Cardamom & Cinnamon Buns

The family of one of my childhood friends owned a cinnamon roll shop when I was in high school.  The rolls were fluffy, huge, and covered... no, smothered in icing.  Warm, they were absolutely fabulous, and they were the sort of after school snack that was certain to put you in diabetic shock.  I kid you not.

I love cinnamon rolls.  What I don't love is the difficulty eating them.  The modern American versions seem to be meals unto themselves--too large to pick up without the greatest of difficulty and so covered in icing that by the time you are finished eating one, you are so sticky that you need another shower.  Using a knife and fork barely helps with that problem.  But they are so... wonderful.   They smell like heaven.  Spicy and sweet, they transport you into a new realm of calm, gooey homemade goodness.  When you eat one, the world stops for just a moment and you are back in your mother's kitchen, perched on a stool, taking a break before jumping back into the burdens of real life.

Enter Lotta Jansdotter's recipe for Cinnamon Buns.

It comes from her book, Lotta Jansdotter's Handmade Living: A Fresh Take on Scandinavian Style, and while perfect exactly the way it was, being me, I had to tweak it a little.  What I loved and kept in the original was the idea of little rolls covered in sugar.  Big enough to satisfy your sweet tooth, small enough to hold.  The crumb is quite dense.  I had quite a bit of trouble even after four test batches with getting the dough to rise to the "almost double" point.  (No one was complaining about having to help eat those test batches, by the way.)  I even whipped out my instant-read thermometer to double check the temperatures of everything from the warm milk to the top of the pre-heating oven where the pans were supposedly rising.  Still, the more cookie-like yeast dough and the sprinkle of large grain sugar on the top made them the perfect end to our Sunday.  (Plus breakfast the next morning.)  My favorite part of the recipe:  the inclusion of a heavy amount of cardamom in the dough.  What a great idea!

The picture at the top is of my 10" pie plate, which holds quite a few more buns than a 9" or 8" round or square pan.   I took another picture of the all of the dishes of buns supposedly rising to show you the amounts and spacing of the slices in various pans.  The 9" pie plates hold 12 slices, which means that you can fit all of the slices from a single batch into two pie plates.  The first time that I made them, my teenagers managed to polish them off in a couple of hours, so I tripled the recipe this time. There was even an extra pan for a good friend.

One little trick that I'd love to share with you.  Softening butter has always been a headache for me.  Margarine from the refrigerator is pretty good about softening in a half hour or so.  Butter can still be fairly hard after two hours.  Good grief.  Microwaving the butter at a low setting is hit and miss at best.  Usually miss--and then you have partially melted butter.  That's no good.  If you have a candle warmer, the trick is to turn it on and set the butter next to it.  The warm glow of the pool of light is just warm enough to soften your butter without melting it--quickly.  I can take my butter out when I get the idea in my head that today is a good day for baking and by the time I'm ready to go, the butter is soft. If all you have is margarine on hand, this is a fine recipe to use that instead. 

One of the changes I made was to increase the yeast and add some gluten in an attempt to get a better rise out of the buns.  It helped a little.  I also increased the rising time.  One hour was not nearly enough. (Well... unless it's summer and your kitchen is a toasty 98F inside.)  Make sure, if you don't have a kitchen thermometer (an instant-read type is the best for this sort of thing) that you test your milk with your finger before adding it to the yeast.  It should be very warm--warm enough that you almost can't stand it, but you still can.  If you have to yank your finger out immediately, it's too hot and will kill the yeast.  On a thermometer, this is 110F.

You should know, if you didn't catch this point already from what I wrote above, that the dough is not going to rise to "double" they way that most yeast breads do.  Even with the increase in rising time, I think I barely had 1 1/2 times rise.  Don't worry about this.  They will still turn out fine.   Just make sure that you let the dough rise in a warm place.  In the winter, my trick is to turn on the oven to preheat it, and then set the dough in a metal or glass bowl on top.  The heat from the oven will rise and warm the area on top enough to help the dough rise. 

Don't be afraid to leave a little space between the slices. Even if the buns don't completely fill in the gaps while rising in the pans, they will nicely rise and fill in while cooking in the oven.  See the pictures above if you need a visual clue.

Cardamom & Cinnamon Buns -- Yield: 24 buns or 2 pie plates of buns
4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup warm whole milk (about 110F), though even skim milk will do
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine, barely melted
1 heaping tablespoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon gluten (optional.  You can find this near the yeast in the baking aisle)
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading and rolling

Filling:
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine, softened
Glaze:
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water
large grain sugar, like "Sugar in the Raw", for sprinkling on the top, though regular sugar will do

Warm the milk in a small saucepan to 110F, or until it is almost too hot to hold your finger in for more than a few seconds.  Pour into a large bowl along with the yeast and a couple of pinches of the brown sugar.   Let sit for a few minutes, or until the yeast is visibly producing bubbles.  Add the remaining sugar, the egg, margarine, and cardamom and stir until thoroughly combined.  Add about 1 cup of the flour along with the gluten (if desired, to help it rise) and the salt.  Mix thoroughly.  Add remaining flour and stir with a heavy spoon until you have a shaggy dough.

Turn dough out onto a heavily floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and is no longer sticky, adding additional flour as necessary.  Turn dough into a greased bowl and grease the top to prevent dough from drying out.  Cover with a clean dish towel or plastic and set in a warm place to rise, about 2 hours.

Cut the dough into two equal portions and roll each piece into a rectangle about 12" long and about 1/2" thick.  Spread each half of the dough with half of the butter and then sprinkle the top with half of the cinnamon/brown sugar mixture.  Roll the dough into a long roll and then cut into 12 equal 1" slices.  Place the slices into two 9" pie plates  or cake pans (8" will do, as well).  Cover again with a cloth or plastic and let rise in a warm place for another hour and a half.

Heat oven to 400F.  Brush the tops of the buns with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake for 16-18 minutes.  Don't over-bake, or they will dry out.  Allow to cool for about 5 minutes before serving.