{Kanelbullar} Swedish Cinnamon Buns Recipe — Salt & Wind Travel (2024)

FAQs

What is a cinnamon roll called in Sweden? ›

Kanelbullar or cinnamon buns are a classic at Swedish coffee parties. During the golden age of home baking, such parties turned into orgies of sweet yeast breads, small cookies, cookies with fillings, pastries and cakes. This tradition lives on in Sweden.

The average Swede consumes as many as 230 cinnamon rolls a year and the pastry is so popular that it even has its own day in the calendar. Kanelbullens Dag (Cinnamon Bun Day) takes place every year on October 4th, with an estimated eight million cinnamon rolls sold across Sweden on that day alone.

Shaping the Buns

Once your dough is ready, roll it into a large rectangle about 1cm thick. Spread the butter filling, sprinkle the cardamom sugar, and fold into thirds. Then, roll it out and portion into your desired size. At this point, you can shape the dough into whatever form you prefer.

Don't Overmix the Dough

When making cinnamon rolls, mix the dough just until the ingredients are incorporated and the dough is smooth and soft. Overmixed dough leads to tough cinnamon rolls. The dough is ready when it pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl and feels tacky but doesn't stick to your fingers.

In America, cinnamon buns are covered with a thick coat of sugar icing, but in Scandinavia they are eaten plain or sprinkled with a little pearl sugar. It's also common to see a 'knotted' variety of the bun in Scandinavia along with the more typical snail-like shape.

Swedish Cinnamon Buns are not radically different from other cinnamon buns, but they do diverge in one fundamental way: rather than having the fluffiness of, say American cinnamon buns, they are more solid, more bready (and certainly less sweet) and yet they do have a certain bounce and softness, too.

They are most popular in Sweden. There's even a National Cinnamon Roll Day (Kanelbullens dag) on October 4 that is celebrated in Sweden. Cinnamon rolls are typically enjoyed with afternoon coffee. In the U.S., they are also eaten at breakfast or for dessert.

Swedish meatballs, or köttbullar, are perhaps one of the most internationally recognized dishes from Sweden. These small, flavorful meatballs are traditionally served with mashed potatoes, lingonberry jam, and a creamy gravy, making for a comforting and satisfying meal.

Culinary archaeologist Daniel Serra, who co-wrote the book An Early Meal – a Viking Age Cookbook and Culinary Odyssey, believes that cardamom first became of interest in Scandinavia in the 13th Century for both its medicinal and culinary use, as documented in the old cookbook Libellus de Arte Coquinaria.

Cinnamon Roll Day is celebrated on 4 October because the Home Baking Council did not want the day to compete with other food traditions, such as sweet semla buns, which are served in Sweden on Shrove Tuesday. In Sweden, International Children's Day is celebrated on the first Monday of October.

What happens if you let cinnamon rolls rise for too long? ›

Can cinnamon rolls rise for too long? Yes definitely! If you let your cinnamon rolls rise for too long you can over-proof them. This can lead to dense rolls or rolls that collapse after baking.

There are a lot of variables that go into the consistency of dough, even down to the weather and humidity. But the most common reason cinnamon rolls don't turn out fluffy is because the dough didn't have enough time to rise.

You can refrigerate the rolls for up to 12 hours, but try not to go any longer. The rolls are still prone to over-proofing if left in the fridge too long; and the cinnamon-sugar filling can melt and make the bottoms of the rolls syrupy and damp if left unbaked for too long.

It goes by many names

In Austria and Germany it is called zimtschnecken. But its English variations are countless too: roll, bun, bunny, swirl, snail... As long as it has cinnamon in it, we'll eat it.

The semla – a small, wheat flour bun, flavoured with cardamom and filled with almond paste and whipped cream – has become something of a carb-packed icon in Sweden.