December's Sweet Roll Round Up

I see that there are other bloggers out there who appreciate the Sweet Roll just as much as me...

SWtR will give you some blogger love and feature you here this month. Here is my sweet roll round up:

Sweet Potato Pecan Cinnamon Rolls - drizzled with a sweet potato glaze - and it's vegan! From Lauren at Healthy Food for Living.

Photo credit: Healthy Food for Living

This next one is not a roll - but a cookie! But hey, I love cookies, too. It's from Darla at Bakingdom. She says they are just as good as the real thing. I'm going to have to bake them to find out. They look really yummy. She calls them Cinnarookies!

Photo credit: Bakingdom

This next one is very out there. I'm liking the sound of it a lot. I mean, oreos - come on! I love them. They are my absolute favorite... in ice cream... and maybe in sweet rolls, too. Now I have to try these: Black Forest Buns by Irene of Sunshine's Kitchen. Irene, I'm new to your blog - and I'm loving it already :)

Photo credit: Sunshine's photography

That's the round up. Check out the other links in the Cran-apple Cider and Pumpkin Pie Post. You won't be disappointed.

Root Beer, Ginger Ale and Eggnog Sweet Rolls

Root Beer & Cinnamon Sweet Rolls - Trial 1 (all purpose flour and whole wheat/rye blend)

So, soda! I've been experimenting with soda pop in my sweet rolls. I love it. Add a little bit of yeast to soda and it really bubbles up... fast!

First I tried Root Beer. I made them twice in a week. The first time I made them dark - with a whole wheat/rye blended flour and with molasses. The second time I kept them simple with all-purpose flour. I liked them better the second time. My husband like them better the first. But both times we said - we taste the cinnamon more than the Root Beer. So, I'm still in experimental stage with that one. I think I will order some Root Beer extract because I want that sasssafrass flavor to really stand out.

Today I popped open a can of ginger beer. This was not your standard Canada Dry Ginger Ale... this was ginger beer from Jamaica. And you can really taste the ginger in this soda brand. So I didn't add too much ginger in the filling - and in the end, it was a sweet roll with not a lot of flavor. So, I still want to experiment with that as well. I'm thinking I'll combine it with pineapple. It needs something fruity I think... because just ginger is kind of boring... maybe. I could try it a few more times with some changes... we'll see.

Root Beer & Cinnamon Sweet Rolls - Trial 2 (all-purpose flour)

I'm excited about baking with soda. The texture and elasticity of the dough is just spot on! I'm going to try some other flavors out, too - not this month - probably in January. I'm thinking Wild Cherry Pepsi - and leaning towards my favorite European soda: Cassis! Yum.

I've also been working on a Holiday Eggnog Sweet Roll with a Struesel Topping... that one also turned out a bit bland. Needs more rum flavoring and perhaps some raisins and nuts to give it something more. We loved the struesel topping though - definitely keeping that!

Holiday Eggnog Sweet Rolls with Struesel Topping - Trial 1

Lots of baking going on over here... and trying to decide what kind of roll to bake for Christmas (or rather 2e Kerstdag).

Mark's vote is something orange-y. So, I'll probably try those orange-sticky cinnabuns recommended by 17&Baking.

Cran-Apple Cider and Pumpkin Pie Sweet Rolls

At our annual Church Christmas Dinner this year I brought home-made Cran-Apple Cider. I tripled the recipe and discovered that hot cider is not that popular among the Dutch - and maybe it was also because we had a small turn out this year. The food was good, though. Well, I wasn't just gonna let all that cider go to waste so I brought it back home. We've been drinking it cold - the kids like it a lot better this way, and admittedly, I do, too. Then I got to thinking, like I always do - how about cider in sweet rolls. Heck, why not? I used Root Beer last week - so this week I used cider.

(I'll post the Root Beer Sweet Roll recipes next week probably. I've also got a Eggnog Sweet Roll recipe in the works.)

Usually, less is more. True for a lot of things. But this time, not only did I use the cran-apple cider, but I paired it with pumpkin pie filling (like Oh She Glows) and added in fresh cranberries and holiday apple pie muesli.

The thing I liked best about these rolls - they were sweet and tart! And even though I don't yet have a top 10 favorite rolls list on here... if I did - this one would be on the top 10 - that's how good they are.

This was also my first time baking with cranberries. I totally like cranberries now. I'm going to go out into blogdom and look for more cranberry recipes to try. I found one already - tomorrow will be a good day to try them: Fresh Cranberry Orange Cookies.

It seems I'm not the only one baking sweet rolls with cranberries. Yesterday I saw these: Cranberry Sweet Rolls at Bravetart by Stella Parks. Hers look super tasty. Cranberry with cream cheese topping - can't go wrong with that!

Do you have a favorite recipe to bake with cranberries? Do share!

Recipe: Cran-Apple Cider + Pumpkin Pie Sweet Rolls
Makes 12 large rolls

1 cup warm cran-apple cider
1 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 egg
1/4 cup oil or melted margarine or shortening
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour

Filling:

• 1/2 cup Libby's pumpkin pie filling or make your own. I did. Here's what I did. Combine 1/2 cup canned plain pumpkin puree plus 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon plus 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg plus 1/8 teaspoon ginger plus smidgen ground clove plus 1/4 cup light brown sugar.
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup fresh cranberries, washed and rinsed
• 1 cup Cruesli brand Appel Taart cereal or similar

Glaze:
175 - 250 grams powdered sugar
3 tablespoons cran-apple cider
1 tablespoon butter

Optional: sugar crystals

1. Dissolve yeast in warm cran-apple cider. Let bubble.
2. Add egg and melted margarine. Blend well.
3. Stir in salt and flour and blend till elastic, not too sticky doughy ball.
4. Knead 6-8 minutes on lightly floured surface. Very important step here - don't skip it.
5. Butter bowl. Put dough in bowl and turn to coat top. Cover and let rise in warm place. I use the oven - I put at a very low temperature - the lowest temperature and that's a nice warm place for dough to rise.
6. Punch down dough. Let rest 5 - 10 minutes. You gotta have a lot of patience with sweet rolls - just wait a bit now.
7. You can prepare the filling while you wait. Over low heat in a small pan warm the pumpkin pie mix and butter till gently warm and butter melted.
8. Roll out dough into large rectangular shape about 1 centimeter thick. Yeah, if it's too thin, it might rip when you are rolling it up and we are really gonna stuff a lot in there this time so do what I suggest, eh ;)
9. Spread with pumpkin pie filling. Sprinkle cereal and cranberries evenly over top (as shown in photo).
10. Roll up jelly roll style. Careful this time because there is a lot in there and we want it to stay in the dough. Cut into 12 equal slices. Place on prepared baking sheet or buttered casserole dish if you like them snuggled up together. Let rise a second time. Again I do this in the oven - about 50-degrees C works for me - only 30 minutes and then we're ready to bake!
11. Bake rolls in hot air oven at 175-degrees C for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden. Adjust time for other ovens - sorry you'll have to figure that out yourself - as all ovens are a bit different.
12. Prepare glaze. Again in a small pan over very low heat melt butter and stir in cran-apple cider and enough powdered sugar for desired spreading consistency. Remove rolls from oven and while still hot pour glaze over top. Or if you want to really see the glaze a bit more, let them cool a bit first, then add topping. If you really want it thicker add more powdered sugar - then it will have more of a cake frosting consistency. It's really up to you how you like it. I also sprinkled some red sugar crystals on because my husband likes the crunchy sugar. Just go wild!

Oh how they glisten - drizzled with glaze - and sprinkled with sugar!

Up close and personal with my sweet roll

Hmmmm-mmmm. Delish.