dough, forming a 12 x 9 inch rectangle.Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into 12 strips, about 1-inch thick.
Take one strip and gently stretch the dough until it is about twice as long (about 18 inches). Then wrap the dough around two fingers 3 times. After the third time, slide the dough off your fingers and wrap the remaining dough perpendicularly over the dough, forming a knot. Place on the prepared baking sheet and repeat with the remaining strips.
Cover with plastic wrap and let the knots rise again for about 1 hour in a warm place. They should look puffy but will not have doubled in size.Beat the egg yolk and water together in a small bowl. Preheat the oven to 450°F.Once the knots have finished their final rise, brush them with the egg wash and then sprinkle them with a generous amount of pearl sugar. Bake the knots for 15 to 18 minutes, or until they are golden brown on top. Don’t worry some of the filling leaks out of the knot. That is to be expected. If you have an instant read thermometer, the inside temperature should read 185°F.
Let the knots cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then move to a wire cooling wrap to cool completely.