Korvapuusti: Finnish Cinnamon Cardamom Buns
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott, adapted from a family recipe
Preparation time: 20 minutes plus 1.5 hours rising time
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Makes 12 cinnamon buns
- 2 1/4 cups of plain flour
- 1/2 cup of lukewarm milk
- 125g/4.4ozs. butter
- 3 teaspoons instant dried yeast
- 1/2 cup caster sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 tablespoon ground cardamom (freshly ground is best)
- pinch of salt
Filling: - 40g/1.4ozs. butter, melted - 1/3 cup sugar (usually white, but can be brown) - 1.5 tablespoons ground cinnamon - 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
To decorate:
- 1 egg yolk
- Pearl sugar
Step 1 - Melt butter and add to lukewarm milk, then add 1 tsp of the sugar and mix in the yeast until dissolved and cover and allow to foam.
Step 2 - Mix beaten egg and the rest of sugar in with the foamy milk mixture. In a large bowl, sift the flour and salt and cardamom together. Make a well in the centre and add the milk mixture, mix until smooth. Add more lukewarm milk if necessary, or more flour if that is needed to make a soft dough. Knead until smooth and elastic.
Step 3 - Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a damp cloth, leave in a warm place to rise for 45mins - 1 hour, until double in size. Punch down dough, pull over sides and re form into a ball, leave to rise again for 30 more minutes. Meanwhile mix the sugar, cinnamon and cardamom together in a bowl.
Step 4 - Roll dough into a thin rectangle around 40x50cms. Brush dough generously with melted butter right up to the edge, and then sprinkle liberally with sugar and cinnamon.
Step 4 - Roll into a long roll, and cut diagonally into fat triangular rolls. Push down with finger on top in the middle until the sides push out to reveal the stripes of cinnamon sugar butter. Allow rolls to rise under a teatowel for 20 minutes.
Step 5 - Preheat oven to 225C/437F. Brush tops with beaten egg yolk and sprinkle with pearl sugar. Bake for 10 minutes (yes that's all, they're very quick). Serve warm from the oven.