Classroom lesson · Food · 🇳🇴 Norway

Kanelboller - Norwegian cinnamon buns

Sweet, spiced, swirled buns that fill the kitchen with the smell of cinnamon

Freshly baked Norwegian cinnamon buns (kanelboller) on a wooden board

Photo · Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

Kanelboller are Norwegian cinnamon buns. They are soft, fluffy, spiral-shaped buns made of sweet dough rolled around butter, sugar and cinnamon, then baked golden brown. They are a treat in homes and bakeries all across Norway, often eaten with a glass of milk after school.

Tell me more

To make a kanelbolle, you start with a soft sweet dough - flour, milk, butter, sugar, yeast, and a hint of crushed cardamom (a fragrant spice). You roll the dough flat, spread it with soft butter, and sprinkle on a thick layer of cinnamon and sugar.

Then you roll it up like a long sausage and slice the sausage into thick rounds. Each round is a perfect spiral. They puff up as they bake. Some bakers top them with pearl sugar - tiny crunchy sugar crystals - just before they go in the oven.

Cinnamon buns are part of a wider Scandinavian tradition: a daily pause for a hot drink and a sweet treat with friends or family. In Sweden it is called 'fika'. In Norway it is just part of the rhythm of the day - tea-time at home, a kanelbolle break at work, an after-school snack.

Many Norwegian children learn to make kanelboller at home, helping a grandparent or parent. They are easy to make: rolling, slicing, baking. And when they come out of the oven, the kitchen smells of cinnamon for hours.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

01What food smell makes you feel most at home? Why might smell stick in our memory so strongly?
02Lots of countries have a 'pause and treat' moment - fika in Sweden, afternoon tea in Britain, merienda in Spain. Does your home have one?
03Kanelboller are passed down by grandparents and parents. What food in your family is taught from one generation to the next?

Try this

Classroom activity

As a class, plan an imaginary 'kanelbolle break'. Pick a time of day, a drink to go with it, and three things you would chat about. Then design your own bun: what spice or filling would you choose if you weren't using cinnamon?

Kanelboller - Norwegian cinnamon buns

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Discussion prompts

Classroom activity

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