Norwegian Cinnamon Buns

Name: Norwegian Cinnamon Buns (Skillingsboller)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 120 min
Yield: 20-30 buns
Cuisine: Norwegian
Ingredients: 10 deciliter whole milk; 100 grams fresh yeast; 2 kilos all-purpose flour; 2 teaspoons salt; 300 grams sugar; 2 tablespoons cardamom; 250 grams butter, cubed, room temperature; 300 grams butter, room temperature (for filling); 2 deciliters brown sugar (for filling); 4 tablespoons cinnamon (for filling)

Skillingsboller — the smell alone will make the day brighter

Written by Marion Solheim Updated November 2024

Norwegians absolutely love their cinnamon buns, whether they call them “skillingsbolle”, “kanelbolle” or “kanel i svingene”. Here is an easy way to make them. And honestly, they don’t need to be pretty to taste good. We talk from experience.

What You Need

This recipe will give you between 20–30 kind of big buns. What can we say. We like it a lot. (If you prefer smaller buns, you can easily halve the recipe.)

Norwegian baking ingredients: Tine whole milk, Møllerens flour, yeast, eggs, butter, sugar, cardamom and cinnamon — Everything you need. Photo: Freysta

Dough

10 deciliter of whole milk
100 grams of fresh yeast
2 kilos of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of salt
300 grams of sugar
2 tablespoons of cardamom
250 grams of butter, cubed (room temperature)

Cinnamon Filling

300 grams of real butter (room temperature)
2 deciliters of brown sugar
4 tablespoons of cinnamon

1 Make the Dough

Put milk and eggs in a mixing bowl and crumble the yeast in. Mix together until the yeast is dissolved. No need to warm the milk.

Add sugar, flour, cardamom, and salt. Knead for 10 minutes, preferably with a mixer. It’s super important to take the time to knead.

Add room-temperature butter in cubes little by little to the mixture. Knead until the dough pulls away from the bowl and can be stretched without tearing. This process takes an additional 10–15 minutes.

💡

Patience is key

The secret to great cinnamon buns is in the kneading. Take your time — a well-kneaded dough will be smooth, elastic, and give you the fluffiest results.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel, and let it rise for about 45 minutes.

Perfectly risen cinnamon bun dough overflowing from a white mixing bowl — That’s what we like to see. Photo: Freysta

2 Make the Filling

Mix together room temperature butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a separate bowl.

Sprinkle some flour over the work surface and transfer some of the dough out of the mixing bowl. Quickly knead it by hand, then roll the dough into a rectangle. Spread the filling evenly over the entire surface. Repeat. (At least if your dough is as big as this one.)

Rolled-out dough covered with cinnamon-butter filling on a polka-dot tablecloth — Spread the filling generously. Photo: Freysta

3 Shape the Buns

Roll the dough into a log and cut it into slices about one centimeter thick across.

Single unbaked cinnamon bun spiral on parchment paper, ready to rise — Ready to rise. Photo: Freysta

Place the buns on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Cover the cinnamon buns with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and let them rise for 30 minutes.

4 Bake!

Before you put them in the oven, you can sprinkle sugar on top. If you want to.

Bake the rolls at 225 degrees Celsius (about 435 degrees Fahrenheit) in the middle of the oven for about 10–12 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Keep an eye on them, as baking times can vary depending on the oven.

Freshly baked cinnamon bun close-up showing golden-brown cinnamon swirl — Whoops! Oh, well. More of the good stuff! Photo: Freysta

Enjoy the lovely smell filling your kitchen.

Voila! Cinnamon buns ready. Enjoy!