Sweet Rolls that Rock

The Drawing

2012-01-04T12:31:00.000-08:00

One Sunday during our regular church meeting Kailea drew this family in the park - it's got kids on the swing set dressed like mini Zwarte Piets and on the left side a picknick featuring sweet rolls!

Ah ha - I thought it was so creative of her to just come up with something like that. Plus, I know you all can't see the progress she's made, but there is progress in her drawings, for example, these figures have shoulders! No more stick figures and she's only 5 1/2! My children are such artists!

Spoonflower sweet rolls designs

2012-01-02T12:45:00.000-08:00

In the month of December, I did something different. Yes, I did bake some sweet rolls, and when I have the time I may or may not publish those here...

What I did was a designed some sweet roll designs for fabric and put them over at Spoonflower.com. I also entered some in a few contests.

See here:

Coordinates Sweet Rolls Design - pastel and kawaii, stripes and dots, garden border motif

Recipe Sweet Rolls Contest

It was fun to do... I don't know if I will continue with sweet roll designs or sweet roll recipes for that matter... because I'm doing something totally new and different for 2012... I'm completely redesigning - myself!

And I'm so happy to finally be taking the plunge... here's to a healthy more energetic new year and new me!

Stracciatella Sweet Rolls

2011-11-17T11:30:00.001-08:00

These are a 10, ten, Ten, TEN. They are good. Okay, maybe I'm a little too confident. My man rated them a 9 out of 10. And one of my best girlfriends rated them a 8.5 out of 10. That's a pretty good rating especially for two people who went to the higher level high schools here in the Netherlands. I'm told it's pretty much impossible to earn a 10. Unlike the United States where A's are given left and right. Just sayin' ...so in my opinion anything above 8 is pretty much the same thing as a 10.

Anyway, I was walking through the Aldi checking out new products when I come across Stracciatella boterham pasta - that's Dutch for sandwich spread. That's one of the sweet things about living in Europe... we don't just have Nutella - we have just about anything you can think of to spread on bread. So, I see it and grab a jar of it and try it out at home immediately... and to be honest, on bread it's a bit boring... but I know I can do something more with it. I try it sandwiched between to ginger cookies and I like it.

Yeah so I figured it would be better as dessert, obviously.

I knew I would need to create a Stracciatella sweet roll that featured this spread. So, I did. But I didn't just smear it inside regular dough - I made the dough - yes, but I sprinkled it and kneaded it throughout with chocolate pieces. Then I topped the baked rolls with more yummy delish stracciatella glaze - three times we have stracciatella and it works. It's just plain awesome. They are so good... and for once, I'll be making these for Thanksgiving dessert instead of pumpkin sweet rolls - which, let's admit - are a little overdone. Pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cinnamon rolls - I've had enough pumpkin... I'm having stracciatella!

I like to think of myself as trend setter - I'm just ahead of my time.

I go back to the Aldi, only about a week later, and this stuff is completely cleaned out... so I searched and I hoped and down under all the caramel sandwich spread, I find one lone jar of stracciatella spread - yes... it's mine, it's all mine!

In a large glass bowl, combine 2 tablespoons warm milk and 1 package vanilla sugar plus 1 teaspoon active dry or instant yeast. Let rest.
Add in 1/2 cup slightly warm milk, 1/4 cup caster sugar, and 1/4 cup light colored oil (vegetable oil) plus 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix in 2 to 2 1/4 cups white all purpose flour. Knead until dough is not too sticky and then put into oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
Let rise in warm place until doubled. After about one hour, punch down dough. Knead in about 2 tablespoons dark chocolate flavored flakes or finely chopped dark chocolate pieces. Let rest 10-20 minutes.

Roll out into rectangle. Spread with 1/4 to 1/3 cup Stracciatella sandwich spread and sprinkle about 1/2 teaspoon gingerbread or pumpkin pie spice over that. Roll up and cut into 8 equal slices. Place into a buttered glass casserole or pie plate. Let rise again in warm place till doubled - about 30 minutes.

Bake in preheated oven 175-C for 10 minutes, then adjust the heat to 150-C and continue to bake 5-10 minutes till dough springs back lightly when touched. Remove from oven. Let cool slightly.
Prepare glaze: mix together 1 cup sifted powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons milk and 1/4 teaspoon clear vanilla extract. Blend in 1/2 to 1 teaspoon dark chocolate flakes. Then stir in about 2 tablespoons stracciatella sandwich spread. Drizzle this mixture evenly over rolls.

Makes 8 sweet rolls that rock - serve warm. Even yummy the next day - just warm them in the microwave for about 30 seconds on high power.

Mango Lassi-inspired Sweet Roll

2011-11-02T13:24:00.000-07:00

I have a favorite drink I like to serve whenever I make Indian Butter Chicken which is one of our family favorites and that is Mango Lassi. I love it. In fact, I remember that in college I use to order a tall Mango Lassi and Naan bread and nothing else. That is what I would get when everyone else was ordering pizza.

I have a favorite recipe for Mango Lassi that I found at food.com - from celebrity chef Emeril and I love the combinations of orange juice and mango.... so smoothie like. Try out the recipe linked I think you'll love it - add a pinch of cardamom - that's good, too.

Anyway, my little girl asked me the other day "when are you going to make sweet rolls again?" so I decided to make a Mango Lassi sweet roll and it turned out alright. In fact, it was just plain good. These are yummy - dare I say, it's in my top 5 favorite sweet rolls from this blog.

So, here goes:

In another small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons warm orange juice, 1 heaping teaspoon active dry yeast or instant yeast and about 1 teaspoon white sugar. Let rest about 5 minutes.
In a large glass bowl, mix 1/2 cup plain non-fat yogurt with scant 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 heaping tablespoon fresh grated orange zest (from one small orange). Add in yeast mixture, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 4 tablespoons vegetable oil and 1 3/4 to 2 cups all purpose flour. Mix until the dough doesn't stick to the spoon anymore. Knead a few minutes then let rise in a oiled bowl in warm place for at least 1 hour.
Punch down dough and let rest 10 minutes. Then prepare filling: in small bowl mix together 1tablespoon yogurt + 1 tablespoon honey + 1 tablespoon rose flavored syrup and 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface into about 12 inch by 12 inch square. Spread filling over dough. Roll up, cut into 8 equal slices and place into buttered/oiled pie plate or glass casserole. Let rise again about 30 minutes. Make indentation into each roll and spoon in tablespoonfuls of mango jelly or mango syrup into each indentation.
Bake in preheated oven 175-C degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and springs back when poked. Remove from oven and cool. Then mix in a small bowl 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar, 2 tablespoon yogurt, 1/8 teaspoon each orange extract and vanilla extract. Drizzle over rolls. Makes 8 sweet rolls that rock. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

~ ~ ~

The funny thing is that the finished product - the mango syrup centered rolls look a lot like runny egg yolks. No matter the looks, they taste great!

No egg yolks here, just mango syrup!

Some of my favorite products - both good - I've used the mango dessert sauce mainly with ice cream and yogurt parfaits - it went great with the sweet rolls. I've got lots of future plans for using up the rose syrup... the combination of rose syrup, honey and cardamom is pure awesomeness - definitely going to do more with that in future sweet rolls that rock :)

Linked here:

White Chocolate and "Pepernoten" Sweet Rolls

2011-10-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

It's fall - it's that time of year again when suddenly I feel like baking a whole lot more - nice to warm the house up with yummy cinnamon-y smells. Can't think of anything better than sweet rolls to make - that's because there is nothing better!

My very good friend requested a special sweet roll for a special occasion. She gave birth to her second daughter and wanted something yummy to eat. She said, please make me some with that good buttercreamy frosting - you know I like it thick!

She also requested white chocolate and a little something extra - so we decided together that pepernoten deserves a chance in these rolls. Pepernoten are little spice cookies that come out this time of year in the Netherlands. They are kind of like gingersnaps - but not that gingery. Originally, they were spiced with black pepper - until more spices came along. We still call them pepernoten - translated literally as pepper nuts - however, they also sell under the name "kruidennoten" - meaning spice nuts. Although there are no nuts contained in - they are just small and snackable like nuts.

So I used a very sticky dough - that rises a lot. They turned out very large - extra large - kind of like a Cinnabon - large roll. Here's what I did:

In a large glass bowl, combined 1 cup warm water with 2 tablespoon sugar, 2 teaspoons yeast, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon oil. Mix around then blend in 2 cups white flour (I used a combination of 1.5 cups white all purpose flour and 1/2 cup fresh ground whole wheat flour). Cover with plastic wrap then let rise 1 hour in warm place. Mix again to get bubbles out and let rest 20 minutes. Then pull out of bowl and knead slightly with 1/2 cup flour - and roll out with rolling pin into good size rectangle.

Filling: melt 2 tablespoons white chocolate together with 1 tablespoon butter and spread over dough. Sprinkle with 2 handfuls crushed pepernoten and about 1/4 cup brown sugar. Sprinkle a generous amount of ground cinnamon over that. Roll up and slice into 8 equal slices - careful - it's sticky. Place cut side up into buttered pie plate or casserole dish. Let rise in warm place 20-30 minutes then bake 15-20 minutes at 190-C degrees.

Prepare frosting: warm a small bowl of about 1 tablespoon whipping cream together with half vanilla pod - slit down the center. Scrape out vanilla speckles into the cream. Melt 25 grams white chocolate, set aside. In a mixer, whip 4 ounces cream cheese and 1/4 cup butter till creamy. Blend in melted white chocolate and vanilla cream. Blend in around 2 cups sifted powdered sugar or a bit more or less to desired consistency.

When rolls come out of oven, you may pour the frosting over top - and then you will have more of a glazed effect with the frosting. Or you can wait till they cool a little and then put the frosting over - which is how my friend prefers the frosting... she likes it thick! Then sprinkle another handful crushed pepernoten over top.

(Note: in the photo, I did not use a lot of frosting - definitely should have poured quite a bit more on top - it's just that it was so so sweet!)

Root beer Cinnamon Rolls - made with Root beer Jelly!

2011-10-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a Root beer Cinnamon roll for about a year now. And on my third try - I'm pretty happy with the results... third time is the charm... and I've even created Root beer jelly for such an occasion!

To make these rolls you will need a can of Root beer and Root beer extract.

Okay, let's rock this thing :)

In a bowl, combine 150ml warm Root beer, 2 tablespoons melted butter and 1.5 teaspoons active dry yeast. Then mix in up to 2 cups BASIC ROLL MIX. Put dough out onto floured surface and knead until desired elastic consistency. Then place into buttered bowl, turn dough to butter top and cover with plastic wrap. Place bowl in warm place for dough to double in size about 60-90 minutes.

Make Root beer jelly filling: in a small saucepan, combine 100ml cold Root beer and 1 gelatin sheet. Blend in 2 tablespoons sifted cornstarch and turn on the heat over low flame. Stir until mixture thickens and almost begins to boil. Then remove from heat and stir in 1/4 teaspoon each vanilla extract, ground cinnamon and Root beer extract. Let cool completely.

When dough is risen, punch down and let rest another 10-20 minutes. Then turn out onto lightly floured surface and roll out with rolling pin into a good size rectangle. Spread with Root beer jelly. Roll up into jelly roll and slice into 8 equal slices. Place rolls into buttered pie pan or glass casserole dish and let rise a second time in warm place 30-45 minutes.

Prepare frosting/glaze - combine in a mixer or small bowl and mix by hand 1/2 to 1 cup (5/8 cup) sifted powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon Root beer, 1/4 teaspoon Root beer extract, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract and (optional: 1 tablespoon sifted chocolate milk powder - such as Nesquik - this makes it taste kind a like chocolate Tootsie pops in my opinion!)

Once risen second time, bake in heated oven at 190-C degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and bounces back when poked lightly with finger. Remove from oven and cool. Then drizzle with prepared glaze and give a light dusting of cinnamon or powdered sugar if wanted.

Creepy Green Halloween Sweet Rolls

2011-10-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

These are definitely creepy for the kids - because not only are they green - but the ingredient list is also green - it's not food dye - it's vegetables! This is sort of a mix between trick or treat! Literally - it's a treat because it's sweet - but it's a trick because you are gonna try and trick people into eating things like spinach, avocado and wheat grass! Yes, that's right!

These are my - good for you - good for your body - excuse to eat one more - sweet rolls :)

Okay, here's what I've done... I've used fresh ground whole wheat, freshly juiced apples, fresh ingredients - and to my surprise - it's kind of good.

without the green stuff...

But the kids can't be fooled... my picky eaters, took one look and said, no thanks Mom... and "if you don't tell me what's in it, I'm not going to eat it" - what a wimpy Dad. ;) ha ha

So - to make 8 creepy beastly-goblin-ogre-monster-whatever ya theme sweet rolls do this:

Mix together 1.5 teaspoons active dry yeast and 3/4 cup warm apple juice (cored and juiced). I say to core the apples (I used 3 small to get approximately 3/4 cup of juice), because we are gonna use the leftover pulp in the filling!

