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Glazed cinnamon knots with cardamom on a wooden board, brushed with sugar syrup

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
Cook Time 14 minutes
Proofing (overnight + final rise) 13 hours 30 minutes
Total Time 14 hours 29 minutes
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.