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4.75 from 8 votes

Kanelbullar - Ikea Cinnamon Roll Recipe

Classic Swedish cinnamon buns or kanelbullar. An easy to make kanelbullar recipe resulting in soft, aromatic cardamom and cinnamon buns, perfect to have with coffee.
Prep Time40 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Additional Time1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time2 hours 20 minutes
Course: Bread
Cuisine: Swedish
Servings: 35 -40 rolls
Calories: 170kcal
Author: Adina

Ingredients

Yeast dough (Note 1):

  • 150 g unsalted butter scant ⅔ cup
  • 500 ml milk 2 cups
  • 42 g cube fresh yeast OR 14 g/ 0.5 oz/ 2 sachets active dry yeast
  • 150 g granulated sugar ¾ cup
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1 kg all-purpose flour 8 ⅓ cups, a bit more or less as needed

Cinnamon filling and topping:

Instructions

Yeast dough:

  • Melt the butter and pour it in a large bowl or in the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the milk (room temperature) and stir well.
    150 g unsalted butter/ ⅔ cup + 500 ml milk/ 2 cups
  • Yeast: Sprinkle the crumbled fresh yeast or the active dry yeast on top and stir a few times until the yeast is dissolved.
    42 g cube fresh yeast or 14 g/ 0.5 oz/ 2 sachets active dry yeast
  • Combine: Add the granulated sugar, salt, cardamom, and 500 g/ 4 cups of flour. Mix well. Add almost all of the remaining flour, leaving 100 g/ ¾ cup flour aside. Knead the dough well.
    150 g granulated sugar/ ¾ cup + 1 teaspoon salt + 1 teaspoon ground cardamom + flour
  • Knead dough: Turn the dough onto the working surface. Start adding the remaining flour, about 1 tablespoon at a time, and kneading the dough with your hands until it is elastic and doesn't stick to your hands anymore. You might not need to add all the flour; stop when the dough feels as described above. If the dough is still very sticky after adding all the flour, you can add a little more flour, but always only a little at a time.
    If you are making the dough without a machine, add almost all the flour from the beginning, leaving the above-mentioned 100 g/ 3.5 oz/ ¾ cup flour aside.
  • Elastic dough: Knead the dough with your hands, adding the remaining flour little by little until the dough is elastic and doesn't stick to your hands anymore.
  • Let rise: Place the dough into a large bowl, cover it with a kitchen towel, and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in size. This will take about 30-40 minutes if you use fresh yeast and about 1 hour if you use dried yeast. But keep checking after the first 30 minutes or so.
  • Knead again: When the dough has risen, punch it down, knead it very shortly again, and divide it into three equal parts.
  • Roll dough: Lightly flour the working surface and roll one dough ball into a large rectangle, about 35x45 cm/ 14x17 inches.
  • Smear with butter: Divide the soft butter into three parts as well, and smear the rolled rectangle with ⅓ of the butter. Sprinkle it generously with ⅓ of the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
    75 g soft unsalted butter/ ⅓ cup + ⅓ of the cinnamon sugar (130 g granulated sugar + 1 ½ tablespoons cinnamon)
  • Roll the dough starting at the smaller end and cut it into 3-4 cm/1.2-1.6 inches thick pieces. Place the cinnamon snails on baking trays lined with baking paper.
  • Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough. You will need two lined baking trays for this amount of cinnamon buns, you will have between 35-40 cinnamon rolls.
  • Let rise again: Cover the trays with clean kitchen towels and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
  • In the meantime, preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius/ 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Brush: Beat together the egg and the milk in a small bowl. Brush the cinnamon buns with the mixture and sprinkle them with some pearl/nib sugar.
    1 egg + 1 tablespoon milk + some pearl/ nib sugar
  • Bake the kanelbullar, one tray after another, for about 10 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. To make sure that the cinnamon rolls are cooked through, I always take one and break it in the middle to see how it looks on the inside. It should look fluffy and not wet.
  • Let the cinnamon rolls cool slightly on a wire rack and serve warm or cold. The cinnamon buns can be reheated in the oven. They can be frozen as well, then slightly defrosted and reheated in the oven.

Notes

Measurements: Please use a digital kitchen scale (the Amazon affiliate link opens in a new tab) when baking these rolls; it's the only way to guarantee success.

Nutrition

Serving: 1bun | Calories: 170kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 18mg | Sodium: 98mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g