Danish Cinnamon Rolls - cinnamon buns - Snails - Coconut variation

February 13, 2026

Can’t really get to close to these cinnamon rolls. © kvalifood.com

This is undoubtedly the recipe I am most often pressured to make by my family. But that’s easy to understand. Who does not like the classical cinnamon buns? This is a basic recipe, along with a few popular variations.

Ingredients

Yields 16

dough

600 g (21 oz) white flour
200 g (7 oz) butter
50 g (2 oz) sugar
50 g (2 oz) fresh yeast (2 tbsp dry)
2 eggs
2 dl (0.85 cup) milk
1 tsp ground cardamom (optional)

remonce

150 g (5.3 oz) butter - soft or melted.
250 g (9 oz) brown sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon, finely ground

glaze

4 dl icing sugar (1.7 cups)
3 tbsp water

Directions

If you can remember it, then take out the butter ahead of time, and let it soften at room temperature. I often forget this :-S

Otherwise, you can melt the butter in a saucepan, take it off the heat, and put in the milk, when the butter is cooled of again.

Put all the ingredients for the dough into a bowl, except the hot butter. Knead it together.

Put in the butter and keep kneading. It should not be kneaded too well. Just until there are no flour lumps remaining. Typically for 3-5 minutes.

Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 15-20 minutes. Until lightly golden.

I covered these rolls with a tall roasting pan for the first ten minutes of baking, and then I baked them without a roasting pan for ten minutes more. That makes them raise better in the oven, and they become more airy.

They remained good for 2 days, and could be “refreshed” by 30 seconds in the microwave at day 3.

Notes and variations

Marzipan rolls

I actually cheated a little … the remonce in the above pictures in this recipe is actually comprised of:

200 g (7 oz) butter
200 g (7 oz) sugar
200 g (7 oz) marzipan
2 tbsp cinnamon

This is a great good and modern remonce that also keeps the rolls moist little longer.

I mixed some cocoa into half of the icing, with a little extra water. Just go by color.

I just let it run off the spoon, as I move it around in circles, to get the black / white pattern.

Another favorite variation, where I stole the idea from the local organic bakery is:

Coconut cream rolls

Coconut Custard

1 serving vanilla pastry custard
200 g (7 oz) grated coconut

cinnamon sugar

1 dl sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Make the vanilla cream and add the grated coconut while it is still simmering.

Spread the cream onto the flat rolled dough instead of remonce. You probably cannot use all of it.

The last of it can be added on top of the rolls when they have been flattened. Then you also get some baked cream on top. Which is nice.

Sprinkle approximately 1 tbsp cinnamon sugar on each roll, instead of the glaze.

It makes for incredibly soft and spongy rolls, with coconut and cinnamon flavor.

They are not as sweet as regular rolls.

Shape the dough to a ball by folding it in on itself from the bottom. © kvalifood.com

Roll out 4 flaps against the corners of your table. This will become the corners of the dough. © kvalifood.com

Binary division: Roll up the dough, into a long roll. Start by dividing it in two. Then divide those slices in two. Etc. Continue until you got 16 slices in all. © kvalifood.com

Put the rolls onto a baking pan. 4 on each side. Depending on the look you are interested in, you can flatten them or not. Brush them with yogurt or the like. © kvalifood.com

Just before baking. Rolled to a long roll. 16 slices. Pressed flat. Cream on top. Cinnamon sugar on top of that. © kvalifood.com

They like very much to be baked for the first ten minutes with some kind of lid on. It makes them raise more in the oven. © kvalifood.com