When Tom and I were in Scandinavia in 2024, our favorite new food was Kanelbulle and its variations.  Whenever we went to a town with a bakery, we would sample the Kanelbulle first.  Tom and I love cinnamon rolls, but the American version is usually slathered in an icing or glaze that makes them very sweet.  Swedish cinnamon rolls have less sugar in the filling and no icing so they are not as sweet.  Which makes them even better.

I have been missing Kanelbulle since we came home, so I decided to make some for Christmas.  I found this recipe from Gimme Some Oven, collected the ingredients and started making the rolls.  These are yeast rolls so they rise twice.  Once before shaping and once after.  The dough was really easy to work with and not as sticky as some other dough.  The trickiest thing was pulling the dough and then twisting the knot, but Gimme Some Oven has a good video on how to do it.  After shaping the rolls, I brushed them with an egg wash and sprinkled Swedish pearlized sugar on them.  I ordered my pearlized sugar on Amazon, but some groceries stores carry it.

I made a double batch.  Each batch only makes 12 Kanelbulle and I wanted some to share.  I figured Tom and I could eat 12 of them by ourselves.  They were delicious, especially fresh from the oven.  Soft and chewy inside and firm on the outside without being crunchy.  They were still very good after a week, which is as long as they lasted.  We took some to Mom and Dad and some to John and Jackie so every one could enjoy them on Christmas.

If you would like a less sugared-up version of a cinnamon roll, you should try Kanelbulle.  Eating them brought back wonderful memories of all the places we enjoyed them on our trip.  These may become a Christmas staple.  I still have plenty of the pearlized sugar!