Steam a couple handfuls of fresh spinach greens till slightly wilted. Then puree with handheld blender. Measure out 3/8 cup (6 tablespoons) of spinach puree and add to the yeast mixture. Use any remaining spinach puree in the filling.

Add 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil or butter to the yeast mixture. Blend in 2 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour to the mix. Now add in 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix around with a good spoon. And then add up to 1 cup more of the whole wheat flour - turn out onto floured surface and knead till you have a good elastic textured dough.

Butter a large glass bowl. Turn dough into bowl and turn around in bowl to cover dough with butter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rest in warm place till doubled in size (about 90 minutes).

...with just a sprinkling of cinnamon...

To prepare filling, combine juiced apple pulp, any remaining spinach puree and another half to 1 small apple, cored and finely diced. Stir in 1/4 cup honey and 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon.

When dough has doubled, turn out onto lightly floured surface and roll out into rectangle. Spread filling mixture evenly over dough. Roll up jelly roll style and slice into 8 equal pieces. Arrange pieces in buttered pie plate or casserole dish. Let rise second time in warm place - another 45 minutes. Bake in oven heated to 190-C degrees for 15-20 minutes - until when you poke lightly with your finger, the dough bounces back.

Prepare topping: with handheld mixer, or food processor fitted with whip attachment, whip together till smooth half avocado and 1 heaping tablespoonful of honey. If desired - totally optional here - blend in 1/2 teaspoon powdered wheat grass or spirulina (kids really might not like the flavor though - so watch out). To thicken it a bit - blend in 1 tablespoon sifted cornstarch. Then refrigerate until ready to use.

Optional honey chocolate glaze - I have some in the freezer and I just defrosted it for this recipe, and then it went back into the freezer for later use - but here it is: 3/4 cup Dutch-processed Cocoa powder, mixed with 2/3 cup honey and 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream - blend together and heat in small sauce pan until all the cocoa lumps are well blended - lightly bring to boil then remove from heat. Set aside to cool and use as an awesome topping for all kinds of desserts.

After the rolls are out of the oven and have cooled off a bit, scoop a tablespoonful of the avocado-honey frosting onto each roll and spread around. Optional - add the honey chocolate glaze in a spiral-spider web effect if wanted. And sprinkle with some cinnamon powder... if you have any cool plastic black spiders, add those too - I'm much too wimpy to use anything like that on my food though. I really detest spiders.

Root Beer Cinnamon Rolls... take 2, er 3.

2011-09-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

This is my second attempt at Root Beer Cinnamon Rolls... and the frosting turned out a little bit better but it's still not quite there... I'm gonna retry them again this weekend - like Sunday or early in next week if possible... I'm almost there...

This time to try and bring out more Root Beer flavor I used Root Beer extract... but it didn' t quite cut it - maybe it was the brand I used. If anyone has experience with Root Beer extract, can they send their suggestions my way - just comment below. Here's what I used:

I mostly chose it over the other brands because it just looked so kitchy and I liked that old fashioned design to the label. When you open up the bottle - the smell is so strong... but I must of used more than a tablespoon of extract in the frosting... and that's not usually the case when I work with other extracts... also kind of bothered me that the frosting turned a chocolate brown...

although, in a kitchen concoction tonight at dinner, I've discovered that Root beer mixed with chocolate milk tastes a lot like Tootsie Pops (the chocolate ones, of course).

So, If I can perfect the Root Beer Cinnamon Rolls... I may also throw in a bit of chocolate into the mix... because, in my opinion - Root beer + chocolate = good combo!

In which case... chocolate brown frosting will be acceptable!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cinnamon Rolls

2011-08-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

Last month I bake my first ever Pineapple Upside-Down Cake... in honor of my Grandma Betty - view post here.

This month I decided to make some cinnamon rolls upside down with pineapples and some fresh Cherry Rhubarb Jam - which I had just whipped up.

So, next time you plan on baking up your favorite cinnamon rolls - consider doing this:

Melt butter and put into cake pan or glass casserole dish. Arrange pineapple slices, cherries (which is traditional in Pineapple-upside down cake) or in my case, I used the Cherry Rhubarb Jam. Add some chopped nuts to fill in the gaps. I used a combination of pecan and hazelnut. When you make cake you also put in brown sugar, but I left that out since it is rolled into the cinnamon rolls.

Use your favorite dough recipe - enough for about 8 large rolls - (I'll include below the awesome recipe I used), roll out dough, fill with melted butter, brown sugar and cinnamon and cut into 8 equal slices.

Place these 8 slices right side up evenly over pineapple layer. Place into warm oven (not hot) just warm enough to get the dough to rise a second time. Should take about 30 minutes or less.

Here they are just risen and ready to bake, adjust oven temperature... (but beware - see I used this pan, and if you use one just like it - put some foil or another baking sheet below it to catch the drippings - other wise you are gonna end up with smoke and the loud annoying beeping of the smoke detector!)

Remove from oven and cool about 10 to 15 minutes. Then remove sides of cake pan (spring form) and put a large platter or pizza plate over the top (inverted) then flip it over or turn it over or whatever - you know what I mean. Then you may or may not need a spatula to slide everything back onto the rolls. I needed a spatula because it was a bit sticky... and I just rearranged the slices into place.

Ta-Da!

Now, grab a plate and fork and enjoy!

The Awesome Recipe:

Using this recipe adapted from uTry.It Philly Friendship Braided Bread

TangZhong Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Boiling Water
1/4 Cup Bread Flour

Bread Dough Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Warm Milk
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
3 Tablespoon Sugar
3 Tablespoon Melted Butter
1 1/2 Cup Bread Flour
1 1/3 Teaspoon Active Dry Yeast

Filling Ingredients:

1 tablespoon melted butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

Generous sprinkling of cinnamon

Pineapple-Upside Down ingredients:

1 can pineapple slices

Cherries or Cherry Jam

Chopped Nuts

2 tablespoons melted butter

To Make The TangZhong:
Place bread flour in a small bowl, pour boiling water over the bread flour and stir quickly with a fork to combine until no lumps.
Wrap mixture (it'll be a very wet dough) with plastic wrap, form dough in ball/round shape and leave in refrigerator overnight.

To Make The Rolls:
1. Take out the TangZhong from the fridge at least an hour before use (I usually leave it on countertop until it's room temperature).
2. In a bread machine, pour in ingredient in this order, warm milk, TangZhong 湯種, salt, sugar, butter, bread flour and yeast. Set bread machine to dough setting according to its user menu.

In the meantime, prepare cake pan or glass casserole dish: melt 1 tbsp butter and coat the bottom of the pan. Place one pineapple slice in the center. Then place the other slices around. If the other 7 slices don't fit evenly in the pan, as it was with me, then slice them in half and arrange as pictures. Put a little cherry or jam in the hole of each pineapple. Chop some nuts and fill in the gaps. I used a combination of pecan and hazelnut but pecan is just fine.

3. When dough is ready, take it out from bread machine and punch it a few times to deflate it. Roll out into large rectangle. Spread with melted butter. Then spread brown sugar and sprinkle with cinnamon.

4. Roll it up into a log and cut equally into 8 slices. Place these slices over and evenly into the prepared pan. Place in warm oven for about 30 minutes to rise a second time.

5. After it has risen, bake at 175-C degrees for about 15-20 minutes. Then take out and cool till pan is easy to handle. Put a large plate over the pan and invert the pan over, flip it - turn it. The cinnamon rolls and pineapples should come out easily but if they don't, just arrange everything back as it should look.

Makes 8 - serve warm!

Lovely Cake Batter Sweet Rolls

2011-07-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

Anyone ever heard of How Sweet it Is?

It's a very well known blog - from a girl, Jessica who bakes all kind of glorious treats... she's really creative with food because she loves it... a lot, like A lot - A LOT! Seriously, there isn't anything she hasn't thought of.

A while back she was baking all kinds of yummy things with cake batter - apparently that was very popular in baking-blogdom for a while, I never really joined the band wagon because we don't have yellow cake batter here in the Netherlands... at least, it's not the same as the yellow cake batter that you can get in the U.S.A.

I vaguely remember contacting her and asking her to make cinnamon rolls with cake batter... seriously I did. Cuz, like I said, I can't bake 'em I don't have the supplies... and finally one day right there in my Google reader I see she did it! She made cinnamon rolls with cake batter - oh my!

Then, finally, after waiting months and months, I and my family made a trip to the old country as I like to call it and I bought myself a box of Funfetti cake mix. Can you believe it only cost $1.00 at good old Wal*mart? Cake mix is cheaper than a loaf of bread!

Crazy, I know. I also got some of that Funfetti frosting to go along with the cake mix... and of course, I never intended on baking cake with it... I always wanted to make these inspirational Cake Batter Cinnamon Rolls from Jessica.

She makes her's using the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon roll dough recipe... but I used my BASIC ROLL recipe and I used the store bought Funfetti frosting... very easy!

Before baking - overflowing in melted butter...

After! So colorful - playful - yummyful?!

They were really very good - and an easy way to do up plain cinnamon rolls... Just sprinkle some cake batter in with your cinnamon filling and top off with the Funfetti frosting... I think it's from Betty Crocker?

I'd much rather have this than regular birthday cake... anyday!

(Also, shared in April's Sweet Roll Linky Party, Blogger of Melissa's Cuisine linked her version of these Funfetti Cinnamon Rolls)

