Fake baking at home...

I love cinnamon buns or kanelbullar as we call them in Sweden. I must have tried hundreds of different kanelbullar in various cafes but the ones you make at home yourself are still the best. Here in Dubai I came across a place called Cinnabon, no doubt very American and despite the ridiculous packaging and horrible fast food chain look of the shop these cinnamon rolls are actually really good.
The other day I found a package of make your own Cinnabon in Waitrose and decided that while it is too hot to bake properly out here I might try a pre made version for a laugh. It is the easiest thing, just peel off the wrapping and out pops eight perfectly formed cinnamon roll dough balls, shaped and ready for the oven.

Well, here's how I got on:

The 'tantalising' Cinnabon packaging, though not 100% sure about icing my cinnamon roll it looked sort of pretty.

Well I am not sure what to say... Hopefully they'll look a lot better once cooked!

Looking a little better but perhaps not very cinnamon roll like yet. Better cover them up in some of that icing!

A cinnabon cinnamon roll, with icing. Not too bad looking though somewhere underneath that icing is a dry looking kanelbulle hiding.

Final verdict. These cinnamon rolls have a funny bitter taste,  hidden well by the sweetness of the icing. I am very surprised to find that the icing is essential as otherwise the bun isn't sweet enough. I missed the gooiness of the cinnamon filling that you get in your normal homemade cinnamon buns and also in the Cinnabon shop. These pre-made buns have specks of dry cinnamon inside the dough, which tastes ok but makes it a bit dry.

All in all, best to get that yeast and flower out again to make my own. I will post my favourite recipe shortly including some tips of how to get that lovely chewy bottom of the bun right.