CINNAROLL EARS/KAFFEKRANS for breakfast anyone?

Well....3 day long weekend went well over here, shopped a bit, watched few movies and relaxed enough to read a book since hubby was on call and had to work in the weekend but was free on Monday. We did some gardening too, made herb pot or two, sowed few Ridge gourd, Snake gourd and Bottle gourds seeds since weather is lot warmer now. Snake and Ridge gourds failed miserably to fruit last year but did get plenty of bottle gourds. Hopefully, this year there will be a flood of all the veggies in August like last year! :))

Alrighty, now back to business!


I made few Cinnarolls last week for us. These almost taste like soft Cinnabons we get here, filled with sweet Cinnamon-brown sugar but without the cream frosting slathered on them, just sprinkled with powdered sugar. The very best Makara sweet and fragrant Cinnamon pd used in making original Cinnabons is available for purchase here.
These Cinnarolls are also called "Kaffekrans" in Norway, which means "Cinnamon coffee ring", rolls are baked in ring shape, drizzled with 2 tbsp hot coffee mixed with powdered sugar on top. I didn't use coffee frosting since kids don't like the coffee flavor.
Sweet Cinnamon we use in these desserts is not the same as spicy Indian Cinnamon/Dalchini we Indians use for gravy dishes. These Cinnarolls are also rolled, flavored and shaped like ears, hence the name "Cinnaroll ears", somewhat like these Elephant ears I have made before! My son desperately wanted these Cinnarolls smothered with loads of cream cheese frosting like they serve in "Cinnabon", may be next time! :D


Ooey gooey Cinnaroll ear!
This recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbook authors Beatrice Ojakangas's Scandinavian cookery book, which I love. She is a resident of Minnesota with Scandinavian heritage and has written many cookbooks with dishes as her grandmother would make in Scandinavia! Her recipes are so authentic, scrumptious and homely that I have made many desserts from her books. Enjoy these for a delicious weekend breakfast or brunch or for anytime dessert! :)



Melissa from "baking a sweet life" is hosting this month's "Baking bread day #10" with a delicious sweet theme of "breakfast breads". Bread baking day event is started by Zorra from "kochtopf" blog. I am sending a soft, buttery sweet Cinnarolls flavored with brown sugar and cinnamon to her. Enjoy and thanks for hosting Melissa!:)




Step by step photos to make Cinnaroll ears:
If you don't like Cinnamon flavor, you can replace it with good quality Vanilla essence. Enjoy! :)

You need:
Yeast mix:
1 packet(1/4 oz) active dry Yeast,
1 tsp Sugar,
1/4 cup warm water (110F),
Other ingredients:
1 cup milk, heated and cooled,
1/4 cup melted Butter,
1/3 cup white (fine grained) sugar,
1 1/2 tsp salt,
2 1/2 cups to 3 cups of Plain flour(as much as need to make a soft dough)
For filling:
1/4 cup softened butter,
1/2 cup dark or light brown sugar,
1 tbsp sweet Cinnamon powder (or 1 tsp Vanilla essence)
To sprinkle or glaze:
About 1/2 cup powdered sugar or as much as you need to sprinkle on cooled Cinnaroll ears.
Optional; Add 2 tbsp coffee to mix with sugar pd to squeeze on the rolls, if you like coffee flavor or just powdered sugar, dry or mixed with 1-2tbsp hot milk.
To bake these:
1. Mix yeast, sugar, warm water in a small bowl and leave it for 5 mins.
2. In a large bowl or in stand mixer bowl, add yeast mix, milk, butter, white sugar, salt and 1 cup of flour (out of about 3 cups) and mix these well until smooth.
3. Gradually add 1 1/2 cup of flour to it and mix well with a flat beater or by hand. Add 1 tbsp flour at a time and keep mixing until you get a soft dough, no need to knead the dough. Don't have to add all of the flour if not needed.
4. Cover the bowl and let it rise for 1 hr or until doubled in a warm place or inside the unheated oven.
Filling: Mix soft butter, brown sugar and Cinnamon pd well, divide roughly in to two portions and keep aside for filling later.
5. Punch down the risen dough, divide into half. Roll one portion out to a 12" by 8" rectangle. Spread half of the filling evenly 1/2" away from the edges on the rolled dough.
6. From a longer side(12") roll the dough to a tight swiss roll, repeat with other dough. Cut these into 2-3" thick rolls and with the handle of the wooden spoon or with your finger, press in the middle as shown below to shape like ears.
7. Place them on the baking sheet,cover lightly and let them rise again for 30 mins. Glaze the top with Egg+water mix if you like but it's optional.

