Kanelsnegle ( Danish Cinnamon Roll)

Kanelsnegle (Danish Cinnamon Rolls)

I am thinking Christmas. I am thinking sweet yummy gifts. Nothing better comes to my mind this week that some wonderful, soft, warm, delicate, full of butter and cinnamon Kanelsnegle. Kanelsnegles in Danish, Kanelbulle in Swedish, Skillingsboller in Norwegian, are all the original Cinnamon roll that have come to us in the United States through our ancestors. The difference between one and another is not much. The Swedish recipe does not call for an icing or glace on top, rather sprinkles of pearl sugar. Pearl sugar is hard to find in the US. You may have to order it online, although I know IKEA used to carry it. The Danish version is topped with a shrill of icing. All these Scandinavian recipes have some cardamon, which comes from the family of the ginger.  I have made Cinnamon rolls for many, many years, especially on Sundays when my kids were little and we would eat them for dinner. 

Bertha Marie Jensen

Today, 15 days left till Christmas, I will honor my great-grandmother, Bertha Marie Jensen, whom of course I have not met but have been told much about.  She came from Aarhus, Denmark to the United States with her parents around the age of 10 or 11.  Since my grandmother was then half Danish, I know that many of my childhood eating habits must have been Danish.

INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons of  dry active yeast (if used a rapid rise yeast, the time for rising will be reduced to half the time)
1/3 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of butter
1- 1/4 cup of warm milk
Place all these ingredients together in a bowl.  Cover with a cloth a place to rise in a warm place for 15min.( quick rise yeast) 30 minutes for a regular yeast.
I a large bowl mix
5- 1/4 cup of flour
1 teaspoon of salt
teaspoon of cardamon
After the yeast mixture has fermented and doubled its size mix in this mixture
2 beaten eggs

Then add to the flour and knead for about 5 to 10 minutes

If you have used the rapid rise yeast you can roll out into a rectangular shape the dough.  If you have used the regular rise yeast you will have to let rise in a bowl for 30 minutes till it has double its size and then roll out the dough.

Once you have the dough rolled out into a rectangular shape you will add about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of soft butter, spreading it all over the dough and then sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

Following you will roll together into a long tube shape and cute into equal sizes.
Place on a cookie sheet and let rise again covered with a cloth in a warm place till the rolls have double in size.

Remove cloth and with one beaten egg brush the tops of the rolls. Bake till golden for about 10 minute in an oven of 425 degrees F.

Once done cover with a glaze made with confectioners sugar, butter, vanilla extract and  milk to an almost liquid consistency.  Best when served warm.