Cinnamon Knots with Cardamom — Soft Norwegian Kanelknuter

These cinnamon knots are the bun we bake most often in our kitchen: a cardamom-heavy dough, cold-proofed overnight, twisted into knots and brushed with hot sugar syrup straight out of the oven. The overnight rest does the real work — it gives you a dough that rolls thin, holds a sharp swirl and tastes far deeper than a same-day bun. One batch makes 17, and they disappear fast.

Cinnamon Knots with Cardamom — Norwegian Kanelknuter

Soft, cardamom-spiced cinnamon knots with an overnight cold-proofed dough and a glossy sugar syrup finish.

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Prep Time 45 minutes mins

Cook Time 14 minutes mins

Proofing (overnight + final rise) 13 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Total Time 14 hours hrs 29 minutes mins

Servings: 17 knots

Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: Nordic, Norwegian

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

Dough

• 500 ml whole milk 2 cups + 2 tbsp, cold, straight from the fridge
• 8 g instant dry yeast 2½ tsp — or 25 g fresh yeast, crumbled in
• 10 g ground cardamom 5 tsp (1 tbsp + 2 tsp) — see Notes
• 1 kg all-purpose or bread flour about 8⅓ cups — hold back about ½ cup to add during the second knead
• 10 g fine salt 1¾ tsp
• 150 g granulated sugar ¾ cup
• 150 g salted butter 10 tbsp, soft, room temperature
• 1 large egg

Filling

• 100 g butter 7 tbsp, melted
• 50 g granulated sugar ¼ cup
• 50 g light brown sugar ¼ cup, packed
• 15 g ground cinnamon 2 tbsp
• 10 g ground cardamom 5 tsp (1 tbsp + 2 tsp)

Egg wash & sugar syrup

• 1 large egg beaten, for brushing
• 100 g granulated sugar ½ cup
• 100 g water scant ½ cup

Equipment

• Stand mixer with dough hook This dough kneads for 10 minutes before the fat goes in — a stand mixer earns its keep here. The KitchenAid Artisan is the one we actually use daily.
• Digital kitchen scale Everything here is weighed, including the milk. Baking by weight is the single biggest step up in consistency.
• Wooden-handled bench scraper For cutting the folded dough into even strips and lifting sticky dough off the counter.
• Rolling Pin You need an even sheet to get a tight, defined swirl in the knot.
• Rimmed baking sheets + parchment Two sheets lets you bake all 17 without crowding.
• Pastry brush Egg wash before baking, hot sugar syrup after. Silicone is easiest to clean.
• Wire cooling rack Lets the syrup set glossy instead of pooling under the knots.

Method

 

Make the dough (day 1)

1. Combine the cold milk, yeast, cardamom and all but about ½ cup (60 g) of the flour in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on low until it comes together, then knead on medium-low for 10 minutes. The dough will look plain and stiff at this stage — that's what you want.
2. Now add the salt, sugar, soft butter and egg. Keep kneading, adding the last of the flour a little at a time, until the dough is smooth, elastic and pulls cleanly away from the bowl. This takes another 8–10 minutes; the dough will loosen and look broken when the butter goes in, then come back together.
3. Check the gluten with a windowpane test: stretch a piece of dough thin enough to see light through it without tearing. If it tears, keep kneading.
4. Round the dough into a tight ball, cover, and refrigerate overnight (8–14 hours).

Fill and shape (day 2)

1. Stir the melted butter, both sugars, cinnamon and cardamom into a spreadable paste.
2. Roll the cold dough on a lightly floured counter into a rectangle roughly 16 × 20 in (40 × 50 cm), about ¼ in (5 mm) thick. Spread the filling evenly over the whole surface.
3. Fold the dough in half so the filling is enclosed, then cut across into strips about ¾ in (2 cm) wide — a bench scraper gives the cleanest cut. You should get 17 strips.
4. Take a strip, stretch it gently, twist it two or three times, then wrap it around two fingers and tuck the end underneath. Place on a parchment-lined sheet with room to expand.
5. Cover and let the knots proof at room temperature for about 1½ hours, until visibly puffy and soft to the touch. Cold dough takes its time — go by look, not the clock.

Bake and glaze

1. Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Brush the knots with beaten egg.
2. Bake for 12–14 minutes, until deep golden.
3. While they bake, bring the sugar and water to a boil, stirring until clear.Brush the hot syrup over the knots the moment they come out of the oven, then move them to a wire rack — the syrup soaks in and sets glossy as they cool.

Notes

Chef’s tip: the overnight cold proof is the whole recipe. A cold, rested dough is firm enough to roll thin and hold a sharp twist, so the swirl stays defined instead of blurring, and the long ferment builds flavor you can’t get from a two-hour dough. It also splits the work: 45 minutes on day 1, shaping and baking on day 2.

On cardamom: 20 g total across dough and filling is a lot by American standards, and deliberately so — this is what a Nordic bun actually tastes like. That amount assumes the pre-ground cardamom most people have in the cupboard, which loses its oils over months. Freshly ground green pods are much stronger, so scale back to about 7 g (3½ tsp) in each — roughly a third less. Less spice with more perfume beats more spice with none.

Salt: the 10 g of salt works with salted butter in the dough. If you use unsalted butter, go up to 12 g.

Storage: best the day they’re baked. Freeze cooled knots in a bag and warm at 300°F (150°C) for 5 minutes.

Why the dough rests overnight

A cinnamon knot lives or dies on the swirl, and a warm, slack dough will not hold one. After a night in the fridge the dough is firm, easy to roll thin and stays sharp through folding, cutting and twisting — the layers you shape are the layers you get.

The knead order matters just as much. The flour, milk, yeast and cardamom go in first and knead for a full 10 minutes before any salt, sugar, butter or egg. Fat and sugar slow gluten down, so building the structure first and enriching it after gives you a dough that is both strong and soft.

How to shape a cinnamon knot

Roll, fill, fold in half, cut into strips — then:

1. Stretch the strip gently so it lengthens a little.
2. Twist it two or three turns. Not more; too many turns and the swirl closes up.
3. Wrap it around two fingers, bring the end over the top and tuck it underneath.
4. Set it on the tray tucked-side down, with space to grow.

The first two look clumsy and the rest look great. That is normal, and the oven forgives a lot.

Don’t skip the sugar syrup

Boiled sugar and water brushed on while the knots are still hot from the oven is what gives that bakery shine, and it keeps the crumb moist for a day longer. Powdered sugar icing sets matte and chalky and hides the swirl you just worked for — syrup keeps it visible. It’s the same finish we use on our jam filled buns and lussekatter.

Make it your own

• Classic cinnamon rolls: roll the filled sheet into a log and slice it into rounds instead of folding and twisting. For the full version with cream cheese frosting, see our cardamom cinnamon rolls.
• Cardamom knots (kardemommeboller): leave the cinnamon out of the filling and double the cardamom. Sharper, more floral, very Norwegian.
• Brown butter filling: brown the 100 g of butter before mixing the filling and let it cool slightly. Nuttier and noticeably deeper.
• Pearl sugar tops: skip the syrup, brush with egg and press pearl sugar on before baking for crunch instead of shine — the finish our serinakaker are known for.

More Nordic bakes you’ll love

• Skolebrød — Norwegian School Buns with Custard and Coconut — the same kind of cardamom dough, filled with vanilla custard
• Lussekatter — Swedish Saffron Buns — saffron instead of cardamom, shaped into S-curls
• Norwegian Rye Buns with Anise (Laup) — a lightly sweet everyday bun, with rye and anise