This story originally aired in the Jan. 19, 2025 episode of Inside Appalachia.
Every now and then, I find an aluminum pie plate waiting for me on my doorstep. I lift the plastic lid and see the same delightful sight: a bunch of mini cinnamon rolls, slathered in icing.
These treats aren’t from any food delivery service. They come from my neighbor, Kim Kerr. She runs a small business called Whimsy and Willows, selling homemade goodies at farmers markets around Charleston, West Virginia.
Kim often gives us the imperfect rolls that don’t make the cut for sale. But let me tell you, they taste just as good.
After receiving these sweet surprises for a while, I asked Kim how she got into baking cinnamon rolls. I was curious about her journey, and she happily invited me over to share her story while working on her latest batch.
Her baking journey began with her husband, Patrick, when they first started their business. At first, they tried selling jam. But Kim quickly realized there was plenty of jam out there. She loved to bake, so she decided to try out some of her great aunt Sylvia’s recipes.
Sylvia Iuukko-Mann was the designated family baker. Whenever she visited, whether at family gatherings or holidays, she brought her baking flair along. Kim fondly remembers going shopping with her great aunt to gather ingredients like yeast, which Sylvia used for everything from rolls to giant wedding cakes.
One of Sylvia’s standout creations was nisu, a sweet braided bread infused with cardamom. This bread is a Finnish tradition, often enjoyed with coffee. It was a staple in Kim’s home, thanks to her Finnish roots. Her great-grandfather immigrated from Finland, where many Finnish families settled in different parts of the U.S.
In central Appalachia, Finnish culture thrived for a time, with communities forming around churches and social clubs. But over time, many of these traditions faded as people moved away or blended into the broader culture. Kim, however, kept her family’s heritage alive by going to Finnish festivals in Florida, where she always craved her great aunt’s delicious kaumo bread, which has a uniquely indulgent and moist quality.
With Sylvia no longer around to guide her, Kim faced a challenge: how to recreate this cherished family recipe. She reached out to one of Sylvia’s nieces, who helped her find an old recipe card that had the ingredients but lacked directions. Determined, Kim combined that with online recipes to attempt her first batch of nisu.
The result? Not quite right. It lacked the memorable texture of Sylvia’s bread. But Kim didn’t give up. She soon contacted another family member who provided bits of another recipe, revealing more key details. With perseverance, Kim learned that the milk needed to be almost boiling before mixing it with the flour. She finally crafted a batch that brought back those gooey memories.
In her quest to bring balance to traditional flavors, Kim unknowingly revived a dish that once graced tables in Appalachia. But then came a twist. In 2020, during the COVID lockdown, Kim craved cinnamon rolls but couldn’t buy any. So she decided to make her own using the skills she had learned from making nisu.
Instead of braiding the dough, she rolled it out flat, added butter and cinnamon sugar, then cut it into medallions to rise before baking. The hasil? The flavorful, moist dough was everything she’d hoped for. The only thing left was icing, which needed to be shelf-stable due to food rules in West Virginia. After searching for a recipe, she came up with a delightful mix of sugar, melted butter, and plenty of vanilla.
Now, her “Finn-amon” rolls, named by her husband, have become a hit. Kim recalls one compliment from a teenage boy who was amazed to find the best cinnamon rolls he’d ever tasted.
Kim wants to ensure these rolls are part of her family’s future, just like her great aunt’s recipe was nearly lost. Her son Jackson is getting interested in baking, and she plans to involve him in making the Finn-amon rolls.
However, she admits with a laugh that she doesn’t have an exact recipe for him to follow; everything is a bit of a mix. She realizes she should probably write it down someday.
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This story is part of the Inside Appalachia Folkways Reporting Project, a collaboration with West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
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Arts & Culture,Arts & Culture,Baking,Cinnamon Rolls,Family Tradition,Finland,Folkways,Foodways,Inside Appalachia,Inside Appalachia Folkways Project
