Korvapuusti or “Örfil” in Swedish is Finnish cinnamon buns. In English, they have that unusual name “Ear Slap”. An ear slap may hurt, but the bun is delicious 😉
These you find in most cafés in Finland. My mom has made them for as long as I can remember. Best memories are coming home from school and you can smell the newly baked buns that just got out of the oven. And they tasted so good with a glass of cold milk. I still eat them like that.
The original bun is with butter, sugar, and cinnamon in the center, but you can also put jam or why not make a modern version with Nutella. And don’t forget the cardamom. It gives so much flavor to the bun. It won’t be a real korvapuusti without the cardamom.
This recipe is quite big. You can make half of it, but the buns are so good that you might as well make the whole batch 😉 You will get about 20 buns or 12 if you make big ones 😀
You really don’t need a stand mixer for them, but it’s easier. Usually we mix everything with our hands.
A nice bun to have in the freezer and to heat up in the microwave when you want something sweet or are getting coffee guests.
Korvapuusti – Finnish cinnamon buns
Ingredients
- 5 deciliter milk
- 50 grams fresh yeast or dry
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 deciliter sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cardamom
- 1 egg
- 900 grams wheat flour
- 100 grams soft butter or margarine
Filling
- 100 grams soft butter or margarine
- 1 deciliter sugar
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
On top
- 1 egg
- 5 tablespoons pearl sugar
Instructions
- You can make these by hand or with a stand mixer.Heat the milk to 37 degrees celcius if you use fresh yeast or 42 degrees if you have dry yeast. Disolve the yeast in the milk.
- Whisk in the salt, sugar, cardamom and egg into the milk.
- Gradually whisk in about 6 deciliter of flour. Add the soft butter and kneed the dough until the butter is completely mixed in. Add rest of the flour and mix the dough comes clean off the sides of the bowl and doesn't stick to your hand.
- Cover the dough with a towel and let it rise to double the size in a warm place, about 30-45 minutes.
- Divide the dough into two equally sized portions. You can of course make one big square with the whole dough, but it is easier to split it up in two. Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour. Roll out the first portion of dough into a 30×50 centimeter rectangle.
- Spread half of the soft butter over the dough (all the butter if you bake everything at once). Sprinkle half of the sugar and cinnamom over the butter.
- Roll the dough in a tight roll.
- Cut the rolls dianoally into triangle pieces.
- Turn the narrow side up and press the center with your finger or a knife.
- Place the buns on a bakingsheet and let them raise under a towel for about 30 minutes.
- Heat the oven to 225 degrees celcius.
- Brush each roll with the egg wash and sprinkle with pearl sugar.
- Bake the buns for about 12-15 minutes.