Sweet Rolls-O-Rama - May Linky Party & Philly Friendship Braided Bread

2011-05-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

Let's review April's link ups - what a great turn out - we've almost doubled the link ups - we had 9 in March and 16 in April. Thanks to everyone that joined. They all look fabulous.

~~~~~~

Every month, I'm going to try one linked up recipe... from March, I tried the Philly Friendship Braided Bread... yum yum... what a perfect Easter-morning breakfast treat :)

I gotta tell ya, they tasted like Toaster Strudels - but like better! Here are mine... and I had some leftover dough from another project - we made two kinds of rolls Easter weekend - and so I did the braided bun thing together with my daughter to make sort of like an Amish girl - check it out:

Before baking, see the difference in the doughs - the Philly Friendship Braided Bread is some of the "wettest" dough I've every worked with - it was different but the taste is sensational!

I filled them with Bonne cream cheese and raspberry jam - and I brushed them with a simple glaze from the Bunny Buns - so yummy together - they probably don't need that but I just happen to have some leftover and a little extra sugar never hurt anyone (I hope not).

So, it's kind of like a little Amish girl from the backside, I love the braid - and it just shows that you can do just about anything with dough - mostly I roll everything up very traditionally, it was fun to break out of the box and just make something totally different.

This month... May, I will be on vacation in America - yippee!
I'm so happy :)

I will leave the linkytool up for anyone to join but I won't personally invite anyone until I return from vacation.

If you've done this before you know the routine. If not, it goes like this:

Link up your sweet roll creation and include link to specific post URL (not the main page).
So that everyone can find us from your blog and get some linky love - please link back to Sweet Rolls that Rock with either a text link or a link button.
Leave a comment below.
Would be nice to give all participants some traffic, do visit at least 2 other blogs in the party. Browse around. We all like comment love - so give some and get some :)
Suggestion: Bookmark or keep link button to this blog so you can easily link up your future sweet roll creations the first of every month.

Bunny Buns - Easter Weekend

2011-04-23T12:07:00.000-07:00

I totally thought I was just gonna make one kind of sweet roll this weekend, but then I finally got my April edition Friend magazine and saw this:

You can find a link to it here: Bunny Buns @ Friend Magazine

And I couldn't resist. So, I decided to make two kinds of sweet rolls and I'm so glad I did. I made the Bunny Buns together with the kids. I let Kailea roll up and twist the dough. She and Ella also got to help with kneading the dough. That was fun. Next time I'm gonna loosen up even more and let her crack the eggs - she's gotta learn sometime, right?

The making of bunny buns - see I'm not doing all the work, Ella is putting decorations on...

Here are our bunny buns... I gotta tell ya - the hardest part was putting the decorations on the finished roll... well, actually the hardest part was eating just one and putting the rest away for later... but you know what I meant, right ;)

yum yum - bunny buns

I pretty much followed the recipe exact, the one minor adjustment I did was I added a wee bit of vanilla extract to the glaze - everything else I did follow to a T. The dough was excellent and I love the citrus smell throughout the house.

This one turned out the best... then we got lazy.

I totally want to make this my Easter tradition just like that family did - that's mentioned in the inside front cover of the Friend. Our family is young and we need some good holiday traditions like these.

Here we have our Picasso-style bunny buns - the kids being quick to finish - they just wanted to eat one already - and I did, too.

Stay tuned... next week I 'll show you the other sweet roll we made this weekend - they tasted like Toaster Strudels... and Kailea and I made one that looks like an Amish girl with a braid :)

This post linked to:

Sweet Rolls-O-Rama Monthly Linky Party

2011-04-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

Last month - March - I hosted my first ever linky party. It was small but successful and fun. This month the Linky Party is open for three weeks. I hope to meet lots of new blogs and look forward to the creations :P

So, let's do this again. I've been out and about on many other blogs and I've seen and invited many of you to join up and link your awesome sweet rolls that rock. Tell your friends to join in the fun, too.

If you've done this before you know the routine. If not, it goes like this:

Link up your sweet roll creation and include link to specific post URL (not the main page).
So that everyone can find us from your blog and get some linky love - please link back to Sweet Rolls that Rock with either a text link or a link button.
Leave a comment below.
Would be nice to give all participants some traffic, do visit at least 2 other blogs in the party. Browse around. We all like comment love - so give some and get some :)
Suggestion: Bookmark or keep link button to this blog so you can easily link up your future sweet roll creations the first of every month.

And a reminder of March Sweet Roll link ups!

Toblerone-filled Honey and Almond Sweet Rolls

2011-03-31T13:41:00.000-07:00

Coarsely chop one Toblerone bar - and try not to eat too much of it - you'll want it on for the rolls.

I've been going through a fun little cookbook called My Best Friend Named Chocolate. It's inspired me to use chocolate more freely in other areas as well. And not just baking chocolate or cocoa - but Toblerone as well. The other day I whipped up a batch of these:

Check out those melted pieces of Toblerone bursting out... now comes the good part... the glaze!

I used my simple BASIC ROLL MIX. Filled the dough with a slightly spicy yet sweet honey spread. Then I divided the chopped Toblerone evenly over and rolled it up, sliced... and baked 'em. Next came a second helping of more yummy goodness:

One wicked sweet roll exploding with goodness!

A shiny sweet glaze and toasted almond pieces make this one awesome taste experience. I'm sure to enjoy them again and again.

For 12 rolls use BASIC ROLL MIX or other hot roll mix for your basic dough. So, I do this:

Combine in a mixing bowl 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast, 3/4 cup warm water - let sit to become foamy. Then add 1 egg, beaten and 1/4 cup melted margarine or vegetable oil. Mix in 3 cups BASIC ROLL MIX and extra flour if needed to make a soft, not too sticky elastic ball of dough. Put into a bowl buttered with oil and turn to coat. Place someplace warm like the oven on it's lowest setting for at least an hour to rise, covered with plastic wrap.
Then prepare filling. Stir together in a small bowl 2 Tablespoons Dutch cocoa powder, 2 heaping teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1/2 heaping teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine and 1/2 cup agave syrup or honey (I like honey).
After dough has doubled in size, punch down and let rest 10 minutes. Then roll out on floured surface to good size rectangle shape - about 1 centimeter thick. Spread with filling and coarsely chopped Toblerone. Roll up and slice into 12 equal pieces and place on prepared baking sheets to rise again (about 30 minutes in oven on the lowest setting).
Prepare frosting and toast almonds, if using. For frosting combine in a mixer 1/4 cup butter or margarine at room temperature, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/8 teaspoon almond extract and 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar. Mix well, continue mixing and adding in powdered sugar up to 2 cups total and 2 tablespoons water or milk to thin as desired. Keep beating up to 10 minutes. This makes the frosting nice and fluffy. Great for topping your rolls if you like your frosting piled high - then wait till they cool a little while before you do that otherwise the frosting turns to glaze as it melts all over the place on hot rolls (but I like it this way, too).
After rolls have doubled a second time, bake in oven at 175-C degrees for 15 minutes or so. Keep an eye on them so they don't burn. All ovens are different so really - keep your eye on them. If it needs to go longer - go ahead but I noticed if I tap the top of the bun or lift it a little with the spatula you can see if it's cooked well enough on top and underneath.
Top with frosting/glaze and toasted almonds. They are very sweet so I suggest serving them with a nice tall and cold glass of milk :)

Shamrock Sweet Rolls

2011-03-17T13:03:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I really loved this combination of chocolate filled sweet rolls with minty frosting. The dough was moist and not too dry. It was excellent.

I used the BASIC ROLL MIX and then filled it with chocolate mousse filling from Wilton.com and then used up some left over minty frosting we had from a Birthday party at the beginning of the month and just had those sprinkles in the cupboard as well.

Baking sweet rolls just comes naturally to me :)

Simply put four sweet rolls together in the shape of a shamrock or 4-leaf clover and then frost as desired. Serve warm!

Linked to:

Cinnamon Roll Doughnuts with Warm Vanilla Glaze and Sprinkles

2011-03-14T13:26:00.000-07:00

Two things I love combined into one delicious ~~threat~~ treat. Okay, okay - it is threat to my diet and my hips. But they are so yummy!

C'mon, who doens't love a crispy and creamy donut dipped in warm vanilla glaze? And who doesn't love cinnamon rolls?

I haven't met a person, yet!

They are real easy to make. Just put together your most favorite cinnamon roll recipe and when it's time to bake - you simply fry them. I have a tip here though - do not include butter in the filling. It's gonna have enough of that fat when it's fried.

I actually used a donut recipe for the dough found here. It turned out beautifully. I tried these out twice - once making them with a cinnamon roll recipe dough and once with the doughnut recipe dough - and I liked them better with the recipe at said link. They were just a lot more fluffy like a doughnut should be.

I used a slightly different glaze - using only powdered sugar, milk and vanilla extract.

And for my filling using just dark brown sugar and cinnamon.

So, if you want yours to turn out like mine, then make your dough according to these directions. After the dough has risen, roll out into a large rectangle. Sprinkle with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon.

I used 1/2 cup dark brown sugar and 1 heaping tablespoon cinnamon. Roll up and cut into 24 equal slices. Place on prepared baking sheets (parchment paper works like a charm - or a buttered and flour dusted pizza pan) and let rise a second time in warm place (like a warm oven - on the lowest setting).

Meanwhile, heat up your deep fryer. I realize some people don't own deep fryers. That's a pity. You may do it like this awesome blogger did it then. Which is where I originally found this most delicious doughnut and which inspired me to do cinnamon rolls in the deep fryer. She also has a nice step-by-step tutorial. And she also made chocolate cake doughnuts. I also made chocolate cake -cinnamon roll doughnuts. And I'll post that chocolate lovers delight another day ;)

On a side note: did you know that most Dutch households own a deep fryer? They do not, however, own a slow cooker like most American households.

Okay, when you fry the cinnamon roll, let it slip into the oil off the spatula. Then flip it over. Let it fry about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes before flipping it again. For a total of about 4 minutes. It can go longer, but I like them lightly fried - just like store bought donuts. Remove and allow excess oil to soak into paper towels.

When they are cool enough to handle, dip into prepared warm vanilla glaze. I used about 1 cup sifted powdered sugar and 2 to 3 tablespoons milk. Heated in small saucepan over low flame. After it started to gently boil, I turned the heat off and left the pan on the burner. Now, stir in about 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract - and if you have any 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon extract.

After dipping cinnamon roll in glaze, let the extra glaze drip back into pan and then place back on wire rack to cool completely. If using sprinkles - use those first before the glaze sets.

And that's it!

I discovered that I like my doughnuts at room temperature and my cinnamon rolls fresh from the oven. That's kind of a funny quirk about me.

Do you like to eat your doughnuts warm or cool?

Sweet Rolls-O-Rama - Linky Party!

2011-03-01T13:59:00.000-08:00

Lately, I've been noticing that I'm not alone in my love for sweet rolls. So, I thought it would be really fun to start a Sweet Rolls that Rock - linky party.

Do you visit other food blogs? Do you know what this is?

I'm still very new to this whole food blogging thingy - but I'm catching on quickly.

Lisa over at Sweet as Sugar Cookies hosts a linky party every Saturday. There are many treats to drool over.

I've participated many times. It's great to discover other food bloggers that you might have a lot in common with. It's nice to see what other people are making and baking.

It's also nice to leave comments and receive comments. I love the comments :)

So let's do this thing! (<-- movie quote from Disney's Ratatouille)

How to submit:

Link up your sweet roll creation and include link to specific post URL (not the main page).
So that everyone can find us from your blog and get some linky love - please link back to Sweet Rolls that Rock with either a text link or a link button.
Leave a comment below.
Would be nice to give all participants some traffic, do visit at least 2 other blogs in the party. Browse around. We all like comment love - so give some and get some :)
Suggestion: Bookmark or keep link button to this blog so you can easily link up your future sweet roll creations.

Since it's March 1st - we'll do these Linky Parties - the first of every month!

Grab my Button:

Tahini Roll

photo credit - www.tasteofberuit.com

Cranberry Orange Cinnamon Rolls

photo credit - www.thesweetslife.com

Meyer Lemon Sweet Rolls

photo credit - www.spachethespatula.com

Philly Friendship Braided Bread

photo credit - www.utry.it

Pink Prailine "Palmiers"

photo credit - blog.maisoncupcake.com

Pistachio Bread

photo credit - livingtastefully.weebly.com

Brioche Rolls

photo credit - livingtastefully.weebly.com

Chocolate Brioche Monkey Bread

photo credit - melissascuisine.blogspot.com

Caramel Rolls

photo credit - recipeshoebox.blogspot.com

8 sweet rolls to try...

2011-02-08T10:58:00.000-08:00

(1)
Honey Sesame Rolls (made with Tahini) from Amy at Playing House

Photo credit: Playing House blog

I like the idea of tahini in sweet rolls because, you know, I have some tahini in my cupboard, and I'd much rather have sweet rolls than hummus... well, you know, usually, at least I prefer sweet over savory ;)

(2)
Chocolatey Peanut Sweet Rolls from Natalie's Killer Cuisine

Photo credit: Natalie's Killer Cuisine blog

Mmmmm. Peanut Butter and Chocolate, can't go wrong with that. I'm thinking all it needs is some caramel and you've got yourself Snickers sweet rolls. I'm definitely digging that idea ;)

(3)
Cinnamon Rolls (with a secret ingredient) from Amber at Sprinkled with Flour

Photo credit: Sprinkled with Flour blog

