“Cinnamon Snails”
Welcome to our first blog post on our new website! We are so excited to launch this site and share these recipes with you. Check out our instagram, @skandibaking, for posts and more pictures! Read our “About Us” page to learn more about our background and love for baking.
Anyway, what better way to start than with arguably the most well-known baked good in Denmark, the kanelsnegl!
Kanelsnegle, or cinnamon snails (the literal translation), are hands down amazing. In Denmark, you will find them in every single bakery, lining the window display cases in all their beautiful, sweet, spiced glory.
A Little Background Story
In some bakeries, they are also known as “onsdagssnegle.” This translates to “Wednesday snails”, which are sold primarily on Wednesdays. The reasoning behind this is interesting but not surprising at all. If you know anything about Danes, you know how much they love their fodboldlandshold (national soccer team). In the ’90s, back when the Danish team was extremely popular and had what can only be described as a cult following, their games were played mostly on Wednesdays. And since the Danes love to eat cake for pretty much any reason, the bakers took this opportunity to popularize the onsdagssnegl.
Our Recipe & A Few Tips & Tricks!
We make our kanelsnegle from a soft yeast dough, as opposed to the puff pastry dough (wienerbrødsdej) that some Danish bakeries use. We think that the yeast dough is much easier to make and tastes just as good! If you are looking for a challenge, we do have a recipe that uses a pastry dough – check it out here!
A few important things about this recipe – the cardamom is optional, but recommended; you can replace the brown sugar in the filling with white or a combination of both sugars; and make sure your milk is warm enough to dissolve the yeast but not too hot! In Danish, we call this “fingervarm,” meaning when you dip your finger in the milk it doesn’t hurt or burn it, but just feels warm to the touch.
Enjoy the recipe, leave us a comment, and check out our video below!
Kanelsnurrer: An Added Challenge!
If you want a bit of an extra challenge, try making the buns into kanelsnurrer or kanelbullar (in Swedish). It takes a little extra work in the shaping process, but the result is beautiful twists of cinnamon sugar goodness! Scandikitchen inspired us to try out this process. They have some great recipes and also a store in London! Be sure to check out their website for some more Scandinavian inspiration.
Let us know if you try out our recipe by leaving a comment and a rating below – and please tag us on Instagram! We love to see your recreations!
Kanelsnegle (Danish Cinnamon Buns)
Ingredients
Dough
- 150 ml milk
- 2 tsp instant yeast (2.25 tsp active-dry yeast, 17.5g fresh yeast)
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 50 grams sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or vaniljesukker, if you happen to have it!)
- 1/2 tsp cardamom (optional)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 375 grams all-purpose flour
- 57 grams unsalted butter, softened
- 1 egg for egg wash
Remonce (Filling)
- 113 grams unsalted or salted butter, softened
- 150 grams brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
- Pinch of salt (if using salted butter, don't add this)
Icing
- Powdered sugar
- Water or milk
Instructions
- Heat up the milk, either in the microwave or in a saucepan, until it is "fingervarm" (finger warm), meaning it should feel warm to the touch but not hot. You don't want to kill the yeast. Measure out the sugar you will need for the dough in this recipe. If you're using active dry or fresh yeast, add the yeast along with a few teaspoons of the sugar you measured out (you can eyeball this!) into the warm milk and stir to dissolve. Let it rest 5-10 minutes until it begins to froth and bubble a little bit. (If your yeast doesn't do anything, it may be expired. Check the expiration date on the package and start over with new yeast!). If you're using instant yeast, you do not usually need to bloom it ahead of time and can add it right into a mixing bowl with all your other ingredients. If in doubt, check the package directions!
- Combine the egg, egg yolk, remaining sugar, vanilla extract, cardamom, and salt in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix well – we tend to just whisk it with a fork at this stage.
- Add the milk and yeast mixture to the egg mixture and mix together.
- Slowly add the flour, stirring with a wooden spoon, or using the dough hook on your mixer. Once the dough starts to come together, you can start kneading, either by hand on a clean work surface, or using the dough hook on the stand mixer (and turning up the speed a little bit). Note: you may not need to add all of the flour, which is why we recommend adding it slowly and gauging how dry the dough appears. You can always add more flour as you knead, but it's very difficult to get moisture back into the dough once it is too dry.
