Cinnamon roll on Fotopedia

A cinnamon roll (also sweet roll, cinnamon bun, cinnamon swirl and cinnamon snail) is a sweet pastry served commonly in Northern Europe and North America. It consists of a rolled sheet of yeast dough onto which a cinnamon and sugar mixture (and raisins or chopped grapes in some cases) is sprinkled over a thin coat of butter. The dough is then rolled, cut into individual portions, and baked. In North America, cinnamon rolls are frequently topped with icing (often confectioner's sugar based) or glaze of some sort. In northern Europe, nib sugar is often used instead of icing.

Comparable to the cinnamon roll is the honey bun, which is part of the donut family. It is not to be confused with a Danish pastry.

In Sweden, the country of its presumed origin, the cinnamon roll takes the name of kanelbulle (literally: "cinnamon bun") and on October 4, "kanelbullens dag" (Cinnamon roll day) is celebrated in Sweden. A German variety originating in Hamburg and its surroundings is the Franzbrötchen.

The size of a cinnamon roll varies from place to place, but many vendors supply a smaller size about 5 cm in diameter and a larger size about 10 cm to a side. The largest variety can be found in Finland, called Korvapuusti, where it can be up to 20 cm in diameter and weighing 200 grams (about 7 ounces).

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Pastry

Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder and/or eggs. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked products are called "pastries."

Pastry may also refer to the dough from which such baked products are made. Pastry dough is rolled out thinly and used as a base for baked products. Common pastry dishes include pies, tarts, quiches and pasties.

Pastry is differentiated from bread by having a higher fat content, which contributes to a flaky or crumbly texture. A good pastry is light and airy and fatty, but firm enough to support the weight of the filling. When making a shortcrust pastry, care must be taken to blend the fat and flour thoroughly before adding any liquid. This ensures that the flour granules are adequately coated with fat and less likely to develop gluten.^{[citation needed]} On the other hand, overmixing results in long gluten strands that toughen the pastry. In other types of pastry, such as Danish pastry and croissants, the characteristic flaky texture is achieved by repeatedly rolling out a dough similar to that for yeast bread, spreading it with butter, and folding it to produce many thin layers of folds.