Sweet rolls, sticky buns covered with hot caramel, cinnamon swirls with cream cheese frosting-call them whatever you want, and add them to your liking. Just don't delay placing orders. These pastries are quickly sold out in the bakeries and cafes in the Twin Cities, especially at this time of the year, when the cool weather makes people crave comfort.

"This is a typical comfort food," said Jeff Veigel, owner of Isles Bun & Coffee in Minneapolis, which has been baking cinnamon-flavored sweet rolls for nearly 30 years.

Although they are delicious all year round, at least psychologically, sweet rolls are related to autumn and winter, when people eat a lot of carbohydrates as the cold comes. "We just need comfort," Elizabeth Tinucci, co-owner of São Paulo, said of the huge cafe. "We just added some butter and bread to feel better about ourselves."

But it's not just the weather that makes them taste so delicious. For many people, this boils down to nostalgia.

"I think through our cinnamon rolls, we have become part of people's families. Every Thanksgiving I will call someone to order them," said Jean Hunn, owner of Keys Cafe & Bakery. "We are tradition."

Here are 10 sweet rolls that we like. Didn't you see your favorite? Tell us in the comments. (We will leave the naked, croissant-like early bread—also a pleasure—for another story.)

The charm of Isles Bun & Coffee is obvious. "We received comments on the smell just outside the building," said co-owner Jeff Weigel. Their fragrant freshly baked cinnamon/caramel/pecan bread is the size of a small bun. Smaller appetites will choose the iconic Puppy Dog Tails, which are small twists made from pieces of dough. "They are our most popular products because you don't need a knife and fork to eat them," Weigel said. "And I think people feel healthier psychologically because they don't eat much. I just ate one, two, three...or maybe four."

Puppy Dog Tails are $1.75 each, and a dozen are $20; the buns are $4.75 each or six are $27. Isles Bun & Coffee, 1424 W. 28th St., Mpls., 612-870-4466, islesbun.com.

Tara Coleman's Hot Hands Pie & Biscuit takes the classic cinnamon rolls into the original direction. Inspired by the flaky sausage rolls her mother would make, Coleman adjusted the recipe but retained some more delicious aspects. There is no sugar in the dough; instead, cinnamon and brown sugar sweeten the inner layer, and after baking, the finished swirl is rolled into sugar crystals. The rolls are crispy on the outside and sticky in the middle. The super rich vanilla bean paste filling is not sweet either. It is cream cheese, whipped cream and lemon juice. Coleman said the results "may surprise those who expect your typical fluffy, super sweet cinnamon rolls."

$3.95 each. Hot Hands Pie & Biscuit, 272 S. Snelling Av., St. Paul, 651-300-1503, hothandspie.com.

With half a pound of dough, a pool of caramel running down the sides, and a bit of roasted pecans, this roll is very heavy and comes with a steak knife. This recipe took decades of Dana, the father of Hell's Kitchen co-founder Mitch Omer, to perfect. "In the 70s and 80s, he spent years making adjustments. He wrote some small notes on it and said,'Man, this is not good enough', and then he put it on hold for a while," partner Cynthia Gerdes said. -The founder and spouse of Omer, who died in 2015. When the Hell’s Kitchen opened in 2002, Omer asked his father for a recipe. Gerdes said: "He rummaged through all these pieces of paper, but couldn't tell the front or the back." It took another year to develop the recipe before it was on the menu-since then, it has been Become one of the signature dishes of Hell's Kitchen.

US$7.95 each. Hell's Kitchen, 80 S. 9th St., Mpls., 612-332-4700, hellskitcheninc.com.

A Colossal Cafe cinnamon roll is just like the name of this place. "It did feed a family of four," said co-owner Elizabeth Tinucci. Huge bread rolls-about the size of a slice of Sicilian pizza-double as a creative solution to food waste: the dough is made from leftover yeast pancake batter. If there happens to be any unpurchased cinnamon rolls, the cycle will continue. Half price for day-old children, after which everything left is soaked in milk for 24 hours, and then used for the cinnamon roll latte off the menu, topped with icing sugar (only at the Grand Avenue location).

$4 per person. Colossal Cafe, 1340 Grand Av., St. Paul, 651-414-0543; Address: 2315 Como Av., St. Paul, Tel: 651-797-4027, colossalcafe.com.