- After the flour has been added, add the softened butter and knead until smooth and elastic, probably around 5-10 minutes. Add a bit of flour if the dough sticks to your hands or the surface. If you're using a stand mixer and notice the dough sticking to the sides, be sure to add a little bit more flour as well. The texture of your dough before its first rise should be soft and smooth, not sticky and not too dry. If the dough is feeling greasy in any way from the butter, it has likely not been kneaded enough – keep kneading and adding flour if you think it needs it!
- Place your dough in a bowl (or keep it in the stand mixer bowl/bowl you mixed the ingredients in), cover with a damp dishtowel or plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place (such as a turned off oven with the light on, or a spot in your kitchen that doesn't get any drafts) for about 45 minutes or until doubled in size. You can use the "poke" test to check whether your dough is done rising; if you poke the dough and it leaves an indentation and doesn't spring back immediately, it should be ready! Depending on the conditions in your kitchen, it could take up to twice as long to rise.
- While the dough is rising, make the filling. Combine softened butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt and stir together until you get a smooth paste.
- Once your dough has doubled in size, roll it out into a rectangle on a clean work surface that is about a quarter of an inch (0.5cm) thick (should be about 11" by 16" or 12" by 17" in size). We don't usually need to add any extra flour, as it shouldn't be too sticky for the table, but you can sprinkle a bit of flour on the work surface if your dough is sticky.
- Spread your filling evenly over the top using a knife or an offset spatula and roll it up into a log. You'll want to roll from the shorter edge of the rectangle, so that your buns have more swirls. (TO MAKE TWISTS: Instead of rolling up your dough, fold it in half from the bottom – then cut into about 12 equal sized strips. Start twisting the strips, then wrap around itself twice and tuck the end of the strip through the middle.)
- Cut the log into 1-1.5 inch (3cm) thick pieces; we cut ours into 12 pieces. It helps to measure this out before cutting by making a mark using your knife halfway across the log, then making a mark halfway on each half, and then marking each of the quarters into thirds. That way you should be left with 12 equal pieces!
- Here is where you can customize the recipe: place the pieces (swirl side up!) close together in a buttered baking dish for gooey, American-style cinnamon buns, or separate them (plenty of space in between!) on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper for more of a crispy, Danish-style cinnamon snail.
- Cover the buns loosely with cling film or a clean dishtowel and let them rise another 45 minutes somewhere warm in your kitchen. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- You can use the "poke" test to check whether your dough is done rising; if you poke the dough and it leaves an indentation and doesn't spring back immediately, it should be ready to bake.
- Make your egg wash (1 egg whisked together with a splash of water until there are no more gloopy streaks of egg white), then brush over the buns.
- Bake for about 12-15 minutes, until golden. Once they are done, transfer them to a cooling rack and let them cool.
- Combine powdered sugar and water/milk until you reach your desired icing consistency. Remember, a little bit of liquid goes a long way, so start with a cup of powdered sugar and a tiny bit of water or milk! Pour or drizzle over the kanelsnegle and enjoy!
Another fantastic recipe by the Skandibakers! I absolutely love cinnamon rolls, but I had never seen them made with the butter premixed with the cinnamon sugar. It made it so much easier to make with an even layer of cinnamoney goodness. I have yet to find a recipe here that I didn’t love.
What a lovely comment, thank you! This is one of our best recipes, for sure. Thanks again for the review!
Easy-to-follow instructions that made for a delicious final product. The cardamom really elevated the flavor of the dough — the instructions may say optional, but I would highly recommend including it!
Hi Meggie! So happy to hear your positive feedback – thanks so much for using our recipe! Definitely agree on the cardamom, it’s an absolutely essential part of many Scandinavian baked goods and we love it 😍 Best wishes!
Oh
My
Goodness!
These are utterly butterly fab u Lous..
initially I panicked as I thought my yeast was going to fail (it was in date!) but I stuck with it & it was so worth it! Thank you for This amazing recipe. I know I’ll make it over and over..
