Norwegian cinnamon buns

The last few days have been filled with the wonderful aroma of cinnamon. Delicious cinnamon buns for brunch? Why not! These buns are sweet, but not overly so. They’re also wonderfully fluffy, soft and buttery – pure heaven in every bite. I could wax lyrical about them for much longer, but there are still so many of Nigella’s recipes left to try…

Makes 20.

Ingredients for the yeast dough:

• 650 g strong white bread flour
• 70 g sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 15 g dried yeast or 40 g fresh yeast
• 100 g butter, melted
• 400 ml milk
• 2 large eggs

Ingredients for the cinnamon filling:

• 90 g butter, melted
• 120 g sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Additionally:

• 1 egg, beaten, for brushing

Mix the flour with the dried yeast (if using fresh yeast, first make a yeast starter). Add the remaining ingredients and knead, adding the melted butter towards the end. Knead for long enough to obtain a soft and elastic dough. Place in a lightly floured bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1½ hours).

After this time, take one third of the dough and roll it out to fit the tin, measuring 33 x 24 cm (lined with baking paper beforehand). This will form the base for our buns. Roll out the remaining dough into a rectangle measuring 50 x 25 cm.

Meanwhile, mix all the filling ingredients together in a bowl.

Spread the filling over the prepared rectangle, then roll it up along the longer side into a long roulade. Using a sharp knife, cut into 2 cm pieces. Arrange the pieces cut-side down on the baking tray, specifically on top of the dough base. You should get about 20 pieces. Don’t worry if they aren’t touching – they will come together as they rise and bake. The important thing is to space them evenly. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise again for 30 minutes (they should double in size).

Brush the risen buns with beaten egg and bake for about 20–25 minutes at 190°C. If they start browning too quickly, cover loosely with aluminium foil. Remove from the oven and serve warm.

Method for bread machine users:

Place all the yeast dough ingredients into the bread machine in the following order: liquid ingredients first, then dry ingredients, and finally the yeast. Select the ‘dough’ programme (kneading and first rise). Once the programme has finished, remove the dough, knead it lightly, and continue according to the main recipe above.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson’s How to Be a Domestic Goddess.