National Sticky Bun Day on February 21st recognizes a delicious pastry that comes rolled up and dripping with a sweet, sugary topping.
- Known as “schnecken” meaning snail, the sticky bun is rolled into a sweet spiral resembling its German name. Still considered to be a Pennsylvania specialty, many believed the sticky bun’s origin in the United States began in the 19th century.
- German settlers brought their baking traditions with them when they began settling in and around Philadelphia.
- Famous cousins to the sticky bun are the cinnamon roll, caramel roll, and monkey bread.
- A sticky bun should always be made of yeast dough.
- Ancient Egyptians were the first people to add honey and nuts to their bread.
- In the UK and Canada, sticky buns are known as “chelsea buns” and contain raisins!
- The cinnamon bun’s origin is a hotly debated topic. The Swedes claim it originated there in the 1920s.
- A Nordic cinnamon bun is typically made with a bit of ground cardamom in the dough – this is what differentiates it from other cinnamon buns, such as the over-the-top sticky sweet buns you often see in North America.
- A real cinnamon bun (a Scandi one) does not have icing on the top. In Norway, a sprinkle of normal granulated sugar – in Sweden those lovely big-ish sugar crystals called Pearl Sugar.
- A typical Swede eats 316 cinnamon buns per year
- The first people to add honey and nuts to their bread were the Ancient Egyptians.
- Sticky Buns and Cinnamon Buns are not the same. The difference is on ingredient – nuts. sticky buns have them while cinnamon buns do not.
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