October 4 was Kanelbulledagen. (translation: Cinnamon Bun Day)
A day to celebrate and pay homage to warm, sweet, baked goodness? Why the heck not. Mark it on your calendar for next year, people.
My lovely sister-in-law gave me a heads-up on this. And lucky for me, because I might have passed right by the posters and bakery windows topped up with cinnamon buns without quite having figured it out. While Swedish cinnamon buns have been a tradition dating back to the 1920s, its namesake day was created in 1999 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Sweden's Hembakningsrådet (Home Baking Council).
A little more online searching reveals that Hembakningsrådet was formed in 1949 by several Swedish food companies that produced flour, yeast, margarine and sugar. So in truth, my excitement about Kanelbulledagen is the perfect consumer response to a crafted promotional and marketing endeavor. But it would seem most of the Swedes and Swedish bakeries share my enthusiasm for Kanelbulledagen, since it's been 13 years since inception and going strong.
Throughout the day the bakeries, and supermarkets, churn out batches of the cheerful little brown, coiled buns. The best Swedish kanelbulle is in my opinion a bread roll that is firm but tender, sweet and a little buttery (without being goopey, toothache-inducing sugary), cinnamon with hints of cardamon, and the little pop and crunch of the requisite pearl sugar sprinkle. Another good thing about Kanelbulledagen - the prices are lower!
So on October 4, after running errands in Lund I made a point of joining the rest of Sweden by swinging by Ramklints Conditori, getting in line and scooping up my share of the warm rolls. At home, we warmed them up and served with tea, especially delicious with the cool autumn weather outside.
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Since arriving in Sweden, I've been obsessively trying out local cinnamon rolls in search of the perfect creation. Below are my three favorites ... thus far.
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| Kanelbulle from Lund's Stadsbibliotek (City Library). Most libraries here have a cafe of some sort tucked away in the building. It's a great idea: to take a break from studying or to read your library treasures with a coffee and snack. Lund's main library makes their own kanelbulle, which the counterlady boasted were the best around, and she wasn't far off. Quite buttery and soft, but delicious flavors, and what I imagine a Swedish grandma would serve up. |
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| Delectable Danishes at the Stadsbibliotek. Chatting with my mother, I mused that the kanelbulle is to Sweden as the Danish is to Denmark. She asked what the Danes call Danishes ... good question. They call it weinerbrød, or Viennese bread! Yep, that's right - read it here. |
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| My number one favorite kanelbulle can be found at Vendel Bakery in Malmö. Great texture with the perfect blend of cinnamon and sweetness, organic, and big (that's the American in me, I want a good-sized kanelbulle for my 25 crowns). |
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| Vendel Bakery storefront: a modest entryway at street level, from which you walk down a few steps into ... |
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| ... a basement bakery. So cozy and warm inside, and such intoxicating smells wafting out of the back room. It's a good remedy when I'm missing Arizmendi Bakery in the Bay Area. |
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| Vendel's cardamon rolls are exceptional too. Both are addictive. |
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| Some of you might recall an earlier posting about Ramklints, in which I tried the kanelbulle. This time around the sampling was much more satisfying, whether because of the freshness or my enthusiasm I can't say. No matter. |
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| Ramklints actually had a poster addressing the cinnamon bun in the first person! "We love you, Cinnamon Bun." |
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| Ruby loves you too, Cinnamon Bun! |
