Swedish Cinnamon Rolls

 My mother currently reads a lot of books that are set in Iceland. And apparently people in those books do nothing else but eat cinnamon rolls all day long. It goes without saying - over the reading she got a strong craving for them and was obsessed by the idea of having a freezer full of cinnamon rolls. The thought behind this being that they only need to defrost a few minutes and are therefore available around the clock. So when I came home for the semester break I researched and found this amazing recipe at chefkoch.de. Technically speaking it's not "Icelandic" cinnamon rolls per se - but I guess one cinnamon roll is pretty much like the other.

It is probably one of the most delicious recipes I ever tried. I have to say that I am not the biggest fan of cinnamon pastries (or wasn't so far) but even I got hooked immediately. I must have made 14 batches over the last 2 weeks, but yesterday we ate the last 2 rolls and now the new yeast is already in the fridge waiting to become a deliciousness. 

I never thought that they would freeze so well but it is really amazing. Put them in the microwave for about 2 minutes or just let them defrost naturally and they taste absolutely fresh and mouth-watering. 

The recipe is only available in German, but I tried to translate it: 

Swedish Cinnamon Rolls

You Need:

For the Dough

2/3 cup butter

2 cups of milk

1/3 cup fresh yeast

2/3 cup sugar

1tsp salt

1tsp cinnamon (or cardamon)

7 cups flour

For the Filling

1/3 cup butter (I use a bit more)

1/2 cups sugar (again... I use a bit more)

1 tbsp cinnamon (and yes... a bit more :))

1 egg

more sugar to sprinkle on top

Now heat the milk and melt the butter in the milk. Dissolve the yeast in the milk-butter and stir the salt, the cinnamon, the sugar and almost all the flour under the milk. Knead everything to a smooth dough and add more flour if necessary. (Tip: you can also make a starter dough with only some of the milk and NO butter and add the rest of the heated butter-milk later)

Now let the dough rise for aprx. 40 minutes. 

After that, split the dough into three equal parts and roll out the single parts into a thin, rectangular surface. Now brush the butter (room temperature) on top and sprinkle a good layer of sugar mixed with cinnamon on the whole dough. Roll it into a dough-sausage and cut it into single rolls (not too thin!). Let them rise again for 30 minutes. Now paint them with egg and sprinkle sugar on top. Bake for 5-8 minutes in the preheated oven at 375 °F. 

Let them cool down under a kitchen towel. 

They are even more delicious with a cream-cheese frosting. You can make that without a recipe, just mix a tbsp of melted butter and about 1 1/2 tbsp of cream-cheese with powdered sugar until you have a creamy mass. 

Voilà!