The secret ingredient is mashed potatoes. I've tried that before in a donut recipe and in bread... potato bread. And it's so moist and yummy, definitely gotta try it here.

(4)
Pomegranate Cinnamon Rolls from Laura at Sweet Savory Planet

photo credit: Sweet Savory Planet blog

Yes, you are right, Laura... the pomegranate seeds do look like jewels... I'd love to try that pomegranate glaze of yours - mmmmm good.

(5)
Cinnamon Rolls with Apple from Villa Alps

Photo credit: Villa-Alps

These are probably the most beautifully braided cinnamon rolls I have ever seen. I'm usually in a hurry just to eat my creations that I don't care what they look like because sweet rolls with the right ingredients usually taste good no matter what... but I think I'd love to try making mine look like Villa Alps cinnamon rolls. See comments section for extra explanation on how to achieve this look.

(6)
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls (Vegan, Gluten free, Soy free) from Allyson at Manifest: Vegan

Photo credit: Manifest Vegan blog

I've done pumpkin cinnamon rolls before but I'm interested in these ones because they are vegan and gluten free - which is good because I know a handful of people that don't do wheat and milk... so I may like to try these ones one day.

(7)
Pigamon Rolls from John Dawson at PatioDaddioBBQ

Photo credit: PatioDaddioBBQ blog

I tried a bit of bacon in my Polynesian-inspired sweet rolls last year. They were awesome. But in this recipe the bacon is candy like and all over the top and it does look really interesting to me. Plus I love the name and a side of humor is always good!

(8)
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls from Angie McGowan at The Family Kitchen/Babble community

Photo credit: The Family Kitchen

Another pumpkin recipe, but this one puts candid ginger in the filling as well as pecan and tops it off with caramel sauce. Mmmm good. Plus I love pumpkin so I can never tire of another pumpkin cinnamon roll recipe.

January's Round-up and Jam Rolls

2011-01-24T05:47:00.000-08:00

Sweet Rolls that Rock - mini jam rolls

Brooke McLay at Cheeky Kitchen made Meyer Lemon Sweet Rolls last week. I know they must be good - because I had baked a Lemon variety last year as one of my first posts ever on SWtR. And they were good!

Photo credit: Cheeky Kitchen

Her's look divine with and without the glaze - seriously, check out her blog - it's a must see!!!

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Next up we have srlacy's of The Curvy Carrot with her take on Raspberry Swirl Sweet Rolls. Those look so tasty!!

Photo credit: The Curvy Carrot

I know those must have been good, too... because this month I baked my own similar:
mini jam rolls. Okay, this is genius. If you go down the isle in the grocery store with the fruit preserves, jellies and jams... there are like 50 different kinds or more - depending on your grocery store. I say bake your basic dough mix, spread with your favorite jam, top with your favorite frosting - and whalaa! Jam Rolls... and they really do rock!

For mine, I used the Clone of a Cinnabon dough mix - but instead of filling them with cinnamon, I filled them with my favorite raspberry jam. Then I topped them off with the cream cheese glaze also of that recipe. They were very delicious and easy to make.

But instead of having 12 large rolls - as you get with that recipe, I divided the dough into thirds, giving myself 36 mini- jam rolls. I baked the recipe twice actually, and the first time I had 36 mini cini-clones and the second time 36 mini jam rolls.

This was a great way for packaging them up and sharing them... or for freezing them... and baking them up later.

mini-cini clones :)

Mini jam rolls -baked right in the give away container - ready to give!

Mini cini-clones - eat some - share some ;)

One Lovely Blog Award :)

2011-01-01T12:13:00.000-08:00

I thought a good way to start the new year would be to say Thanks and pay it forward!

Lisa of Sweet as Sugar Cookies blog awarded me the "One Lovely Blog Award" back in November 2010. It's my first award ever - ever. Well, I got an award in 8th grade for having the most improved grades in English class - and the prize I got for that was a set of reference books: dictionary, thesaurus, and spelling dictionary - which I still have sitting on my desk - and I still use them. I used them all through college, too. (Thanks Mrs. Hudson - I bet you didn't think I would still be using them - and go on to major in English in college!)

Anyway, Lisa - you are also my very first public follower - and you leave comments and suggestions - and I like our Internet/foodie friendship. It's great to have a friend like you :)

Now, I'm going to pay it forward...

1) Elissa of 17 and Baking - the first food blog that I really started following. I'm just so impressed not only by her amazing baking and photography skills - but her story telling skills... she's got skills!

2) Kristan of Confessions of a Cookbook Queen - the second blog I ever really followed. I love her yummy desserts - usually very easy to make - and she is funny. She also likes cotton candy and fruit roll ups - so she's cool :)

3) Jessica of How Sweet it Is - she bakes a lot - blogs a lot - like almost every day. She has really interesting ideas - like yellow cake batter bark and pumpkin pie quinoa parfait.

4) Angela of Oh She Glows - she writes vegan recipes - test recipes and in general inspires me - makes me want to glow from the inside out... one of these days, i'm going to drink those Green Monsters, too.

5) Kay of The Church Cook - she caters for a church - and she bakes some incredible treats - you've gotta check out her chocolate buttercream frosting or the peanut brittle ice cream pie - plus I just love that she's Christian - we church going bloggers gotta stick together ;)

6) Ashley and Stephen of (never home) maker - they write some awesome recipes - almost healthy - but still good enough to eat - and they run. Some day I'm going to run too... but for now I just read about them running and being healthy and wearing those funny shoes and that's good for now.

7) Stephcookie of Rasberri Cupcakes - she bakes yummy things and then photographs them and the photos are yummy enough to eat - so yummy that I see them all the time on foodgawker and tastespotting... my photos are rarely good enough for those sites.

8) Brooke of Cheeky Kitchen - the first thing that really drew me to this blog was the design - bright and cheerful. That may seem like a lame reason to follow - but that's what I really like - easy on the eyes kind of blog. Plus she does have some awesome recipes - not just baked goodies - home made poptarts!!!! but regular food - like how to use up lots of potatoes... and i'll never forget that blogpost about the scientist baking cookies with talc powder... too funny!

9) Emily of The Daily Garnish - Like Ashley and Stephen of (never home) maker - Emily is a runner. I don't know, I just like the idea of running. Some day I'm really gonna do it. I've really only been following Emily for a short time, I bumped into her blog while she competed in that foodbuzz blog contest. She made this pumpkin cake with pomegranate seeds - it looked amazing. I've tried her apple-pear and cinnamon brussels sprouts - they rock - you really gotta try 'em!

10) Katrina of Warm Vanilla Sugar - she bakes a lot with peanut butter... I love peanut butter - I'd say about 90 percent of her posts include peanut butter - so I'm all over that!

11) Angie of Bakerella - in case you haven't seen that book all over the web - Cake Pops - it's by Bakerella... but she also has awesome ideas for cookies and all kinds of chocolate treats. I just got my Cake Pops book in the mail - it's full of many wonderful ideas. This one will make a great gift, too.

12) Michelle of Brown Eyed Baker - have you seen her recipe archive - it's to die for... sweet and sinful - yessiree ;)

13) Amy of Amy Atlas Sweet Designs - visually - this is one of the best blogs out there - I love the ideas - the colors, the treats, the candy, the flowers, the dessert tables - all of them are awesome... even the vegetable tables are great!

14) Aran of Canelle et Vanille - she makes beautiful food and photography - enough said!

15) Glory of Glorious Treats - not just recipes but beautiful crafts and awesome dessert displays - similar to Amy Atlas sweet designs - which I also love.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, here is the idea behind the One Lovely Blog Award:

1. Accept the award and post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you love.
3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I hope you'll all get the chance to visit these wonderful blogs and enjoy everything that they have to offer. They'll make your life delicious too.

December's Sweet Roll Round Up

2010-12-21T13:09:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-21T12:22:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-16T12:40:00.000-08:00

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.

Maple, Pumpkin-Pomegranate, Sticky Orange

2010-11-30T04:23:00.000-08:00

This week on Sweet Rolls that Rock - I would like to share some awesome links and recipes from bloggers online. Please try these or rock out to your own awesome combination.

-cKp (cUteKittypUnk)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This last weekend I finally tried the famous cinnamon rolls from The Pioneer Woman. Ree Drummond says that this is the recipe her Mom made growing up for good friends at Christmastime. And this is the tradition she carries on - it's this recipe that has won her friends and influenced people. And I'm sure that Dale Carnegie couldn't agree more! Or he could agree more... what is the proper English term for he totally would agree? Probably - at least, I totally agree!

These are Ree Drummond's cinnamon rolls - her's sure look purdy!
photo credit: The Pioneer Woman

Ree's recipe makes a good 48 large rolls from my experience. But beware, I used an onlineconversion calculator to figure out some of the amounts - and that is where I went wrong. How is this possible? Well, apparently, the weight to volume or volume to weight in dry areas is different from humid areas. I live in a humid area. So, when 9 cups flour read less than 1 kilo in the online conversion calculator - it is really more accurate to just measure out 9 cups. Because it was more like 1.5 kilos or so. Anyway, that is probably also where I went wrong with the powdered sugar as well. Difficult thing to figure because 1 bag of powdered sugar is not possible in the Netherlands. I've only ever seen powdered sugar sold in cylander containers that measure by weight 250 grams. I used two of them - but I think I could have easily used three and come up with a more dense frosting, like pictured above. Mine turned out more like a glaze, when poured onto the hot rolls - it disappeared - but the flavor was divine - or sinful? Whatever, it was good!

The thing that makes this better than your average cinnamon roll - is that she is very, very generous in her use of sugar, butter and cinnamon. The maple-coffee glaze/frosting is an extra bonus of pure yumminess. I highly recommend this recipe. Ree - you rock - and your rolls rock, too!

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I follow Oh She Glows in my google reader. I like this blogger Angela Liddon because she makes the most delicious looking foods - and they are all vegetarian, too. Last night while browsing through my google reader I found that she has posted the most delicious variation on pumpkin cinnamon rolls. She has a nice tutorial and great photos, too. And she's gotten very creative with her rolls, too. She has suggested having a "'Build your own' Cinnamon Roll Party!" What a fantastic idea! She set out pre-baked pumpkin pie filled rolls that you could top with a variety of frostings: Pumpkin glaze, Cream Cheese, Chocolate Ganache or Bourbon Espresso; and for the toppings: Pomegranate, Granola, Chocolate or Icing Sugar. Let's take a look at what she put together:

Photo credit: Oh She Glows

I'm loving the look of "The Hippie" but "The Romantic" is very pretty, too. Angela, your Pumpkin Pie Cinnamon Rolls are definitely above average. A+ for you and your creativity. You Rock!

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Earlier this year, I stumbled upon a very talented young baker. You may have heard of her: Elissa of 17 and Baking. She writes so poetically. She is young but she seems so grown up in her observations of people and places. It's really nice to read her stories. Sometimes, I can identify with her. She's now 18 and off to University from one side of the country to another. I can identify with that. I was once 18 and left home to venture out and find myself and build some dreams. She also has very nice photography - always very nice photos of yummy things she baked. Here is a nice roll she baked and blogged about earlier this summer.

Photo credit: 17 and baking

Orange-Cinnamon Honey Sticky Buns. Elissa describes it like this "The glaze is so sinful but so good. All those bad-for-you ingredients come together in a thick, sticky sauce – nutty and buttery and deep. It’s poured into the pan and the buns are snuggled right on top. Then you pop the pan into the oven the next morning and wake up to a honey and citrus spiced kitchen. You couldn’t ask for more."

I will nod my head and agree with you. Thanks for sharing these rolls with us Elissa. You Rock! And sticky orange buns definitely Rock!

Coco-nana-nut + Dulce de Leche Sweet Rolls

2010-11-09T11:45:00.000-08:00

My one public follower, Lisa, suggested sweet rolls with banana and dulce de leche. Well, I aim to please. I made them.

Did I like them? Not really. I could like them eventually with a few changes I'm sure. You see, I didn't like the banana. I might like it better if the banana in the filling is made into some kind of pudding or custard. Because I like bananas in banana bread and I like bananas in general - I like bananas in ice cream - that is especially good... but hot bananas in these rolls was kind of weird to me. Also, the next day when the roll was tested at room temperature - the banana slices were a bit like - how do you say it - like when a banana is left out and browns a bit - they tasted like that - like baby food or something...

Hey Lisa - when you had that spanish pastry... how was the banana cooked into it? Maybe I've presented it here in the wrong way. Some people like baked bananas - not me - not really. I loved the nuts - gave it the perfect crunchiness... I really liked the toasted coconut... Any suggestions on how to combine the banana in a good way - please feel free to comment. I did like the banana - butter glaze - that went with it quite well.

The Recipe for 12 rolls:

DOUGH
1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm light coconut milk
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup melted margarine or oil
3 cups BASIC ROLL MIX
additional flour, if needed

FILLING
1 to 2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoon fine white sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 medium banana, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped roasted hazelnuts (or macadamia's)

TOPPING

Prepared Dulce de Leche caramel jam

GLAZE

Combine 1 to 2 tablespoons melted butter with 1/4 medium banana, smashed with fork and 3/4 to 1 cup powdered sugar and blend together. Then add enough coconut milk to make smooth glaze.

ADDITIONAL TOPPINGS

chopped roasted hazelnuts

toasted shredded coconut

Step 1: Dissolve yeast in warm coconut milk.

Step 2: Blend in egg and melted margarine.