PS I did a combination layout; half crispy half gooey, worked a treat ❤️
Hi! Thanks so much for the lovely comment – we are so happy to hear that they turned out great <3
The recipe for the cinnamon kanelsnegle doesn’t seem to be on the page anymore???
Weirdly after posting comment it the appeared!!????
That’s very strange!! We changed some settings on our website today, so even if the recipe came back this is good for us to know! Thanks for posting a comment – hope there aren’t anymore technical difficulties!
I am going to make them soon (I hope 😉) and just would like to know how to make them in the crispy version – only by using puff pastry dough?
I always wondered how the bakeries are baking them because some are crispy and others are way different.
Kind regards 😊
Hi!! We have a recipe for the version that uses danish pastry dough here: https://skandibaking.com/kanelsnegle-with-wienerbrodsdej/
It’s definitely a longer project and more difficult with the laminated dough, but totally worth it! Let us know if you try it!
Hej!
I made this easier version a few weeks ago and mine did not come out well 🙁
The butter mixture got lost while baking. Some of he rings “opened”. And the dough was partly very dry… I do not know what I did wrong, the first steps until the baking seemed to go well.
Maybe, you have an idea?
Hi! Sorry to hear that it did not go well; there are a few reasons that this could have happened. Filling leaking out and the rings opening is very likely due to the dough being underproofed; The best test for the dough being proofed properly is what we call the “poke” test, where you poke the dough and if it doesn’t spring back immediately and it leaves an indent in the dough, it should be ready (you can read more about dough proofing in this blog post). The proofing time can vary widely depending on your home temperature, altitude, and other environmental factors, so while it may only take 45 minutes for us, it could take longer for you! If the dough is dry after baking, they could be overbaked and it may mean that your oven runs hot; we would recommend adjusting the baking temperature by lowering it ten degrees Celsius in the future. Hopefully this helps!
making them right now and having problems getting the yeast to bloom in the milk (new yeast, correct temp). Tried three times and no luck so far. What type of milk (whole, skim)? How long to stir the yeast into the milk?
When proofing the dough the first time do you let it raise uncovered on the kneading surface or are you supposed to transfer it to a bowl coated in oil, covered and moved to the oven with the light on? That I have to ask these questions should tell you your recipe is too vague for new bakers. Please be more precise and detailed with your instructions.
Hi, thanks for your comment! The type of milk does not affect the yeast and you only need to stir until the yeast dissolves (as stated in the recipe). If it is not blooming then try adding a bit of sugar, which helps the yeast bloom faster. Make sure you are heating the milk up so that it is lukewarm but not too hot or you will kill the yeast. Otherwise, you could be storing your yeast incorrectly (if it comes in a jar it sometimes needs to be stored in the fridge after opening it). It also depends on the type of yeast – active dry yeast needs to bloom/activate while instant yeast can be added directly to the dry ingredients – follow the instructions on your yeast packet/jar.
To answer your next question, I always put my dough in a bowl to rise (sometimes oiled, sometimes not, it doesn’t really matter). Letting the dough rise in a warm place is ideal, so it depends what room temperature is where you live (sometimes the oven is helpful, sometimes it isn’t).
Honestly, every stage of baking can be impacted by a multitude of factors, and we can’t account for everything in our recipe or it would be far too long for anyone to want to read it. This recipe is accompanied by a video and lots of pictures to show the method, which we think adds plenty of detail. But thank you for the feedback, we will keep this in mind as we continue to write and post new recipes!
Like to see the recipe
Hi, the recipe should be on this webpage! If it’s not loading for you, please let us know. Thank you!
Have you ever tried to make a dairy free version of these using a plant-based alternative to butter? If yes, do you have any tips?
Hi! No, I haven’t personally tried to make this dairy-free but I think you can very easily substitute margarine or vegan butter in this recipe. The only issue I would predict is with the filling – it won’t taste quite the same with a dairy-free alternative and it also might melt a bit more and leak out of the buns. If you want to prevent this, instead of making a butter-sugar-cinnamon filling with softened butter, you could melt some of the dairy-free butter, brush it on the rolled-out dough, and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top. I hope this helps!