Sin-namon Buns

It's been more than 10 years since I last had a cinnamon bun. I remember perfectly when I tried to make them. For some reason they didn't rise (I suspect that the yeast was from the back of my cupboard). As a result they were small, hard stones. I think I even managed to burn them to top it off. So I did a bit research to find out how to make the perfect cinnamon bun, and found most people agreed that a recipe from a well-known Danish cookery book was pretty awesome. So I tried it and this is the result:

Ingredients:

2 dl milk
1 satchet of dried yeast
100 g of soft butter
2 eggs
1/2 tsp ground cadamom
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp coarse salt
9 dl flour
Filling:
150g very soft butter
1/2 dl white sugar
1/2 dl brown sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon

Start by heating the milk and butter up in the microwave oven until it's luke warm. Add the yeast. Stir and leave it for 10 minutes.

Add the sugar, salt and the ground cardamom.

Add the two eggs and mix well.

Add the flour. Mix it well and transfer it to a well-floured table. Knead it for some 10 minuts.

The dough should be so sticky that is sticks to the table, but at the same time you should be able to pull it clean off. Add too much flour and the dough will be heavy and dry.

Cover with a humid tea towel and leave to dry in warm place until the dough has doubled in size. I like to turn on the oven for a few minutes, then turn it off again and leave the dough there. After about 30-45 minutes, punch the dough down and let it rise a second time until double.

Meanwhile, mix the sugars with the cinnamon. Make sure your butter is rather soft.

Cut the dough in two. On a well-floured table, roll one half out to a square about 2/3 of a cm thick. Spread the butter over the surface (easiest done with a clean hand). Go all the way out to the edges. Sprinkle the suggars and cinnamon over the butter. Roll it into a sausage.

Cut the sausage into about 12-15 pieces.

Take the end and fold it in under the bun like the two buns on the right. Otherwise they might start undoing themselves while they bake. Press them down a bit.

Brush with egg wash (egg mixed with little water). Bake for about 12-15 minutes at 200ºC. Meanwhile, repeat the process with the second half of the dough.

I took them out when they still look sligtly undercooked. Put them on a cooling rack. If you like them a litte darker leave them a bit longer. But this way I can freeze them and defrost a couple, put them in the oven for a few minutes and have ready-made cinnamon buns whenever I fell like it.

To serve, I've made a simple sugar icing. Definitely worth waiting ten years for.