Step 3: Add BASIC ROLL MIX 1/2 cup at a time, blend well to make soft - not too sticky dough.

Step 4: Knead 6 to 8 minutes - adding additional flour if necessary.

Step 5: Butter bowl. Add dough ball, turn to butter top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise till doubled.

Step 6: Punch down. Roll out into rectangle. Spread with butter. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture and divide bananas over top. Add chopped roasted hazelnuts if you like it nutty. Roll up, seal seems and cut into 12 equal slices - about 1-inch each. Place on prepared baking sheet.

Step 7: Let rise again in warm place. Then make indentation with spoon and fill up with Dulce de Leche - about 1 heaping tablespoon in each roll.

Step 8: Bake 15 - 22 minutes in preheated oven (175C - hot air oven), till golden brown.

Step 9: Remove from oven and serve as is or if desired drizzle with Banana-butter glaze, toasted shredded coconut and chopped roasted hazelnuts.

~~Thanks for the suggestion Lisa. Visitors - be sure and check out Lisa's blog - she bakes cookies - sweet sugar cookies!

Honey-nut Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

2010-10-18T04:48:00.000-07:00

Last time I made pumpkin sweet rolls I combined it with orange and spice (cinnamon and ginger) and I’m not sure the orange complimented the pumpkin as nicely as I had hoped. We still ate them up - and I was thinking that the ginger overpowered the other flavors as well. The orange glaze was so totally yum and I’d definitely do something with that again - I was thinking just a vanilla-orange-creamsicle type roll.... oh well, another day for that one.
So, I’ve been thinking about this totally amazing frosting that I like using Paturain cream cheese - walnut variety. The French really do know their cheeses - especially soft creamy cheeses. I love the walnut Paturain blend. It goes great into frosting - and I’ve used it before many times. I was thinking it would go great on top pumpkin sweet rolls. So, might as well throw some honey and walnuts into the center of the rolls as well.

This combination turned out really REALLY rich and sweet. And I thought it was just right on. I really do love that Paturain walnut cream cheese - would go great with many other varities of cinnamon rolls.

And I've been thinking - a sweet roll isn't really done until it is glazed, frosted or iced. I need that extra helping of sweetness on top. I love it.

Dough:
1 T Active dry Yeast
1- ½ C Luke warm water
¾ C Pureed pumpkin
¼ C Oil or melted margarine
5 to 6 C BASIC ROLL MIX
1 t Ground cinnamon
1 t coffee granules

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Mix in pumpkin puree, melted margarine or oil and BASIC ROLL MIX as well as cinnamon and coffee granules. Knead about 6-8 minutes until dough is smooth. Lighty butter bowl. Put dough in bowl and turn to butter top. Cover dough with damp towel or plastic wrap and allow to rise in warm place until doubled in size - about 1 hour. Meanwhile prepare Honey Filling and baking sheets (use baking paper for easy clean-up).

Honey Filling:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts)

In a small bowl, combine sugar, honey, egg, vanilla, cinnamon and salt. Mix thoroughly. Set aside. Punch down dough. Let stand 10 minutes. On a lightly-floured surface, roll out dough to large rectangle 12”x24” or divide in half and roll out two smaller rectangles about 8”x12”. Spread with Honey filling. Sprinkle chopped nuts evenly over top. Roll up jelly-roll style and cute into 1-inch slices. Place on prepared baking sheets. Cover and let rise in a warm place about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375-F or 190-C (Hot air oven - just about 175-C). Bake 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Prepare frosting and drizzle on warm buns. Garnish with extra chopped nuts if desired. Makes about 24 rolls.

*Paturain Cream Cheese Frosting: (Option 1)
1/4 cup (55 grams) butter, softened
1/4 pound (115 grams) Paturain walnut cream cheese, room temperature
1 3/4 to 2 cups (about 250 grams) powdered sugar
2-4 tablespoons pureed pumpkin

Beat together butter and cream cheese until creamy. Add in powdered sugar and pumpkin puree until desired spreading consistency.

*If Paturain cream cheese is not available where you live, try Option 2:
1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon honey

Melt butter and allow to cool. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, brown sugar and almond extract. Beat with an electric mixer. When mixture starts to stiffen, stop mixer and add honey. Continue to beat until light and fluffy. Do not over mix, or it will collapse.

Or if you really don’t like cream cheese, like some picky people I know, try Option 3:

White Chocolate Pumpkin-Cinnamon Frosting:
¼ cup pureed pumpkin (canned or fresh)
2 tablespoons margarine or butter, softened
2 tablespoons white chocolate pieces, melted
1 teaspoon liquid cinnamon extract
1 3/4 to 2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon milk to thin, if desired

Beat pumpkin, margarine or butter, and melted white chocolate together till creamy. Mix in cinnamon extract and powdered sugar. Add milk to thin if required for spreading consistency.

Use any option of frosting/glaze and you won’t be sorry... but my personal favorite is option 1.

Polynesian-inspired Pineapple and Bacon Sweet Rolls

2010-10-04T05:38:00.000-07:00

Paul Arden writes: Do not covet your ideas. Give away everything you know, and more will come back to you.... They're not your ideas anyway, they're someone else's. They are out there floating by on the ether. You just have to put yourself in a frame of mind to pick them up.

This is what I was thinking about recently when I decided to put bacon - the sweet meat in my sweet rolls. Am I the first to use bacon in a sweet treat? Absolutely not. It seems this idea was out there floating through the air and many foodies picked it up about the same time. I think I had the idea to use bacon in my sweet rolls back in August. I didn't do anything with it until September - I'm just now reporting on it. Since then, I've seen bacon in cupcakes, cookies, ice cream and even fudge (via tastespotting.com among other sites). One of the more interesting cupcake ideas I saw bacon in - was to make pancake cupcakes - top it with maple buttercream icing and sprinkle it with bacon bits. A very dessertish type breakfast. I like that idea. I don't remember who's blog I saw it on because I follow so many - but I think it was the Brown Eyed Baker. I should give credit where it is due, right? But was she the first? I don't know - and since we all influence each other and alter each others recipes - I thought I would let my bacon treat leave it's mark here in blogdom.

I've paired the bacon with pineapple and with a maple glaze. These are some what adult tasting... that's how my husband often describes my food fusion - new and bizarre twists on sweet rolls... but they are so yummy - especially the pineapple topping... it's so good in fact, that I must make a pina colada sweet roll next time.

This is my first trial making the Polynesian-inspired Sweet Roll. Certainly, the next few times I shall try ham instead - and putting the bacon in the filling instead of in the dough. I took these yummy rolls to church with me one Sunday morning and all my tasters said: Bacon! What bacon - I don't taste it. Once I told them, yes there is bacon in them... a few replied - oh I taste it.

So, for trial 2 we will put the bacon in the filling - I think this will bring out the flavor more without it being too dominating or not noticable at all. I may even try honey, ham and apple next time - that sounds good.
Oh yeah, and we will bake them at a lower temperature for more time - so about 175-C for 20 to 22 minutes - that's the time and temp I bake most my other rolls at - and I should have followed my instinct with these as well - some of them burned a bit on the bottom - and I know everyone's oven is different - so bakers - beware!

Polynesian–inspired Sweet Roll (Trial 1)

Adapted from: Allrecipes.com (Bernice Morris – Pineapple Sweet Rolls)

Servings: 24

DOUGH:
1 - 2 bacon slice(s) (about 60 grams), fried, drained, and crumbled into pieces
1 1/8 teaspoon (.25 ounce or 7 grams) active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105 degrees to 115 degrees)
5 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 cup warm milk (110 to 115 degrees F)
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 teaspoon salt

FILLING:
¼ cup butter or margarine, melted
½ cup brown sugar

TOPPING:
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 (8 ounce or 226 grams) can crushed pineapple, undrained
¼ teaspoon pineapple extract (optional – for extra flavor)

GLAZE:
1 3/4 cups (about 250 grams) confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon each maple and vanilla extract
3 tablespoon milk

Directions:
1. In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add 1 tablespoon sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Add milk and 1-1/2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes.
Add the crumbled bacon pieces, eggs, 1/4 cup butter, salt, remaining sugar and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. Punch dough down. Turn onto a floured surface; divide in half. Roll each into a 12-in. x 8-in. rectangle. Spread melted butter over top and then sprinkle brown sugar evenly over. Roll up, jelly-roll style, starting with a long side. Pinch seam to seal. Cut each into 12 slices. Place, cut side down, 2 in. apart on prepared baking sheets.
Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine cornstarch and pineapple until blended. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Make indentation with back of spoon or with your thumb in the center of each roll and then place a teaspoonful of topping in the center of each roll. Bake at (220-C) 425 degrees F for 12-16 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks.

3. For glaze, combine sugar, extracts and enough milk to achieve desired consistency. Drizzle over warm rolls.

Orange, Pumpkin and Spice Sweet Rolls - Another Sugar High Friday

2010-09-21T13:22:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of Fall - and an appropriate time to bake with pumpkin. I wanted to do another Sugar High Friday challenge and this time Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen a food blog has challenged all interested to make bite size desserts. It's been a whole month since I last baked and after a month of not baking - I was finally in the mood to bake again. Not that I haven't been in the mood for sweet rolls - I have been! It's just that since my bun in the oven - my own little sweet roll was born - I've been rather busy... and sleepy.

Yes, my third little child - another little girl was born just at the end of August. She's just about one month old and this Momma was ready to do something for me today - bake sweet rolls. But today was not just about me - I wanted to bake sweet rolls also for the nurses at the Catharina Ziekenhuis (hospital) here in Eindhoven. You see - me and my baby girl had to spend a whole week in the hospital because the morning after she was born, she got a fever and was breathing heavily. She was covered in wires and tubes and I was one nervous Momma. I didn't know what had come over her. And neither did the doctors. She had several tests done and then we were stuck away in isolation - kind of a quarantine type room. The nurses took real good care of us but it was a lonesome week - although I did get lots of rest! I promised one of the nurses that I would bring back sweet rolls as a thank you - and I kept my promise - I did!
I'm also happy to report that my little girl has been given the OK - she had a follow up with the Pediatrician and everything is good. That chapter in her life is closed. Nothing wrong :) I'm really grateful to all the nurses and doctors that helped her... and to all my family and friends - your prayers are so much appreciated (of course, if you would like sweet rolls for a thank you - you will need to come and visit us - and give me 72 hours advance notice - ha ha ha).
I'm also grateful for this S.H.F. challenge - to make bite size desserts. I like to usually bake the biggest sweet rolls - but this was fun because the kids don't really need to eat such big desserts... and I feel like I'm really getting a lot out of the recipe. You would think that because the rolls are smaller that I eat less of them - I probably should - but they are so sugary sweet - I just couldn't help myself -- hey -- breastfeeding burns like 600 calories a day -- so that's my excuse -- I need to eat more ;)

Yumminess!

Orange, Pumpkin and Spice Sweet Rolls (the recipe... trial 1)
Makes 40-48 bite size desserts

DOUGH:
1/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 cup buttermilk or sour milk

1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

1/4 cup canned pumpkin

1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons fresh grated orange zest
1 large egg, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

FILLING:
3 tablespoons each butter, melted and canned pumpkin
1 1/2 teaspoons each ground ginger and ground cinnamon
2/3 cup light brown sugar

GLAZE:
250 grams powdered sugar
4 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice 1-2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest

12 step program for sweet rolls that rock!
Step 1. In small bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Set aside.
Step 2. In small sauce pan, bring buttermilk to boil until curdled.
Step 3. In a large bowl, combine buttermilk, baking soda, sugar, melted margarine, pumpkin, orange zest and egg. Mix well.
Step 4. When mixture is luke warm, stir in yeast mixture.
Step 5. Mix in salt and flour 1/2 cup at a time - eventually knead until soft and elastic ball of dough.
Step 6. Oil bowl. Put in dough and turn to oil top of dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place till doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Step 7. Prepare filling. Cream melted butter and pumpkin. Stir in spices.

Step 8. Punch down dough. Divide in half. Roll out each half into long rectangle about 18 inches by 9 inches - about 1 centimeter thick. Spread pumpkin butter over dough and sprinkle brown sugar over. Roll up - jelly roll style and slice into 20-24 slices each roll.
Step 9. Place on prepared baking sheets - cut side up. Let rise second time until doubled in size, about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 175 degrees-C.
Step 10. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown and rolls spring back when touched. Be careful not to burn.
Step 11. Prepare glaze. Stir together powdered sugar and juice till glaze is spreading consistency. Stir in zest.
Step 12. Drizzle glaze over warm rolls.

Use disposable tins - easier to give :)

Place at least one inch apart on prepared baking sheet (Step 9)

Can't wait to eat 'em!

Note to self: use more pumpkin in trial 2 - the orangeyness was perfect but the pumpkin was lacking in strength...I would like more pumpkin flavor.

Rooibos Vanilla Sweet Rolls

2010-08-25T11:56:00.000-07:00

It's tea time!

Rooibos tea is very popular here in the Netherlands. I even heard once that tea in general was described as "angels peeing on your tongue." Ha ha. So, I decided to make a Rooibos tea sweet roll. I've tried several different Rooibos variations - one with vanilla, caramel and I also really like the mango peach variety. But for today's sweet roll I went with vanilla. Then while I was eating the finished roll together with a friend, she also mentioned the caramel variety and I said, don't finish your roll - wait a minute. I went to my refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of Dr Oeteker Caramel sauce and we drizzled the rolls with it. It was perfect. So - for the future... next Rooibos sweet rolls we make - are going to be the caramel variety.

