Pretzel Cinnamon Buns

I came across this Cinnamon Bun recipe on Pinterest from the Cinnamon and Thyme Blog. It looked like just my sort of thing. So of course I made some.
This is quite possibly my new favourite cinnamon roll/danish/knot/breakfast bread recipe.
This is their recipe with a few small adaptations.
Please go to the Cinnamon and Thyme website for original recipe and directions.


Pretzel Cinnamon Buns

500 ml milk

130 g of butter

12 g instant dry yeast

100 g of sugar

pinch of salt (I used a scant 1 tsp.)

Karadamoma * 1 teaspoon (I used a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger)

850 g all purpose flour 

Filling:

150 g blanched almonds (Used a bit less. I was tired of Shelling Almonds.)

130 g brown sugar

80 g softened butter

4 teaspoon cinnamon (you can use more or less)

5 tablespoons water

For the coating:

1 egg (beaten)

pearl or coarse white sugar (skipped)

Heat the milk just a little bit (so that it's warm), add butter and stir until melted.

Place the flour, sugar, salt yeast and spices in a mixing bowl; mix well.
Add the milk mixture.Knead the dough until it's smooth and elastic about 8 minutes. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the filling: In a food processor, dice almonds into medium fine crumbs.
Mix almonds with butter, cinnamon, sugar and water. Stir until it's a paste-like mixture. If the filling is too thick, add a tablespoon or two of water.

Divide dough into 3 parts.  Roll the dough into a 18 by 12 rectangle about 1 cm thick. Cover two thirds of the dough with filling. Fold the top third over, and fold the bottom third over that like a letter.Cut (horizontally) into strips, about 3 inches wide and twist each strip into a "nest" shape.
Put them on a baking tray with silicone paper, brush with beaten egg. Sprinkle with sugar and let stand another 20 minutes. Bake at 200 ° C, about 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!