Mango Lassi-inspired Sweet Roll

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!

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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:

Banana-Date-Mango Sweet Rolls - Trial 1

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.