These soft and fluffy Swedish cinnamon rolls are filled with a cardamom and cinnamon sugar filling. They're sprinkled with Swedish pearl sugar and baked until they're beautifully golden brown.
I love having a sweet baked breakfast, nothing better than the smell of cinnamon in the morning! If you loved my brioche cinnamon rolls, you will love these.
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Tell me about this recipe!
- The base dough is my regular brioche dough. Brioche dough is made with butter, eggs and milk which gives a rich and fluffy cinnamon roll.
- The cinnamon rolls need two rises, but there isn't much time spent prepping the recipe!
- These rolls have a spiced cardamom, cinnamon and brown sugar filling. It is such a delicious and warming filling.
Ingredients Needed
The printable recipe card with the full list of ingredients and instructions can be found at the bottom of this post.
Ingredient Notes
- Butter: I use European style butter for both the dough and the filling. European butter has a higher butterfat content, giving you a much creamier and richer bake.
- Pearl Sugar: This is totally optional and I have tested the recipe without it, it was still totally delicious! The pearl sugar is what is used in Sweden and makes your rolls look so beautiful.
- Cardamom: While these are cinnamon rolls and not cardamom buns (known as kardemummabullar!) I had to add a bit of cardamom to this filling. It compliments the cinnamon and gives such a spicy and warm taste.
How to make this recipe
One Two
One: Warm up your milk in a small saucepan on your stove or in your microwave. You want it to be warm but not too hot - if it gets too hot it will kill the yeast! Add your yeast and mix together, leave it for 5-10 minutes until you have some small bubbles or foam.
Two: In the bowl of a stand mixer with the hook attachment, or in a large bowl with a whisk, mix together your flour, salt and sugar.
Three Four
Three: Pour the milk, butter and eggs into the bowl. With the speed on low, mix for 2-3 minutes. Then increase the speed to medium and mix for another 3 minutes. Your dough should be smooth. If you don't have a mixer, you can knead the dough with your hands - just make sure you really get that butter mixed in!
Four: Take your dough out and oil the bowl. Pop the dough back in and cover with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel. Let it rise for an hour to an hour and a half.
Five Six
Five: Your dough is ready to get rolled out once it is almost doubled in size.
Six: Whisk together your brown sugar, cardamom, cinnamon and salt.
Seven Eight
Seven: Roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface until it is 22"x15".
Eight: Use a pastry brush or the back of a spoon to spread the softened butter. Unlike regular cinnamon rolls, you can brush the butter all the way to the edges.
Nine Ten
Nine: Sprinkle over your filling and use your hands to carefully press it into the butter.
Ten: Take the left short side and fold it over one third, as if you're folding an envelope.
Eleven Twelve
Eleven: Fold the other side of the dough over so it covers that first third. Use a rolling pin to gently roll up and down. This makes the rectangle a bit bigger but also removes any air bubbles.
Twelve: Use a pastry or pizza cutter to cut the strips into 12 two centimetre strips. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Thirteen Fourteen
Thirteen: Take one of the strips, twist it gently while pulling to make the twist longer. Hold one end in between your thumb, index, middle and ring finger. Twist the other end around those fingers twice, then take your thumb out and tuck the end of the twist in that loop. Repeat with all of the strips. Place each one on your parchment paper and cover loosely with plastic wrap for 30-45 minutes.
Fourteen: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Brush each one with an egg wash then sprinkle over your sugar. Bake for 13-15 minutes until golden brown.
Recipe Tips
- I highly recommend using a weighing scale and measuring out your ingredients the metric way. It makes a huge difference to your baking and is the most accurate way to bake!
- Don’t use melted butter for the filling, but use softened butter instead. I’ve found that using melted butter leads to the filling leaking out during the second rise.
- I make sure that all of my ingredients are at room temperature before I start the recipe, so pull out all of the ingredients about 2 hours before you start baking.
- When adding your yeast to the milk, make sure the milk isn’t too hot. You want the milk to be lukewarm, otherwise it may kill the yeast. You should be able to dip your finger in the milk and find it not too hot.
- Watch this gif to help with twisting each bun!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Only cooled, place the buns in a freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Let them defrost overnight.
Wrap up tightly or keep in an airtight container for up to 5 days. You can reheat them in the microwave or oven.
I found the gif from this site really helpful! Even if they come out a bit messy, they'll still look beautiful and taste delicious!
You can leave out the cardamom entirely and just have it be cinnamon.
Other breakfast recipes to try:
Make sure to tag me on Instagram @alpineella and leave a review below if you’ve made these rolls! If you want more baking ideas, you can follow me on Pinterest
Recipe
Swedish Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Dough
- 175 ml whole milk
- 2 ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 egg yolk room temperature
- 420 grams all purpose flour
- 50 grams granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 55 grams unsalted butter room temperature
Cinnamon Filling
- 107 grams light brown sugar
- ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon cardamom
- pinch salt
- 56 grams unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 egg for egg wash
- swedish pearl sugar
Instructions
- Warm up your milk in a small saucepan over medium-low heat or in a microwave, you just want it to be lukewarm. Too hot and it will kill the yeast! Pour the milk into a medium bowl and add the yeast, stirring to combine. Leave for 5-10 minutes until it has foamed and there are bubbles
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, add the flour, salt, and sugar and mix to combine.
- Pour the milk, butter and eggs into the stand mixer bowl bowl, and mix on low speed for 2-3 minutes. Raise the speed to medium and mix for another 3 minutes. Your dough should be smooth and not too sticky.
- Take the dough out of the bowl and oil it, then scrape the dough back into it. Cover it loosely with clingfilm and let it rise at room temperature until it has doubled in size, about an hour to an hour and a half.
- Mix together your sugar, salt and spices for the filling.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until it measures 22”x15”
- Use a pastry brush to brush the softened butter on the dough, it can go right up to the edge. Sprinkle over your filling.
- Take one of the short sides and fold it over a third, then take the other short side and fold it over so it is covering that first side
- Roll it out slightly to get rid of any air bubbles and make the rectangle a bit bigger.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a pizza cutter to cut out 12x2cm strips.
- Take one of the strips, twist it gently while pulling to make the twist longer. Hold one end in between your thumb, index, middle and ring finger. Twist the other end around those fingers twice, then take your thumb out and tuck the end of the twist in that loop. Repeat with all of the strips.
- Place each bun on your baking sheet, making sure there is space between each one. Cover with plastic wrap and let them rise for 30-45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 390°F/200°C.
- Whisk your egg with a splash of water or milk. Brush each one with the egg wash and sprinkle on your sugar pearls.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes until golden brown.
Sue says
The Cinnamon rolls are just like you get in Sweden. We ate some fresh. But also they froze and defrosted well - we took them on a train trip and had them for breakfast. One question - in Sweden we often buy Cardamom rolls - could the recipe be adapted?
Ella says
I'm so glad you liked them! 🙂 You could definitely take the cinnamon out of the filling and add an extra 1/2 teaspoon of cardamom!