Orange Creamsicle Sweet Rolls

I don't make sweet rolls very often anymore... the problem being I eat too many of them, or the kids eat too many of them... 

Anyway, we were going to visit some friends and have dinner with them, but before the dinner we were going on a nature walk together so I thought it would be nice to bring a treat. 

I decided on creamy orange - and they were perfect for this cool summer afternoon.

The kids loved them. My little Ella asked: Mom, can you make these for dinner more often?

Hahaha... I said, this isn't dinner, this is a dessert or a treat only. She was bummed.

Here is how I made them:

1. Dough: using a bread maker put liquids in first, followed by dry ingredients. Put on dough cycle and press start. It's approximately 90 minutes, but let it rise longer if need be.

  - 1/2 cup vanilla or plain soy milk or plain cow's milk
  - 1/4 cup melted butter or coconut oil
  - 1 egg white
  - 2 tablespoons white sugar
  - 1/2 teaspoon salt
  - 2 cups all purpose flour
  - 1 tablespoon orange zest
  - 4 tablespoons yellow cake mix
  - 1 teaspoon instant dry yeast

2. Filling: meanwhile, prepare filling as follows...

  - 1/2 cup white sugar                    - 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
  - 1 tablespoon corn starch            - 1/2 teaspoon orange zest
  - pinch salt                                    - juice of half large orange, or 
                                                          whole small orange
  - 1/2 cup cold water                     - 1/2 tablespoon butter + 1/2 
                                                          teaspoon vanilla extract

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

3. When dough has doubled, roll out on lightly flour dusted surface into 1-2 cm thick rectangle shape. Take half of the orange filling and spread on dough. Roll up dough and cut into 8, 9 or 10 slices. Place slices in pie dish lined with baking parchment paper. Take the rest of the orange filling and spread evenly over rolls. Let rise a second time in warm place, for example, the oven at it's lowest setting. When they are doubled again, bake at 175-C degrees for approximately 15 minutes - until just golden brown. Then removed immediately from the oven and let cool.

4. Topping: prepare topping to spread over cooled rolls. Cream together 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons cream cheese. Add in 1/2 teaspoon orange zest. Mix in powdered sugar (1/2 cup or more) depending on desired consistency. If it becomes too thick, then "water down" with 1/2 teaspoon orange juice at a time. Taste and adjust flavoring. I added in also 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Spread evenly over cooled rolls. 

Bunny Buns - Easter Weekend

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:







UPDATE: I am making these Easter weekend again (2013) and I am not letting Kailea crack the eggs. Apparently, I haven't lightened up yet. Not only that, but I'm using the bread maker to make the dough - boy I've got lazy.

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

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.

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

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!

Seriously Sublime Sweet Rolls - Trial 1

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

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

Lemony-Lime Sweet Rolls- Trial 1

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.