This week's challah test brought some extra "Swede-ness" (sorry, I had to) to the Friday night table.
So, you're probably wondering what makes Swedish cinnamon buns different than the gooey, melt-in-your-mouth American cinnamon buns we all know and love. It all come down to one extra ingredient: cardamom.
I personally never tasted cardamom before; it's probably been in something I have eaten, but it was never a showcased spice whose flavor I could identify. When I stumbled upon Food Insider's video on a popular Swedish bakery, Fabrique, opening a shop in NYC, I learnt about kanelbulle, what the video referred to as
Swedish cardamom bun, and immediately became super curious about what they tasted like. My family LOVES cinnamon-sugar flavored challah, and I thought that adding a Swedish twist to it could really spice things up (that pun was actually not intended).
Making Kanelbulle Challah
I did a ton of research on Kanelbulle and how they're made, from the dough to the filling to the unique shaping of them. I ended up figuring out a ratio for making the filling that resulted in a nice, thick paste that could easily be spread on the challah dough. Since I was ultimately making challah, I kept the dough standard and only used a Kanelbulle-inspired filling and shape.
The ratio I used was 2:2:3:4 of cinnamon:cardomom:sugar:oil (using ground cinnamon and cardamom). Shaping the dough was a bit of a messy process and, honestly, not easy to do with the amount of dough I was working with. These buns are typically smaller than challah, which I think makes their shaping a bit easier, but mine still turned out pretty great, so don't be discouraged if it's a little difficult getting the shape right!
The flavor of this challah was like an earthier cinnamon bun; still super sweet but with a deeper flavor. It was a big hit among my family! Slicing open the bread reveals a beautiful cardamom-cinnamon pattern, and even though the dough itself is regular challah dough, you could still pull in apart like a regular cinnamon bun! I definitely recommend trying this one out if you want to try a familiar yet different challah.