As a food-obsessed adult, you sometimes get to the point where you think you've met every kind of cinnamon roll under the sun. And then someone delivers three schnecken to your desk and you have to reevaluate everything you thought you knew about cinnamon buns and the world.
Schnecken is a German cinnamon bun, usually made with a sour cream dough and studded with raisins, nuts, etc. Schnecken means snail in German, which refers not to the ingredients, but to the coiled shape of the rolled and sliced dough. The particular schnecken that we had the good fortune to try came to us from Queen City Cookies in Cincinnati, Ohio -- and this schnecken is no ordinary schnecken.
Queen City Cookies makes a classic schnecken, but they also make a blueberry vanilla version, and a bacon version. We get just as fatigued by bacon-in-everything-syndrome as everyone else does, but this bacon schnecken is completely devoid of the sad, fake liquid smoke flavor we usually associate with bacon-flavored things. This bacon is caramelized, in real caramel, which is then drizzled over the buttery cinnamon roll and topped with some of the bacon shards. It tastes, for lack of a better descriptor, like a complete breakfast inside a cinnamon roll.
Originally a staple of Jewish-German immigrants, the original schnecken probably didn't have much to do with bacon, but we're pretty pleased that times have changed. We're also pleased to tell you that you can order your own schnecken from Queen City Cookies for $13.99 a pound! We've also heard rumors that Queen City is working on a deal with Williams-Sonoma to sell their cookies and cinnamon rolls in their stores. Schnecken for everyone!
What's your favorite schnecken topping?
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