Cinnamon and Cardamom Knots (Kanelbullar)

Dough: 
-	All-purpose flour: 405 g
-	Milk: 240 g 
-	Butter (I prefer salted): 56 g
-	Granulated sugar (white): 50 g 
-	Instant yeast: 7g
-	Ground cardamom: 2 teaspoons
-	Sea salt: ¾ teaspoon

Filling: 
-	Butter (I prefer salted): 113 g
-	Light brown sugar: 100 g
-	Ground cinnamon: 2 tablespoons
-	Ground cardamom: 1 teaspoon
-	Vanilla extract: 1 teaspoon

Topping:
-	Egg: 1 
-	Water: 1 tablespoon
-	Pearled sugar (looks nice, but hard to find, can be any coarse sugar like demerara or turbinado)

To make the dough:
-	Melt butter in milk until the mixture reaches around 110°F (this will help activate the yeast)
-	Put all other dough ingredients (flour, granulated sugar, yeast, cardamom, salt) in a bowl and stir to combine. Then add the warm milk + butter and knead until dough is smooth and soft (8-10 minutes in a stand mixer if you have one). It should not stick to your hands when you try to handle it.
-	Form the dough into a ball and place it in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise for an hour or until it has doubled in size. This will depend on your room temperature. I usually put the bowl to rest in my oven with the oven turned off and the oven light on – that works really well!

To make the filling:
-	After you’ve put the dough to rest, mix all the filling ingredients in a bowl. You don’t need to melt the butter beforehand, you can just cube it and let it rest on the countertop while the dough is rising. And once the dough is done rising, the butter will have melted into the sugar, and you can just stir it. 

To make the knots:
-	Flour a large surface and roll out the dough into a 22x15 inch rectangle. 
-	Spread the filling over the entire surface and do an envelope fold (fold the left third of the dough toward the center, then the right third over it, so you have something that’s about 7x15 inches. Roll it out some more so it becomes more uniform in thickness. 
-	Cut off strips that are 2-cm – 1 inch wide (and 7-8 inches long) – each strip will make a knot. The edges will have less filling, so maybe trim those off first and practice the knotting.
-	For each strip, you want to hold one end and twist the other end so it ends up in a spiral (it will also get longer as you do this, you want it to get almost twice as long. Then you make the knot: hold one end of the strip between your thumb and index finger and wrap the dough around your two fingers two times. For the third time, you want to go over the loops you have made (over the tips of your fingers) and tuck the end underneath the roll (where your fingers are pinching the first end of the strip). Here’s a YouTube video to demonstrate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0g8hyUGcvk 
-	Put the finished knots on parchment paper and cover with plastic wrap and let them rise for another 45-60 minutes.

Egg wash and bake:
-	Preheat the oven to 375°F.
-	Whisk the egg with water to make the egg wash. 
-	Brush each knot with the egg wash (try to get it into all the nooks and crannies).
-	Sprinkle with the pearl (or regular) sugar.
-	Bake for 15-20 minutes, until they get a nice tan :D 
-	Let them rest on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then dig in! 

They are better warm than cold. If you want to have them the next day, you can warm them up in the microwave (fast) or preheat the oven to 275°F and warm them for about 10-15 minutes before serving.