My friend said the rolls were very vanilla - but that you could really taste this after taste of rooibos tea on your tongue - that tingly feeling you get from tea... so, maybe a bit less vanilla in the glaze would have been better as well.

The other thing about this particular roll is the dough recipe. I don't always use the same dough mix - I like to experiment and try different recipes. This particular recipe uses quite a lot of yeast and the dough rose a lot. I could have easily gotten 24 sweet rolls out of this recipe but I kept the rolls quite large - and that might have been a mistake because as the dough started to rise for the second time I thought that maybe the rolls wouldn't even fit on the baking sheet - so I baked maybe sooner than I should have - but I'm also a bit impatient and was eager to taste them, too.

The Dough:
2 envelopes active dry yeast (4 1/2 teaspoons)
1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups luke warm rooibos tea (vanilla variety)
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup shortening, melted margarine or oil (plus extra to butter bowl)
5 cups flour (plus extra, if needed)

(1) Seep two tea bags of rooibos vanilla tea into 2 cups piping hot water. Allow to cool to luke warm temperature.
(2) In a large mixing bowl combine yeast and sugar. When tea is luke warm, pour 1 3/4 cups tea into the mix. Save the other 1/4 cup tea for the glaze. Then add salt, eggs and oil and mix. Add one cup of flour at a time and mix. It will be sticky. Add additional flour as needed and knead to make a elastic - not too sticky dough ball. Add about 1 tablespoon more butter or oil to bowl. Turn dough to oil top and cover with plastic wrap (not warm wet towl... because this dough will rise - a lot). Put in warm place till doubled in size.

Vanilla Creme filling: (Adapted from Great American Favorite Brand Names Cook Book)
2 Tablespoons flour
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups powdered sugar

(3) In a small saucepan, blend flour and milk; cook over low heat, stirring constantly with wire whisk, until mixture thickens and just begins to boil. Remove from heat and refrigerate.

(4) In a mixing bowl, cream butter and margarine till smooth. Add in vanilla, salt and refrigerated flour/milk mix. Mix until smooth and then beat in the powdered sugar gradually until spreading consistency.

(5) After dough has risen, remove and punch down. On a lightly floured surface roll dough out into large rectangle about 1-2 centimeters thick. Spread with Vanilla Creme Filling. Roll into jelly roll and cut into 16-24 slices. Place on prepared baking sheets and allow to rise again in warm place. Meanwhile, prepare glaze.

Vanilla-Rooibos Glaze:
1/3 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup rooibos tea

(6) In saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Blend in powdered sugar, vanilla extract and rooibos tea. Stir until smooth and creamy. Remove from heat.
(7) After rolls have risen second time, bake in oven at 175-C degrees for 20-22 minutes, or until tops golden brown. Remove from oven and pour Vanilla-Rooibos Glaze over top. Allow to cool a few minutes before enjoying.
(8) Optional: drizzle with Dr. Oeteker Caramel Sauce or similar product if desired.

Oven fresh with Vanilla- Rooibos Glaze poured over!

Rooibos Vanilla Sweet Rolls

Ideas and Inspiration

2010-08-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

Where do I turn to for ideas and inspiration? Like every other foodie I read a lot of food blogs. I get ideas from cupcake bloggers and also smoothie/ice cream bloggers. Any combination they come up with - I think - I could do that, too.

I recently came across this site: kblog in which it lists a whole bunch of herb combos for juicing. And I think to myself - those are some interesting combinations... could possibly work for a sweet roll, too.

Just check out this list of herb combos:

-basil and lime

-thyme and lemon

-grapefruit and tarragon

-fig and black pepper

-pear and mint

-cucumber and rosemary

-spinach and chive

-strawberry and chili pepper

-peach and cayenne

Okay, some of those don't really sound so good for sweet rolls - like cucumber and rosemary... i don't think so. But it is a very big trend right now to use unusual ingredients in baked goods and in cooking in general. We foodies want to experiment with everything new we come across. Many of us visit farmers' markets and other places to find that unique ingredient and then we want to try something fun with it.

I recently found a can of jackfruit at my local Xenos (I'm trying to think of what store to compare that to in the U.S. hmm... it's like similar to a Pier 1 or something) Anyways, I was thinking - I'll buy that and turn it into some kind of sweet roll. I haven't used it yet, but I've learned all about jackfruit - in my google searches - and I find that kind of thing interesting. Has anyone else cooked with jackfruit before? I've read that it tastes best fresh... we'll see how it is from a can... another day.

Of course, I don't just look to other bloggers for inspiration and ideas... I use my head, too. I just sit down with a paper and pen and write out all my ideas for anything that sounds yummy. Here is a few items from my list:

-salty sweet

-pina colada

-marshmallow fun

-pink passion (grapefruit, raspberries, passion fruit)

-watermelon, strawberries and vanilla

-creamy orange-creamsicle

-mango lassi

-hazelnut choco-cinnamon

-wheat free + coconut, white chocolate and mango (for a friend that loves this combo)

-with Lebanese twist: fig, rosewater, pistachio

-rooibos vanilla

-20 kruiden thee

and my list goes on... but that is just a sample of what I've thought of.

Also from the kblog - here is a list of trendy ingredients: Acai, Aloe, Apricots, Basil, Blackberries, Blood Oranges, Cacao Nibs, Cherimoya, Chia Seeds, Exotic salts: pink, grey, smoked; Goji berries, Hemp products, Jalapeno, Papaya, Wheatgrass, Yacon Powder, Yuzu... to name a few.

You know, I never even knew that salt could come in pink. Does it taste the same? Does anyone know?

And then with fall right around the corner, I'm craving all those wonderful fall things - cooler weather, red, orange and golden leaves, Halloween, Thanksgiving... pumpkins!!! And even though I see before me a list of trendy ingredients... I lean toward pumpkins, cinnamon, nutmeg, butternut squash, apple cider, maple syrup and so forth.

Today I am 39 weeks and 5 days pregnant... and I'm really hoping that this little baby comes quickly... because I'm experiencing all those things that come with being almost full term, like muscle cramps and just an enormously huge belly that is hard to walk around with... and a huge desire to hold this little baby and kiss it a thousand times....

And I think that by October, I will be recovered and ready for baking sweet rolls... and I betcha that I will be leaning toward those wonderful autumn smells in my kitchen... I'm certainly looking forward to it!

Peanut Butter & Smuckers Concord Grape Jelly... Rocks!

2010-08-18T12:38:00.000-07:00

Using peanut butter and jelly in baked goods is not unheard of. This is the trend in cupcakes and other baked goods... so why not I try it out, too?

extreme close up - yummy

I love Smuckers Concord Grape Jelly. I loved it as a kid and I still love it now. The only difference being that it's very difficult to find in the Netherlands. Almost unheard of actually... unless you know someone that can shop at a Base Exchange (people in the military). Fortunately for me, I do!

I remember when I first moved here and that was one of the commodities that I looked for every where... but it was not to be found. Surprising to me, too - especially since Dutch folks seem to eat nothing but bread - it's a major staple to their diet. My husband grew up eating nothing but sandwiches everyday for years. To this day, he still takes 10-12 sandwiches to work everyday (I know that's a lot right?! - He's skinny and has to eat that much to survive his daily 35 minute bike ride commute... of course, he could probably get by on less if he ate cheese and meat on that bread... that's another story!)

So, after years of being here I had actually forgotten about Smuckers Grape Jelly and I have gotten quite use to my second favorite jam - raspberry!

Then, I met this military - Air Force family who offered to get me a treat now and again if I'd like - which made me request - Smuckers Grape Jelly - what a huge jar... and it's so cheap compared to raspberry preserves. Yummy yummy... now I can make these rolls :)

Also a side note... my in-laws - specifically my father-in-law is way traditional and does not vary from that much - well, he's tried the American grape jelly and he loves it. So... I think Smuckers should definitely consider foreign trade here in Europe... money to be made! If I had the means, actually, I'd open up a mini American market right here in Eindhoven... I know so many people that would love to buy and eat American junk food - like all those cereals... oh how I miss them... okay - this tangent is long enough....

Here are my Peanut Butter and Grape Jelly Sweet Rolls...

Using Basic Dough Mix, combine in a bowl 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast, 3/4 cup warm water - let sit to become foamy. Then add 1 egg, beaten and 1/4 cup melted margarine or vegetable oil. Mix in 3 cups BASIC ROLL MIX and extra flour if needed to make a soft, not too sticky elastic ball of dough. Put into a bowl buttered with oil and turn to coat. Place someplace warm for at least an hour to rise, covered with plastic wrap or a wet towel. Spread dough out into rectangular form about 1 centimeter thick and cover one side with 2 tablespoons melted peanut butter. Cover the other side with about 1/4 cup Smuckers Concord Grape Jelly. Like this:

Fold in half. Then melt another 1-2 tablespoons peanut butter and spread again over dough. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Like this:

Roll up the opposite direction and pinch seems to close. Like this:

Cut into 12-14 rolls about 3/4" to 1" thick. Put on prepared baking sheets and let rise again. Like this:

yummy that looks good... can't wait to eat them...

Now, you can do this a quick way by putting them in the oven at a low temperature - like say 50 degrees Celcius - this is if you are in a hurry to eat them. Then after 20 minutes or so, raise the temperature to 175 to 190 degrees Celcius (I have a hot air oven and 175 is sufficient for my needs). Then they are done baking in a little under 20 minutes - keep your eye on them because it really depends on the oven. While baking, prepare sweet glaze. Combine 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar with 1-2 tablespoons grape juice and about 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract or an 8g package of vanilla sugar. Mix well. Drizzle over warm rolls and sprinkle with 1/8 cup chopped peanuts if desired. I liked the chopped peanuts - my 4 year old did not.

These tasted so yummy warm from the oven. Then I waited a while till Ella woke from her nap to give her one. I didn't rewarm it or anything - just ate it as is at room temperature and I liked it even better! This might be a problem for me because my hubby doesn't like peanut butter so I may have to eat these myself - which is not so good for my waistline...

And though I love Smuckers Concord Grape Jelly... I'm wondering about trying these with my favorite brand raspberry jam - from Hero and then drizzled with a sweet raspberry glaze - oh yummy... the variations to try just totally excite my taste buds!

Sugar High Fridays - Browned Butter, Saffron and Succade Sweet Rolls

2010-08-13T12:32:00.000-07:00

THE NIGHT BEFORE I sit and contemplate how to make my sweet rolls. This is the night before:

17andbaking.com is sponsoring the monthly Sugar High Fridays for the month of August 2010 - this will be the first time I participate in this monthly Sugar High baking challenge. The challenge is to use browned butter in the recipe. I had many ideas for different types of browned butter sweet rolls but in the end I've decided on a combination of saffron and succade to pair with the browned butter.

I find this combination to be experimental on my part. I haven't cooked with browned butter much nor with saffron and succade. After a brief search online I have found that this combination will probably pair well together. I found on allrecipes.com a saffron bread recipe - which I will adapt for my sweet rolls... and then from there I will use the succade in my filling and end with a more simple glaze.

Browned butter is nothing more than butter melted in the sauce pan until it turns light brown and gives off a nutty aroma. See Simply Recipe instructions here. There is butter all over a sweet roll recipe - in the dough, the filling and the glaze... so I'm going to use it in all three places. Cooking with saffron is also interesting. according to eHow - I need to cook with the threads and seep it in broth or water. I'm thinking I can just add it to the browned butter right away because that will be warm and the flavor from saffron absorbs when heated. See here. I hope this works. Now I hope I can get away with using as little saffron as possible because it is the worlds most expensive cooking herb that I know of... and they only really sell it in tiny small glass tubes. The recipe for saffron bread above asks for 2 teaspoons and I'm not sure how packed those teaspoons are. I shall see how little I can cook with and still get some flavor from it.

What is succade? I found it in the baking section at my local grocery store. In Dutch it is sukade - or cedar apple rind... after a brief search on wikipedia I have found that it belongs to the citrus family. In English it's called citron - not to be confused with the lemon. It is used in Dutch desserts such as oliebollen and cakes. So putting it in a sweet roll is right on track.

THE DAY OF BAKING, here is what I've done - it's always a day of learning - lots of learning...

Browned Butter and Saffron Dough:

(Adpated from English Saffron Bread by GODGIFU at Allrecipes.com)

1/2 teaspoon (loosely packed) saffron threads*

1/4 cup hot water

1/2 cup butter, browned

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup white sugar (or raw sugar)

1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon lemon zest

5-6 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon oil

*1/2 teaspoon saffron threads for me is .10 grams of saffron - it is sold in tiny hard plastic tubes at .05 grams each. I used two of these for the dough - and just a pinch more for the filling/glaze combination below.

Browned Butter and Succade Filling:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons browned butter with saffron**
100 grams succade

Browned Butter Glaze:
1/3 to 1/2 cup powdered sugar (or more if needed)
3 tablespoons browned butter with saffron**

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Directions:

In a small bowl, soak the saffron in the hot water, about 20 minutes, let cool until lukewarm, drain and reserve the liquid. Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat; add browned butter, sugar and stir until melted. Let cool until lukewarm.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the milk mixture with the reserved saffron water and egg. Add the yeast and stir to dissolve. Add the salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon zest, strained saffron threads and 3 cups of the flour; mix well. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.

