Cinnamon buns

Name: Cinnamon buns
Prep time: 16 min
Cook time: 29 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Norway
Ingredients: 100g Unsalted Butter; 200ml Milk; 1 teaspoon Salt; 250g Flour; 250g Strong White Flour; 1 1/2 tsp Fast action yeast; 1 teaspoon Cardamom; 1 tblsp Caster Sugar; 2 Egg; Dash Olive Oil; 75g Unsalted Butter; 100g Caster Sugar; 2 tbsp Cinnamon; 1 Egg

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Dessert recipe with Norway flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 81 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings · 45 min total

100g Unsalted Butter
200ml Milk
1 teaspoon Salt
250g Flour
250g Strong White Flour
1 1/2 tsp Fast Action Yeast
1 teaspoon Cardamom
1 tblsp Caster Sugar
2 Egg
Dash Olive Oil
75g Unsalted Butter
100g Caster Sugar
2 tbsp Cinnamon
1 Egg

Step-by-step instructions

In a small saucepan heat the butter, milk and salt until the butter is melted. Allow the mixture to cool until it is lukewarm.
In a large bowl, stir together the flours, yeast, cardamom and sugar until combined.
Make a well in the centre and crack in the eggs. Pour in the lukewarm milk mixture and stir everything together to form a sticky dough. You may have to use your hands as the dough becomes stiffer.
Oil the work surface with a teaspoon of olive oil. Turn the dough out onto the oiled surface and knead vigorously for 5–8 minutes, using a plastic scraper as needed to prise the dough from the work surface. Don’t be tempted to add flour, as this will make the buns dry and tough. Keep kneading until the dough is considerably less sticky, smoother and more elastic.
Shape into a ball, and put into a large, greased bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and set aside in a warm place to prove for an hour, or until doubled in size.
Meanwhile, for the filling and topping, mix the softened butter in a bowl with half the sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon. Use a fork to mix the sugar and spice into the butter until it is completely combined.
Mix the remaining sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl and set aside.
When the dough has risen, turn out onto a floured work surface and gently roll out into a 36x24cm/14x9½in rectangle. Spread the cinnamon-sugar-butter evenly over the dough with a table or palette knife.
With the longest edge closest to you, roll the dough up into a cylinder. Cut into 12 even slices.
Place each slice onto a flattened out paper cupcake case on a baking tray, or into a greased muffin tin. (Baking in a muffin tin will make your cinnamon buns taller and domed.).
Cover with a clean tea towel and set aside to prove again for 30–45 minutes, or until risen.
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
Brush the tops of the buns with beaten egg and dust liberally with the cinnamon sugar. Bake for 12 minutes until the buns are dark golden-brown. Enjoy warm with a cup of coffee.

Why this works on a weeknight

Cinnamon buns lands at about 45 minutes total — a little longer than our 30-minute target, but most of that time is hands-off simmering, which is why it earned a spot in our Sweet Finishes collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Cinnamon buns actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🍮 Sweet Finishes Dessert Norway