It's 4 October already, and you know what that means: Cinnamon Roll Day! OK, so you probably didn't know that—I certainly didn't. Nevertheless, for the past ten years or so, 4 October has been National Cinnamon Bun Day in Sweden. It was first celebrated in 1999, when Sweden's Hembakningsrådet wanted to celebrate their 40th anniversary, and picked kanelbullar as the symbol of home baking in Sweden. The day was apparently celebrated with such gusto that it became an annual event, with bakeries across the nation produce vast swathes of cinnamon buns to sate the sweet, cinnamony cravings of the masses. After all, what better way to celebrate Sweden's tradition of home-baked goodies than with a trip to your local commercial bakery?
As good semi-Swedes, we could do naught but join in the festivities. So this morning I hopped a bus downtown to go to our favorite bakery, Forsa, to procure a few wonderful little kanelbullar. Now, your everyday cinnamon roll in Sweden is not too dissimilar from what you'd expect in the US: a simple swirl of sweet dough, with a cinnamon-sugar combo along the inside edges. The main differences are that in Sweden you never see them topped with icing (instead there's a sprinkling of nib sugar), and most Swedish buns are heavily flavored with cardamom (so much that it nearly overwhelms the cinnamon, actually, which is sort of unfortunate). Forsa's kanelbullar are a different matter altogether: each one a nest of fine strands of cinnamon-dusted dough, lovingly hand-woven into a unique pattern. Mmmm. Of course, at 12 SEK a pop, they should be good.Cinnamon Bun Day, Waffle Day, Semla Month—I wonder what other food-holidays lie buried in the Swedish calendar? We'll just have to wait and see, I suppose.
Ok, the food holidays and baked goods are killing me! But this time I did something about it and made the cinnamon buns from Anne's Blog--they were delicious and pretty speedy for yeast baking. Thanks for the inspiration!
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