Milda's Cafe opened in 1965 and makes fresh cinnamon/caramel rolls every day. Thanks to long-time baker Jeff Nelson, they are still working hard. "I really don't know how he did it," said boss Ayman Samie. "He doesn't share these things with us. He came in at 2 a.m. and finished it before the staff even came in." (Nelson also brought worldwide praise to this restaurant in northern Minneapolis.) What Sami knows is that this recipe with decades of history has its fans. "People bring coffee early in the morning, and they want a certain way-heating it and putting butter on the side. This is how they start the day," he said. "It's always consistent."

US$2.99 ​​each. Milda's Cafe, 1720 Glenwood Av., Mpls., 612-377-9460.

Since opening this sweet cafe in St. Paul's Swede Hollow Park in 1997, freshly baked cinnamon rolls have appeared on the menu. Co-owner Shirley Young said that with each new ownership, the recipe has changed slightly. But one thing that makes this version unique is the thick sun-yellow butter frosting on it-this is a boon for those who don't like cream cheese. Heat it up slightly and the butter will penetrate into the center of the cinnamon spice. Yang said: "They are light, sweet and creamy, and they have brought smiles to many of us. After the difficulties of the past year, we can use them more."

Cinnamon rolls, $3.75; caramel rolls, $4.25. Swede Hollow Cafe, 725 E. 7th St., St. Paul, 651-776-8810, swedehollowcafe.com

"Cinnamon rolls play such an important role in many people's food memories. If you are gluten-free, you will miss them," said Sift boss Molly Miller. Therefore, her gluten-free bakery is filling this gap by mixing ground chia seeds and psyllium husks to make classic dough. They are smaller than traditional rolls, but the density is just right. They also have the added benefit of being a vegetarian. "When you enjoy the fresh food we just took out of the oven, when you peel off the layers, the glaze will drip-no one will miss the gluten," Miller said.

$4 per person. Sift Gluten Free, 4557 Bloomington Av., Mpls., 612-503-5300, siftglutenfree.com.

Since its establishment in 1973, all nine Keys cafes have often sold out sticky buns. They start with frozen bread dough but use homemade cinnamon sugar, caramel or pecan filling "schmear" for Keys processing. The mother of the owner, Jean Hunn, who founded the company, said that in total, these shops process more than 800 rolls each week. "It just became an iconic project," Hunn said. "Our pastries are more breaded than flaky pastries, but they are still very breathable. I forgot how delicious they are, and then I ate a piece-I just peeled off a part of it, and they are so good." This listened It may seem a bit overkill, but don't ignore the salty butter slapping next to the hot bread-they will melt to get the final slimy texture.

Prices vary by location. Cinnamon or caramel $3-$5; pecans $3.45-$6. Keys Cafe & Bakery, multiple subway stations, keyscafe.com.

When Dan Swenson-Klatt bought a bakery in southern Minneapolis in 2006, one of his first tasks was to put cinnamon rolls — a pastry he loved all his life — on the menu. Unfortunately, the kitchen is not suitable for yeast dough. Instead, Butter's first baker, Amy Kovacs, developed a cinnamon roll made from cookie dough, adding a little clove and cardamom to the swirl, a petite and deep treat. “Once we explained to the customer that the biscuits are not unverified yeast rolls, we found that we found a product that was added every day and was usually the first sold out product,” Swenson-Klatt said.

$4 per person. Butter Bakery Cafe, 3700 Nicollet Av. S., Mpls., 612-521-7401, butterbakerycafe.com.

For Buttered Tin pastry chef and founder Alicia Hinze, the popularity of her cinnamon rolls boils down to two elements: dough and butter. "I think if the dough starts to sweeten, then the whole product will become overwhelming. No one wants this," she said. She uses milk bread dough to make it soft, then spreads hope cream butter on the dough, and then adds sugar and cinnamon. If you heat it up at any cafe (or freeze and bake it at home), the piping of almost unsweetened cream cheese will gradually melt into the roll. She said it was "definitely frosting, not frosting." "Really, it's amazing."

$4 per person. The Buttered Tin, 237 E. 7th St., St. Paul, 651-224-2300; 2445 Northeast. Marshall St., Mpls., 612-234-4224, thebutteredtin.com.

Sharyn Jackson is a feature reporter covering the vibrant dining scenes in the Twin Cities.

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