Lightly oil a large mixing bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1-2 hours.

**Prepare browned butter with saffron for use in filling and glaze. To do this melt 1/3 cup (75 grams) butter in sauce pan until it reaches browned butter stage. Remove from heat and add pinch of saffron to liquid nutty butter. Leave for 20 minutes to allow saffron to absorb into warm butter. Then divide this mixture; half for use with filling and half for use with glaze.

Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out about 1-2 centimeters thick into a large rectangular shape and evenly drizzle 3 tablespoons browned butter with saffron** over. Spread all over with fingers to cover the rolled out dough. Sprinkle with granulated sugar and succade. Roll up jelly roll style and cut into 12-14 equal rolls about 1 inch thick. Place on prepared baking sheets and let rise a second time, about 40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F). Bake at 175 degrees-C for 20 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Meanwhile, prepare Browned Butter Glaze. Combine in small bowl, remaining browned butter with saffron** and powdered sugar. Stir until reaching glaze-like consistency. Add lemon zest. Remove baked rolls from oven and drizzle with Browned Butter Glaze.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Final Thoughts:
During this process - I noticed that I needed quite a bit more flour. That might be because I'm at sea level and it's a bit humid today. So I say use between 5 and 6 cups - which ever is right for you. The smell of the dough - lemon, nutmeg, cinnamon, and saffron - the smell it creates is very aromatic - very perfume like almost. It smells really good and really special. Add to it the browned butter and it is so yummy... and this is just the dough!

The finished product with the combination of browned butter and lemon zest in the glaze... promises to taste perfect... and it does! I love the color of the rolls - a bit darker than usual with the addition of the extra saffron threads, nutmeg and cinnamon. The dough in of itself is super yummy - then add to that the succade, extra sugar and browned butter - while it baked - the butter melted onto the pan like caramel - so the bottom sides of the sweet rolls are super sticky and quite yummy to the taste.

The most important thing I learned today... continue to explore new ingredients. It's creative and inspiring. It's delicious and probably creates new brain cells in my head when I try new things... I read about that somewhere. Browned butter: I will definitely continue to cook with it... I've already seen a nice recipe to use with it next time... Gnocchi with Zucchini Ribbons and Browned Butter Parsley - that's on my menu for Sunday night :)

Now, I just need to visit my number one fan/reader - you know who you are - and bring her some rolls to proof!

Banana-Date-Mango Sweet Rolls - Trial 1

2010-08-06T13:43:00.000-07:00

I've had this combination in mind for several weeks. I have thought about it a lot. How to make them - where to use the mango, banana and dates and how to bring it all together. Thinking a lot about something really helps - I was able to write down the recipe before I even started the project and then as I started baking today I only had to make adjustments as I went. One ingredient I used to bring it together was lemon. I put lemon peel in the dough and used honey with a lemon flavoring. There is also a bit of lemon in the icing. It's not overpowering but it blends all the ingredients together.

The thing I like about sweet rolls is the waiting. It takes a few hours but when you finally sink your teeth into that sweet roll - warm and fresh from the oven - it's just an awesome experience especially when you go "Ahhhh" these rolls have turned out the best so far. Seriously, these are my most favorite rolls so far. I loved them. I ate two and really had to stop myself from going further because I'm attending a church picnic tomorrow and I want to take something with me. Also, it's best for my waistline not to consume so much. Kailea was lucky enough to be with me when it was taste time. She likes them, too. She's kind of a picky eater - but she always likes my sweet rolls... she's got a sweet tooth just like Mommy :)

BANANA-DATE-MANGO

SWEET ROLLS

Makes about 12-14 rolls

Banana Dough:
1- ½ teaspoons Active dry Yeast
3/4 cup Luke warm water
1- 2 (about 150ml) Small ripe banana(s), pureed
3 tablespoons Oil or melted margarine, divided
2 heaping tablespoons Lemon zest
4 to 4 ½ cups BASIC ROLL MIX
2-3 tablespoons flour if needed

ingredients

Date Filling:
3 tablespoons Honey (Lemon variety)
½ teaspoon Ground cardamom
15 Dates, pitted and finely chopped*

dates

Mango-Butter Icing:
1/3 cup Pureed mango
1/2 teaspoon Lemon juice
1/3 cup Butter or Margarine, melted
2 cups (260g) Powdered sugar
1- 4 teaspoons Mango nectar or lemon juice to thin, if desired

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, combine yeast, warm water and banana puree. Let sit a few minutes for yeast to bubble. Then blend in 2 tablespoons oil or margarine and lemon zest. Add in BASIC ROLL MIX ½ cup at a time until dough ball reaches elastic and smooth stage. Knead 5 to 10 minutes adding additional flour if necessary. Oil another bowl with remaining 1 tablespoon oil and put the dough into that bowl, turn to oil top and cover with plastic wrap or hot damp towel and let rise in warm place for 1 – 2 hours.

Meanwhile, prepare Date Filling:

*Tip: After pitting dates, finely chop dates in food processor fitted with metal blade. This makes it much easier because dates are sticky and hard to work with otherwise.

In a small bowl, combine honey, cardamom and finely chopped dates. Set aside.

Date Filling

When dough is ready, punch down and roll out into large rectangle – (approximately 1-2 centimeters thick). Spread Date Filling evenly over dough. Do this with your fingers – it's a sticky mess but well worth it. Roll up dough – jelly roll style and cut into about 12 - 14 equal slices. Place sweet rolls right-side up on prepared baking pans and let rise about 30-40 minutes in warm place. Bake in pre-heated oven, 190-C degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Roll out dough

Spread with Date Filling

Roll up - jelly roll style

Cut into 12-14 slices - about 1 inch thick

While rolls bake, cream together mango, lemon and butter, then slowly beat in powdered sugar. Taste and adjust texture or flavor according to desire. Use a bit of mango nectar or lemon juice to thin it if you like. May also add a few drops of lemon or banana extract if desired.

Do not let rolls cool before frosting, take out of oven and quickly spread generous amount of thick Mango-Butter Icing over top of each roll. We want the mango flavor to melt into the sweet roll and flavors to blend accordingly. Let cool before eating... about 5-10 minutes is sufficient – if you still want to enjoy it warm and fresh from the oven :) yum yum.

Seriously Sublime Sweet Rolls - Trial 1

2010-07-27T13:17:00.000-07:00

So the tart and tangy Lemony-Lime Sweet Rolls turned out so well that I decided to make a lime version. I call them "Seriously Sublime." In trial 1 of these delicious rolls, I've even added a variation - that is to add frozen blueberries into the roll. But alas, as with other tests - we sometimes discover that "less is more." My husband and I both agree that although we like the blueberries - we love the Seriously Sublime roll with nothing but lime the best. I'm thinking it could even have been more lime-ish. So next time in trial 2, I will attempt to make the filling even more tart - with more lime juice than ever before.

The Dough:

8 Tablespoons oil (sunflower), divided
1/4 cup warm water
1 Tablespoon active-dry yeast
1/3 cup sugar, divided
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg white
2 heapen Tablespoons freshly grated lime zest
1 cup milk (sour, butter, plain, soy, rice - your choice)
4 1/4 cups flour (plus a bit extra, if needed)

Oil large glass bowl with 1 Tablespoon oil. In a small bowl activitate yeast with warm water and 1 teaspoon of the sugar, set aside to bubble a few minutes. In a mixing bowl, combine remaining oil, sugar, salt, egg, lime zest and milk. Blend together. Add in yeast mixture and flour 1/2 cup at a time - continue to mix until all flour is in bowl. Knead a few times and add a bit extra flour, if needed, to make a soft, elastic, not too sticky ball of dough. Put in oiled bowl, and turn to oil top. Cover with plastic wrap and put in warm place until doubled in size - about 1 to 2 hours. Meanwhile, make lime filling and glaze. Take risen dough out of bowl and punch down. Roll out into a large rectangle - about 1-2 centimeters thick. Take 1/3 of the Lime Filling and spread over the rectangle. [If using blueberries or other berry - add them now]. Starting at one end, roll up into a jelly-roll. Cut into 14-18 slices. Place on prepared baking sheets. (I usually prepare my sheets with baking paper - easier for clean up). Then drizzle another 1/3 of the Lime Filling among the rolls. Allow to rise again in warm place for 30-60 minutes. Then bake in oven 20-25 minutes until golden at 175-C degrees. Remove from oven and drizzle Lime Glaze over top. Cool before eating... if you can wait that long. Lick your fingers or serve with napkins - sticky - gooey - so yummy!!!

Lime Filling:

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cold water
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten

1 tsp lime peel, grated

Juice of two small limes

1 Tablespoon butter or margarine

Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt in small saucepan. Gradually add water and whisk until well blended. Whisk in egg yolks, lime zest and lime juice. Cook over medium heat whisking constantly until thick and bubbly. Boil one minute; remove from heat. Stir in butter. Cool to room temperature without stirring.

Lime Glaze:

1/3 of the Lime filling, 2 heaping teaspoons lime zest, plus about 125g powdered sugar - mix together to a smooth glaze.

[Now in my trial 2 experiment, I shall use more lime juice and less water... I have to in order to call it Serious!]

Lemony-Lime Sweet Rolls - Trial 2

2010-07-26T12:13:00.000-07:00

Little Ella waiting to test some sweet rolls!

Yummy. I made Lemony-Lime Sweet Rolls again, with a few changes - which were mentioned last time. The rolls in Trial 1 turned out just fine, I just wanted to try it again with some preparation changes. Which I did. And then from the suggestion of a friend (Vanessa) I added some fruit to the batch as well. I divided the dough up into three parts. I used raspberries, blueberries and strawberries... not all together - separately. And by concensus we liked the Lemony-Lime Sweet Rolls with Raspberries the best. Yummy - yummy. The others are good, but the raspberries paired the nicest. So to use the raspberry variations - I rolled out the dough - spread it with one third of the Lemon filling and then I scattered frozen raspberries over the top. Rolled it up and cut them into slices. Drizzled another 1/3 of the filling over top and then let those slices rise again and then baked them. See recipe in Trial 1. I took them to the birthday party I attended saturday night and they didn't last long... although everyone loves cinnamon rolls - on a warm Saturday evening in Summer - these rolls were quite the hit!

Just before they baked in the oven - colorful Lemony-Lime Sweet Rolls with strawberries, raspberries and blueberries

White Chocolate Raspberry Cream Cheese Rolls - Trial 1

2010-07-23T11:21:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, but once upon a time, I did not like cheesecake - or so I thought. I thought that cheesecake sounded very strange. I always liked cheese and cake but the thought of cheesecake - well, it sounded pretty gross to me. I even tried it to give it a chance and I didn't like it. That's because I've since discovered that there are different ways to make cheesecake. I think the version I tried had a lot of eggs and some kind of ricotta or cottage cheese mixture to it. And it had cherries and at some point in my past - in my childhood I didn't care for cherries either.

Fast forward several years and the summer before my first year of college I was visiting Baltimore, Maryland and my Mom really wanted to eat at The Cheesecake Factory, the restaurant. The wait was very long so we ended up going to Pizzeria Uno. I was okay with that - I was more than okay with that. It was a few years later until I actually did eat at The Cheesecake Factory. I think I had a burrito. It was good. And I opted for a strawberry smoothie because I believed at the time that I did not like cheesecake. Everyone else ordered their dessert - cheesecakes - different kinds and they oohed and ahhed, but I didn't care and I was happy with my smoothie. Even at one point my best friend worked at The Cheesecake Factory. She worked in the dessert section. It was her job to put whip cream on slices of cheesecake. So I had plenty of opportunities to try the cake - but I never did.

Then one time, about two years after college, I was at an art opening of sorts, and they had chocolate and caramel cheesecake and it looked really good to me. It didn't look at all like cheesecake - it just looked like a silky chocolate pie. I had slice. It was delicious. Someone said to me, do you like the cheesecake? But I was confused. Cheesecake? I didn't see any. Only that chocolate pie. And they said, that's chocolate cheesecake! And I said, oh - well, it's good.

Then another two years later, I was at a family camp out, it was my brother's birthday and he bought an assortment of cheesecake from Costco but the cheesecakes where packaged from The Cheesecake Factory. And again, I said, cheesecake - I'll pass. But then someone said - oh, just try a slice - we have White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake. Again with the chocolate - I halted - I thought about it - white chocolate and raspberries... okay - I'll give it try. And the rest is history... I have loved cheesecake ever since.

Now see, that's because there are two kinds of cheesecake - maybe even more than that. Some cheesecakes are made with cream cheese - and I like that. Others are made with some other kind of cheese and I don't think I care for that variety - but I could be wrong - I've been wrong before. My taste buds have changed over the years.

After that experience at the camp out, I set out in search for a similar recipe online. I found one at Allrecipes.com and I've made it several times. It is yum yum... very rich, decadent and let's just say, I'm in love with it. It has been that cake that has inspired me to make these rolls. I hope you like them as much as I do. Of course, I love sweet rolls and I love that cake - so the two combined sounds perfect to me - it's true though - it's not the same as cake - but let's just say you are cutting back on your cream intake - then perhaps these rolls are for you!

The recipe uses my BASIC ROLL MIX - adapted from Make-A-Mix Cookery. Very good book. If you happen upon one - or order on amazon - do try their other recipes that use the basic HOT ROLL MIX. All are very good. You can make donuts, bread, pretzels, etc. with that basic mix.

I thought these rolls turned out very yummy. My 4-year-old especially liked them. I found another treat she likes to eat :) My husband thought that the dough was too dry. I don't know what that means though, other than that the previous rolls we made - the Lemony-Lime Sweet Rolls had lots of gooeyness - so I think he was expecting that again... Might have to try out one of the variations and see if he likes them better... next time. But for me, it was a real special treat and they did not last long at our house.

