Strawberry Lime-ade Sweet Rolls

Part of my new years resolutions repertoire is to make interesting flavor combination of sweet rolls. I have only managed to do one recipe this month.

I'm pregnant... and lately, I don't feel like baking much. It's difficult to get those creative juices flowing and I just want comfort food. You would think that sweet rolls would be at the top of my list for comfort food.... but it's not.

I've been craving a lot of sub sandwiches, hummus, Mexican food and stuff like that... and ice cream, and milk shakes. I had bought a can of strawberry pie filling for my strawberry milkshakes - and I had a bit left over - I used it in these sweet rolls.

I will say that they were good, but they didn't hit the spot like I had hoped. I should try them again in the future when I'm not preggers. I may add zest to the glaze next time.

Dough: basic mix with zest from one lime
Filling: strawberry pie filling and a mix of strawberry  jam
Glaze: simple made with juice from 1/2 lime and powdered sugar

In a large bowl or in a bread maker combine ingredients as follows:
1/2 cup luke warm water
1 medium egg
40ml vegetable oil
zest from one lime
2 cups BASIC/HOT ROLL MIX
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
Stir well to make a soft and not too sticky dough. Knead. Let rise till doubled. Punch down. Rest. Roll out into rectangle. Spread with 1/3 - 1/2 cup strawberry pie/jam filling. Roll up and cut into 8 equal slices. Place into prepared pie tin. Rise again in warm place. Bake 15-20 minutes at 175C degrees. Prepare sweet glaze. and brush or drizzle on while rolls are still warm. Makes 8 rolls.

Glaze: In a small bowl, combine juice from 1/2 lime with enough powdered sugar to make a not too thick frosting. At least 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar.

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.

I love sweet rolls!

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!