Bake them in the preheated oven at 350F for about 12 to 15mins or until the tops are golden. Do not overbake!

8.Cool them on the rack and sprinkle with just powdered sugar to serve or drizzle the 1 tbsp coffee+powdered sugar icing on them after they are cooled.

Cinnarolls freeze very well in an airtight bag for reheating in the MW any time!:)

How to shape the Cinnaroll ear before baking:
Do not cut the dough in the middle but gently press with the back of the dinner knife or even better, handle of a wooden spoon/ladle or finger just to make a indentation through the dough. It will puff after baking, slightly getting a shape of a ear.

To make Coffee ring/Kaffekrans,
If you want to make a Coffee ring/Kaffekrans, roll the whole risen dough to a 18" by 12" rectangle, fill with all the sugar+butter mix, swiss roll and cut slashes 2" apart. Place this on the bottom of a Bundt cake pan or on a baking sheet, glaze with 1 egg+1 tsp water mix for color and bake at 350F for 30-40mins. Cool on rack and drizzle on the coffee icing on top!

Another yummy look!
If you want to make the cream cheese frosting to drizzle on top while Cinnarolls are still slightly warm;
Take about 3/4 cup of plain cream cheese, softened, 1/4 cup butter, softened, 1 cup or more powdered sugar or to your taste, 1/2 tsp vanilla essence or any flavor you like and a pinch of salt. Blend all these well until it's creamy, chill in the fridge until you need it.

Updated with Cream cheese frosting on top!

and signing out! Hope you make some of these. I am very very sure your family will thank you!!:D

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Book I read:
"A Simple Plan" by Scott Smith.
It's a thriller, feels like you are reading a great thriller movie like Mystic River, very very interesting and I highly recommend it for Summer read at the beach or something. It's one of those books once you pick up, you just don't want to put it down even for few mins!
It all starts with two brothers and their friend on the way to visit their dad's grave, only to find a crashed plane in the woods with pilot dead and a HUGE bag full of money; $4.8million to be exact! What happens after that is gripping and unbelievable, with 8 murders to cover up one and a shocking, sobering end. Get the book from the library, PLEASE!!! ;D

Movies I watched:
Watched Chocolat again, loved it.
A off beat Bollywood movie called "Cyrus", has Saif Khan, Dimple Kapadia, Neseeruddin Shah etc. It was okay and movie is in English, not Hindi, probably made for Western audience like "East is East", "Bend it like Beckam" etc.!!
Latest Indiana Jones, of course! Aliens and flying saucer is little disappointing, could have done without the silliness but action is non-stop, we liked it! :)

Dishes I tried last week:
Now, before you look at these dishes you must imagine me cooking all these with my left index finger up in the air, which was sprained and bandaged last week, now healed very well! Hahaha!!! My thanks to all these bloggers for these yummy dishes! :)

Exquisite eggplant from Uma's blog.
Tomato Rice form Manasi's blog.
Irani Baida Curry from Meera's blog.
Tawa Naan from Aparna's blog.
Thalagam from Nandita's Blog.
Khara Biscuits from Namratha's blog.(added almost 2 cups of flour)

Lastly, Uma and Meera gave me a new award (photo on the sidebar) "Good Chat Blog Award". What a fun award, eh? Thank you Uma and Meera, I appreciate and accept it. Yes! I am chatty, a bit too much sometimes! :D

I would like to pass this "Good chat blog" award to Poornima who is always ready to chat with me and to Swati Raman Garg who was a 100th commenter in my last post and a chatterbox herself! :))

Lakshmi of "The YUM blog" sent a "A Giant Bear hug" award to me which you can see on the side bar. Thanks L, a big mama Bear hug back to you too! I am also hugging other Lakshmi G of "Taste of Mysore", enjoy the Bear hug award from me, my dear Mysore sistah! :D

My sincere thanks to Suma Rajesh, Kamala, Ranji, Rahin, Mythreyee,Trupti, Sangeeth, Divya, Sukanya, Purnima and others (if I had forgotten any of you to list here!) for giving me their various awards last week as well, I have added all of you in my sidebar! :)

Have fun and enjoy the week!