Kanel Snegle/Kanelbullar – Swedish Cinnamon Snails/Rolls

Swedish Cinnamon Snails/Rolls served in a plate

5 from 47 votes

Kanel Snegle/Kanelbullar – Swedish Cinnamon Snails/Rolls

Kanelbullar is Swedish version (and probably the original version) of the American cinnamon rolls is less sticky and not as sweet. This kanel snegle involves the use of an overnight starter and hence takes a little planning to make.

Prep Time1

Cook Time15

Proofing time1

Total Time1 1 15

Course: Breakfast, Buns and Rolls, Dessert

Cuisine: Swedish

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings: Rolls

Calories: 124kcal

Author: Sandhya Ramakrishnan

Equipment

Mixer Bowl
Cupcake liners
Baking tray
Brush

Ingredients

For the starter –

1 cup Warm Milk
2 teaspoon Instant yeast
2 cups All purpose flour

For the dough –

All of the starter
2 cups All Purpose flour
1½ teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon Cardamom powder
2 teaspoon Lemon zest
⅓ cup Caster Sugar
60 gms Unsalted Butter room temperature and softened

For the filling –

75 gms Unsalted Butter softened at room temperature
½ cup Light brown sugar loosely packed
2 teaspoon Cinnamon

For the topping –

¼ cup Milk
Large crystal sugar or pearl sugar or any kind of fancy sugar for sprinkling

Instructions

Day 1 –

Mix all the ingredients mentioned for the starter and make it into sticky dough. Place the starter dough in a large greased bowl and loosely cover the bowl. Refrigerate the dough overnight. Do make sure that you place the starter in a large bowl since it will rise quite a bit.

Day 2 –

Take the starter out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before you begin to make the rolls. I used my stand mixer to make the dough. You could use the same or the food processor or make the dough by hand.
Tear the starter dough into large piece and add it to the mixer bowl. Sift the remaining flour, salt and cardamom powder into a bowl and add this to the mixer bowl. To this add the lemon zest and sugar and mix it until well mixed.
Now add the softened butter and knead the dough well until you have smooth and elastic dough. My dough felt a little dry, so added about 4 tablespoon of milk to get the right consistency. Do the same depending on how the dough is. If the dough is little bit on the sticky side, add a tablespoon or so of flour to get the right consistency.

Make the filling –

Combine all the ingredients mentioned for the filling into a smooth paste using a fork or a spoon and keep it ready.
I made two different shapes with the dough, so I divided the dough into 2 and used it. When working with one half, keep the other half covered so that it does not dry up.

Cinnamon Rolls –

Roll one half of the dough into a 10” by 14” rectangle. Spread one half of the filling evenly over the rectangle. Tightly roll the dough Jelly/Swiss roll style and then cut it into about ½ inch thick slices. Place these cut side down on cupcake liners and place them on a baking tray.

Twisted buns –

With the remaining half of the dough roll it out into a rectangle. Spread the remaining half of the filling in the rectangle evenly. Fold the dough into third and then fold it over again. Now cut them into ½ inch thick strips. Pull the strip gently and then twist between your fingers to form a tight bun. This video would help you to make the buns. Place these buns also in the cupcake liners and lay them on the baking tray.
Let the prepared buns and rolls rise for about 10-15 minutes. They will look a little puffy but would not rise too much. Brush them with milk and sprinkle the large sugar crystals over them.
Bake them in a preheated 400 F oven for about 15 minutes are until they are light brown and sounds
hollow when tapped. I doubled my baking tray to prevent the bottom of the buns from browning too quickly.
Cool the baked rolls on a cooling tray. Serve these kanel snegle slightly warm.

Nutrition