To make the dough, you will need:

1 -1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup oil (sunflower, salad, vegetable, canola) or melted margarine
2 1/2 to 3 cups BASIC ROLL MIX

To make dough, in a mixing bowl dissolve yeast in warm water. Blend in egg and oil. Add 2 1/2 cups BASIC ROLL MIX and stir well. Add additional BASIC ROLL MIX up to 1/2 cup more to make a soft dough - not too sticky. Knead a few minutes until smooth. Lightly butter or oil a glass bowl. Put dough in bowl and turn to butter/oil top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place till doubled in size - about 1 to 2 hours. Meanwhile - prepare raspberry filling and cream cheese filling.

To make Raspberry Filling you will need:

125 grams frozen raspberries
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 teaspoons corn starch
1/4 cup cold water

In a saucepan, combine raspberries, sugar, cornstarch and water. Bring to a boil, stirring, continue to boil 5 minutes, or until sauce is thick. Remove from heat and let cool. Strain sauce through a mesh strainer to remove seeds. Makes about 2/3 cup. Set aside.

To make Cream Cheese Filling you will need:

100 grams plain cream cheese
50 grams plain white chocolate, of a good quality
1 egg yolk
1 package (8 grams) vanilla sugar

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt white chocolate. It takes 30-45 seconds in 15 second intervals, stirring after each interval until completely melted. Add cream cheese and blend thoroughly with a spoon till smooth. Blend in egg yolk and vanilla sugar. Set aside.

To make White Chocolate Glaze you will need:

25 grams white chocolate, melted
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 to 3 tablespoon milk to thin

In a bowl, combine melted white chocolate and powdered sugar. Mix until crumbly. Add in vanilla and milk mixing constantly to thin. Set aside until needed.

~ * ~~~ * ~~~~~~~ * ~~~ * ~

After dough has risen, turn out onto lightly floured surface and punch down. Roll out into a good size rectangle - about 1/4-inch thick (2 cm). Spread with 1/2 the raspberry filling. Roll up dough - jelly roll style and cut into 12 equal slices. Put on prepared baking sheets. (Prepared with baking paper - for easier clean up!) And place each slice on baking sheet a few inches apart. Let rise again another 30-60 minutes in warm place. Preheat oven to 190-C degrees (375-F). With a tablespoon, press a deep indentation in the center of each roll. Fill the indentation with one heaping soup spoon of Cream Cheese Filling until all the filling is used - divide the remainder evenly among the rolls. Bake in oven 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown. Prepare White Chocolate Glaze and drizzle warm on rolls. Then drizzle rolls with remaining Raspberry Filling. Makes about 12 rolls.

~ * ~~~ * ~~~~~~~ * ~~~ * ~

Variations:

1) Use raspberry preserves in place of raspberry filling - it's a shortcut - might contain seeds but that's okay. When you want to drizzle it on top of rolls - add a little water to thin and microwave a few seconds, stirring until desired consistency.

2) Reverse the order of fillings. Use all of the Cream Cheese Filling in the middle jelly roll stage. And then use Raspberry Filling or raspberry preserves in the indentation-filling stage. Proceed with White Chocolate Glaze and use same dough recipe.

BASIC ROLL MIX

2010-07-16T04:22:00.000-07:00

This is my BASIC ROLL MIX used for several recipes now and in the future. It saves time... and it's adapted from Make-A-Mix Cookery's HOT ROLL MIX.

To make it you will need 1 large container to store it in. I use a large round clear plastic bin - I bought it at Wal*mart in Germany - back when they still had Wal*mart in Germany. Then label it - very important!

20 cups (5 lbs. or 2 kilos) all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups (240 grams) white sugar
4 teaspoons (20 grams) salt
1 cup (116 grams) dry milk powder

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl or in the large plastic container you plan to store it in. Stir together to distribute evenly. I use a large wire whisk for this. Store in cool, dry place. Use within 6 to 8 months. Makes about 22 cups of BASIC ROLL MIX.

To make BASIC DOUGH (enough for 12 sweet rolls):

Combine in a mixing bowl 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast, 3/4 cup warm water - let sit to become foamy. Then add 1 egg, beaten and 1/4 cup melted margarine or vegetable oil. Mix in 3 cups BASIC ROLL MIX and extra flour if needed to make a soft, not too sticky elastic ball of dough. Put into a bowl buttered with oil and turn to coat. Place someplace warm like the oven on it's lowest setting for at least an hour to rise, covered with plastic wrap.

Lemony-Lime Sweet Rolls- Trial 1

2010-07-10T04:38:00.000-07:00

These have past two tests. The first being that after 2 days - they still taste fresh and tastey (just a few seconds in the microwave and whalaa!). The second being the taste testers like them...

A few days before I attempted these, I made some 4th of July Inspired - red, white and blue rolls - that turned out not good. A failure for me. But a good failure because I learned from it. What I learned - same as with applying makeup - less is more! So, I decided to make more sweet rolls but this time I made myself limit what I put in it. I decided I was going to make lemon sweet rolls - and even though I was tempted to add this and that - I limited myself to only one other ingredient and that was a bit of lime zest. So, I'm calling them Lemony-Lime Sweet Rolls.

These turned out fabulous - tart and sweet and very lemony. The taste was great - and already in trial 2 - the only thing that will change is the preparation method because the lemon filling was a bit much and it was difficult to roll up the dough and cut them into slices. So, in trial 2, I will use about 1/3 of the lemon filling for the inside, and then still plop 1/3 filling on top of rolled up rolls and then use the remaining 1/3 filling for the glaze.

Luckily, I'm going to a surprise birthday party in 2 weeks so I have another excuse to bake :) yippee!
Here is the recipe with (trial 2) suggestions for preparations.

The Dough:

8 Tablespoons oil (sunflower), divided
1/4 cup warm water
1 Tablespoon active-dry yeast
1/3 cup sugar, divided
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, beaten
2 heapen Tablespoons freshly grated lime zest
1 cup milk (sour, butter, plain, soy, rice - your choice)
4 1/4 cups flour (plus a bit extra, if needed)

Oil large glass bowl with 1 Tablespoon oil. In a small bowl activitate yeast with warm water and 1 teaspoon of the sugar, set aside to bubble a few minutes. In a mixing bowl, combine remaining oil, sugar, salt, egg, lime zest and milk. Blend together. Add in yeast mixture and flour 1/2 cup at a time - continue to mix until all flour is in bowl. Knead a few times and add a bit extra flour, if needed, to make a soft, elastic, not too sticky ball of dough. Put in oiled bowl, and turn to oil top. Cover with plastic wrap and put in warm place until doubled in size - about 1 to 2 hours. Meanwhile, make lemon filling and glaze. Take risen dough out of bowl and punch down. Roll out into a large rectangle - about 1-2 centimeters thick. Take 1/3 of the Lemon filling and spread over the rectangle. Starting at one end, roll up into a jelly-roll. Cut into 14-18 slices. Place on prepared baking sheets. (I usually prepare my sheets with baking paper - easier for clean up). Then place another 1/3 of the lemon filling divided among the rolls - just smooth over with a spoon or brush on top. Allow to rise again in warm place for 30-60 minutes. Then bake in oven 20-25 minutes until golden at 175-C degrees. Remove from oven and drizzle glaze over top. Cool before eating... if you can wait that long. Lick your fingers or serve with napkins - sticky - gooey - so yummy!!!

Lemon filling (from Wilton.com):

3/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cold water
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 tsp lemon peel, grated
Juice of medium lemon
1 Tablespoon butter or margarine

Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt in small saucepan. Gradually add water and whisk until well blended. Whisk in egg yolks, lemon peel and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat whisking constantly until thick and bubbly. Boil one minute; remove from heat. Stir in butter. Cool to room temperature without stirring.

Glaze:

1/3 of the Lemon filling, 2 heaping teaspoons lime zest, plus about 125g powdered sugar - mix together to a smooth glaze.

Time Savers

2010-06-25T04:01:00.000-07:00

So, I have a lot of ideas floating through my head - all the time... maybe combine a bit of this with a bit of that. Do I make each and every sweet roll from beginning to end all the way all the time? No. Too time consuming and I don't want to throw too much product away. So, here is an easy way to come up with different flavor combinations, or at least, this is how I do it. I take some bread - usually a white bread roll - something similar to a sweet roll - and I spread it with whatever I'm thinking of. This really only works for possible filling combinations or toppings. Take for example my lunch. Today I had some whole wheat seedy bread - very yummy with soup - but I used it to try some different combinations:

The combination on the bottom is marshmallow fluff with shaved chocolate sprinkles. Looks the yummiest right? The marshmallow fluff could have been better - with real chocolate perhaps and maybe some cinnamon :)

The middle one is cream cheese with forest fruits sprinkles. It was alright tasting, perhaps cream cheese and jam or fresh fruits would be the way to go.

The top and far yummiest, in my opinion, is hazelnut and chocolate spread with anise sprinkles. Who would have thought that chocolate-nut spread would go so well with anise? Well, it's good. And that means, I'm going to do something with that combination... in the near future. Anise really reminds me of Halloween so I think I'm going to use that combination around Halloween time for some very special Halloween sweet rolls.

Blurb

2010-06-23T11:57:00.000-07:00

So, a while ago I came across the Blurb community. This is a website where you can download software to make your own photo books. Lots of websites have them. I could even create the book through Hema - or any site where you can make a photo book. The thing I like about Blurb is that there is a whole community around the site. It's different from say a Hema, Kruidvat or Foto.com where you are just ordering a photo book of your kids photos because some people are using it to publish books - like cook books.

I will probably do more research as the time goes on as to which site I will use to publish Sweet Rolls that Rock but it may be that I use Blurb. Or if it's as popular as I hope it to be - maybe some savvy publisher will contact me... wouldn't that be great?!

Okay here is a list of books that I like the layout of:
Induldge your tastebuds with Hong Cho
The Yummiest Cookie
I Cooked That
temptations
No Empty Chairs

and finally a link to the blurb blog for tips and advice, etc.

From what I saw from the books above that I liked most was good photography. And from other cook books that I've seen my favorite thing is when there is a photo for each recipe. I think that's the way it should be done. So remember this Melissa - and do it right!

I love sweet rolls!

2010-06-22T11:00:00.000-07:00

On Monday, June 14, 2010, I announced on my other blog: cUte Kitty pUnk that I would begin a cook book. This cook book is all about sweet rolls. My initial love for sweet rolls is really my love for cinnamon rolls because everything tastes better with cinnamon! I started over a year ago experimenting with different cinnamon roll variations. I tried pumpkin cinnamon rolls and from there I created a unique recipe: zucchini cinnamon rolls. And they were suprisingly good and a real hit with my friends that tried them.

Today I begin the blog - the sweet rolls blog. What I plan to do through this blog is record how I make and come up with different recipes - I will also freely share these recipes with you. And I have a panel of taste-testers ready to share their opinions on the quality of the recipes. Then eventually, over the course of five years, I hope to share sixty unique sweet rolls recipes. Yes - 60 - that's one new recipe a month over the course of 5 years.

I am like many bakers and home cooks, I find many recipes on the Internet for free. So I give the recipes for free. But I also love cook books. I like being able to flip through the pages and find my favorites so accesible at my fingertips so I will compile the recipes into a book for purchase.

I am really excited about this new challenge for myself. I love to be creative and to create something new. Usually this has been something I've done before - painting or crocheting. Baking is a whole new arena for me in a way - although I've baked many delicious treats over the years, to really come up with something new every month is just so NEW for me. So, of course, it's fun!

I already have many interesting ideas for sweet rolls that rock... now to try them all... I want to begin very soon. One of my all time favorite holidays is right around the corner: 4th of July - America's Independence Day... and I want to make a red, white, and blue sweet roll in honor of it... so I'm putting on my thinking cap for this one - and I'm thinking blueberries, strawberries, maybe watermelon... perhaps coconut... and all this into one delicious sweet roll... oh yeah baby - here I come!

Sweet Rolls that Rock

The Drawing

Spoonflower sweet rolls designs

Stracciatella Sweet Rolls

Mango Lassi-inspired Sweet Roll

White Chocolate and "Pepernoten" Sweet Rolls

Root beer Cinnamon Rolls - made with Root beer Jelly!

Creepy Green Halloween Sweet Rolls

Root Beer Cinnamon Rolls... take 2, er 3.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cinnamon Rolls

Lovely Cake Batter Sweet Rolls

*Sweet Rolls-O-Rama* - May Linky Party & Philly Friendship Braided Bread

Bunny Buns - Easter Weekend

*Sweet Rolls-O-Rama* Monthly Linky Party

Toblerone-filled Honey and Almond Sweet Rolls

Shamrock Sweet Rolls

Cinnamon Roll Doughnuts with Warm Vanilla Glaze and Sprinkles

*Sweet Rolls-O-Rama* - Linky Party!

8 sweet rolls to try...

January's Round-up and Jam Rolls

One Lovely Blog Award :)

December's Sweet Roll Round Up

Root Beer, Ginger Ale and Eggnog Sweet Rolls

Cran-Apple Cider and Pumpkin Pie Sweet Rolls

Maple, Pumpkin-Pomegranate, Sticky Orange

Coco-nana-nut + Dulce de Leche Sweet Rolls

Honey-nut Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Polynesian-inspired Pineapple and Bacon Sweet Rolls

Orange, Pumpkin and Spice Sweet Rolls - Another Sugar High Friday

Rooibos Vanilla Sweet Rolls

Ideas and Inspiration

Peanut Butter & Smuckers Concord Grape Jelly... Rocks!

Sugar High Fridays - Browned Butter, Saffron and Succade Sweet Rolls

Banana-Date-Mango Sweet Rolls - Trial 1

Seriously Sublime Sweet Rolls - Trial 1

Lemony-Lime Sweet Rolls - Trial 2

White Chocolate *Raspberry* Cream Cheese Rolls - Trial 1

BASIC ROLL MIX

Lemony-Lime Sweet Rolls- Trial 1

Time Savers

Blurb

I love sweet rolls!

Sweet Rolls-O-Rama - May Linky Party & Philly Friendship Braided Bread

Sweet Rolls-O-Rama Monthly Linky Party

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