Cinnamon wreath,

I love this time between Christmas and New years, it’s a time when you can just take it easy, eat leftovers, go on long walks and enjoy the remaining of the year. This cinnamon wreath is a great little treat to bring your family together or make a marvelous holiday gift! The smell in the house while baking is divine, even though the ingredients are common, yet everything about this is tempting and delicious. The original recipe does not call for jam, but I like that it adds a bit of moistness to the dough. You could melt some chocolate in between as well for a slightly Pain au Chocolat feel. This recipe makes two wreaths, but I actually decided to make one giant one instead to imitate that french style rustic brioche/bun atyle. This version looks less of a wreath as it expands to a much larger state and is a bit more dry than when you make two. However this is compensated with the extra chream cheese frosting and vanilla sauce!  If you wish to make perfect wreath shapes, the key is to knead the dough well and roll it out very thinly with no air bubbled in between. As mentioned, the cinnamon wreath is best served with vanilla cream and jam for excess moist and one it becomes more stale, you could fry a slice in butter on the pan and eat it with whipped cream.

ingredients

• 100g butter
• 2 ½ dl whole milk
• 25 g yeast
• 1 dl sugar
• ½ tbsp vanilla sugar
• 1 tbsp cardamom
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ egg
• 8-9 dl plain flour

Filling

• 75 g softened butter
• ¾ dl brown sugar
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp vanilla sugar
• 1 cup strawberry jam

Garnish

(cream cheese frosting)

• 100g cream cheese
• 1-2 cups icing sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

Add on top

• toasted almonds with a pinch of salt
• crushed hazel nuts
• Serve: vanilla cream & jam, icing sugar

Directions

Begin by making the dough: Melt the butter. Heat the milk to room temperature and break the yeast into the milk. Mix until the yeast has dissolved. Into the milk, mix in the sugar, cardamom, salt and egg. Add in about half of the flour continuously mixing the dough. Add the rest of the flour and mix it well with your hands. Lastly, add the melted butter. Knead the dough until its firm and comes off from the side of the bowl and hands with ease.Cover the bowl with the dough in it in a warm place for about 45 minutes until its doubled in size.

1) Half the dough to get two wreaths: this version is probably more prettier

2) or make one giant french style wreath as I did that gives a more “french style” rustic brioche/wreath

Roll the dough out into a thin surface, the thinner the dough will be, the prettier the wreath will remain. Make the filling by mixing all the ingredients together (minus the jam). Spread the filling onto the dough surface (if you are making 2 wreaths, use half of the filling). Lastly spread the jam of choice on top. Then tightly roll the dough into a long cylinder and cut in half lengthwise from the middle. Twist the dough around each other and form them into a circle. Place onto a baking sheet and let it rest under a cloth for 20 minutes before baking. If you are making two wreaths, repeat the process with the remaining dough. Brush the surface with the rest of the egg. Bake in a 200 Celsius degrees oven for about 20 minutes.

Time to make the garnish:

While the cinnamon wreath is cooling, make the cream cheese frosting. Mix together the butter, lemon juice, sugar and cream cheese until it forms into a velvety frosting. Toast some almond flakes on a dry pan with a pinch of salt. Once ready, leave to cool to the side.

Once the wreath is cool, spread the cream cheese frosting on top. Add the toasted almonds, hassle nut flakes and lastly dust the top with icing sugar. Serve each piece with a generous amount of vanilla cream and jam