The Dough Diaries: Cinnamon & Cardamom Knots
Friends, welcome to the final installment in The Dough Diaries! I’ve been saving this post as the last for two reasons. The first, this is was the recipe I was the most excited about making. As soon as I saw Izy Hossack’s recipe for Cinnamon & Cardamom Knots, I knew I’d be making them asap. The second, it’s slightly challenging to shape these babies. Achieving those perfect knot shapes is perhaps the most challenging aspect of the series, & I wanted us to tackle it with confidence. We can do this! We’ve already faced our dough shaping fears by working up to this point with cinnamon rolls, challah loaves, & babka.
Cinnamon & Cardamom Knots – let’s do this!
Honestly, the knotting process is easy once you get into the swing of things. I can’t tell you how rewarding it feels when you pull the tray of baked knots out of the oven. Spiked with cinnamon & cardamom, these make for the perfect breakfast treat! I challenge you to find someone who isn’t lured in by the smell of these as they come out of the oven. Basically what we have here is a pillow-y knot, swirled with a spiced filling, topped with crunchy pearl sugar nibs. They also happen to be the most adorable things that have come out of my oven in months – just in case you were wondering.
Happy baking, friends!
Notes:
- I went all out & bought some pearl sugar to add to the top, but it’s totally optional.
- I’ve included a link below to a few GIFs Izy shared showing how to make the knot shape. I watched them about a million times before I made my knots & thank goodness for that!
- The baked knots freeze really well. Reheat them lightly in the oven & serve with a little extra butter.
Cinnamon & Cardamom Knots
INGREDIENTS
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 80 ml water
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- 50 g caster sugar
- 100 ml boiling water
- 100 ml milk
- 7 g fast action dried yeast
- —
- 430 g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 80 ml olive oil, plus extra for greasing
- 1 tsp salt
- —
- olive oil, for spreading
- 4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 120 g soft brown sugar
- —
- pearl sugar nibs, for sprinkling (optional)
DIRECTIONS
- In a small pot over a medium heat, combine the plain flour & the water. Stir the mixture together, over the heat, until it thickens & becomes paste-like. Set aside.
- Grease a large bowl with olive oil; set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine together the caster sugar, the water, & the milk. Sprinkle the yeast over the mixture, stir to combine, & set aside for 5 minutes. When ready, add the flour/water paste, the plain flour, olive oil, and salt to the mixture & stir together. It should be a sticky dough.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface & knead for 7-10 minutes, until you have a smooth, soft dough. Place the dough into the oiled bowl, cover the bowl with cling film, & leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour (until doubled in size).
- Meanwhile, make the filling – combine the cinnamon, cardamom, salt, plain flour & brown sugar together in a small bowl; set aside. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper & set aside.
- Once risen, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface & use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough into a large rectangle, roughly 40 x 60cm (I did this by eye due to lack of ruler, just aim for a huge rectangle).
- Drizzle olive oil all over the surface of the dough & use a pastry brush to ensure it all gets covered. Evenly sprinkle the filling mixture over the dough, spreading it with your hands.
- This is where it starts to get confusing. Fold the dough into thirds as you would a business letter (I had to google this to be sure), giving you a new smaller rectangle. Using a sharp knife, cut the rectangle in half to make two small squares (cut it from short-edge to short-edge). (Still following?) Now, cut each of the squares into 6 strips – making sure to do so from fold to fold, not from cut edge to cut edge. If you did it wrong by accident (like me), don’t panic. It just makes it a little easier to hold all of the filling in.
- Twist each strip along it’s length & stretch it out a little. To make the knots shown in the picture, watch this handy informative GIF Izy made to find out how. To go a more simple route, coil the strips up like snails. Place the knots onto the prepared baking sheets, cover with a greased layer of cling film & return to the warm area for a further 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180C.
- Just before baking, sprinkle the knots generously with the pearl sugar nibs. Bake for 25ish minutes, until golden brown all over & baked through.
Did you make this recipe? I’d love to know! Please leave a comment & a rating below, or tag me on Instagram @imvcki. Thank you so much for supporting Passionate Baker!
