Chocolate Stuffed Rolls

This was an interesting experiment.  The rolls needed another component....like apples or dates.....the chocolate just didn't do it for me on it's own. I do feel kind of dirty saying that though.

I have stuffed chocolate into the center of a drop biscuit and been in heaven....all that buttery biscuit dough was a wonderful pairing with the melted chocolate center.


Chocolate Stuffed Rolls

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm skim milk
1/4 cup raw honey
1/4 cup oil
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbls vital wheat gluten (optional)
18 to 20 squares of dark chocolate
2 tbls coarse salt
2 tbls turbinado sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water.  Stir in milk, honey, oil, and salt.  Mix in one cup of flour and vital wheat gluten.  Mix in eggs and enough flour to make a soft dough.  Turn dough out onto floured board and knead for 5 to 8 minutes, adding flour as necessary.  Place in covered bowl and let rise for one hour.

Turn dough back out on floured board and divide into 18 to 20 pieces.  Shape a piece of dough into a round and flatten slightly.  Tuck chocolate into center of dough.  Pinch the edges of dough closed around the chocolate.  Place pinch side down on a greased cookie sheet.  Repeat with remaining dough.  Cover rolls and let rise for 30 minutes in a warm place.

Mix together coarse salt and turbinado sugar.  Brush tops of rolls with melted butter and sprinkle salt mixture over top of rolls.

Bake at 375 for 18 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.  Cool on racks.

Apple Cinnamon Pockets

When I crave a danish but I'm feeling too lazy to form a pretty braid I turn to pockets....simple and easy to form.  Sometimes a no muss no fuss strategy fits the bill.


Apple Cinnamon Pockets

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm skim milk
1/4 cup raw honey
1/4 cup oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbls vital wheat gluten (optional)
1/4 cup butter, melted

Filling:
Spiced Apple Butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
 
Sugar Drizzle:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 to 3 tbls water or milk


Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water.  Stir in milk, honey, oil, and salt.  Mix in one cup of flour and vital wheat gluten.  Mix in egg and enough flour to make a soft dough.  Turn dough out onto floured board and knead for 5 to 8 minutes, adding flour as necessary.  Place in covered bowl and let rise for one hour.

Assemble filling.  Stir brown sugar, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and butter together.  Mix in flour.  Set aside. 

Turn dough back out onto floured surface and divide into 10 to 12 pieces.  Spread a piece of dough out into a rough circle.  Spread a layer of spiced apple butter across half of circle, leaving the edges of the dough uncovered.  Crumble a healthy portion of filling over the apple butter.  Fold the pocket in half and pinch the edges together.  Move pocket to greased cookie sheet.  Repeat with remaining dough.  Let pockets rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Brush pockets with melted butter.  Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Mix together icing ingredients and drizzle over top of slightly cooled pockets.  Nom!

Apple Cinnamon Danish

Apple cinnamon glory....oh yes.  Perfect for a weekend breakfast.  I'm still playing around with using crumb topping as the filling in different sweet breads....it really does make a great filler.

Next time I need to thin my frosting a bit more....talk about a super thick drizzle.


Apple Cinnamon Danish

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm skim milk
1/4 cup raw honey
1/4 cup oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbls vital wheat gluten (optional)
1/4 cup butter, melted

Filling:
Spiced Apple Butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Sugar Drizzle:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 to 3 tbls water or milk


Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water.  Stir in milk, honey, oil, and salt.  Mix in one cup of flour and vital wheat gluten.  Mix in egg and enough flour to make a soft dough.  Turn dough out onto floured board and knead for 5 to 8 minutes, adding flour as necessary.  Place in covered bowl and let rise for one hour.

Assemble filling while dough is rising.  Stir together both sugars, salt, and cinnamon, and butter in a medium bowl. Fold in the flour until well combined.  Set aside.

Divide dough into four sections.  Roll a section out into a thin rectangle.  Spread apple butter down the center of the dough.  Crumble filling on top of apple butter.  Using a knife or pizza cutter....cut dough on each side of the filling into strips.  Fold strips, alternating sides, over the filling in the center.....I always think of it like a shoelace pattern.  Place danish on greased cookie sheet.  Repeat with remaining portions of dough.  Let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Bake at 375 for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool on racks.  Drizzle with sugar mixture.

Cinnamon Fingers

I was craving doughnuts, but I try to stay away from deep frying these days.  These baked treats turned beautifully and fixed me right up.  I definitely recommend noshing while they are warm from the oven. So very good.

The filling is the crumb top from the Kitchenarian's New York Style Crumb Cake.  I was quite pleased with the buttery, cinnamony goodness.


Cinnamon Fingers

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm skim milk
1/4 cup raw honey
1/4 cup oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbls vital wheat gluten (optional)

Topping:
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Filling:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water.  Stir in milk, honey, oil, and salt.  Mix in one cup of flour and vital wheat gluten.  Mix in egg and enough flour to make a soft dough.  Turn dough out onto floured board and knead for 5 to 8 minutes, adding flour as necessary.  Place in covered bowl and let rise for one hour.

While dough is rising assemble the filling.  Stir together both sugars, salt, and cinnamon, and butter in a medium bowl. Fold in the flour until well combined.  Set aside.

Turn dough back out on floured board and divide into 12 to 15 pieces.  Take one piece and roll it into a rope.  Flatten the rope out into a rough rectangle.  Crumble some filling down the center of the the dough.  Fold the edges together over the filling and pinch closed.  Place on greased cookie sheet, pinch side down.  Repeat with remaining dough.

Brush fingers with melted butter.  Bake at 375 for 15 to 18 minutes or until dough is nicely browned.

Mix cinnamon and sugar together.  When fingers come out of the oven, brush again with butter and dredge through cinnamon sugar mixture.  Set on rack to cool.

Gingerbread Sticky Buns

Eventually my obsession with gingerbread will peter out....possibly....ehehehehe.  I do tend to go in streaks though....a bunch of ideas will crop up surrounding one theme and I just have to try them out to see how reality matches up with my imagination. 

These are super tasty.  I always love a good sticky bun though.  Messy food is just fun.  The only change I might make is to add spices to the sticky bottom sugar mixture.  The gingerbread flavor is a little muted so it needs a little kick.


Gingerbread Sticky Buns

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 package active dry yeast
3 tbls Vital Wheat Gluten
1 cup skim milk
1/4 cup oil
1/3 cup molasses
2 eggs
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

Filling:
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Sticky Bottoms:
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup tub margarine
1 cup chopped dates

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in about 1/4 cup warm water.  Warm milk in the microwave and stir into the yeast mixture along with the molasses, oil, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.  Mix in whole wheat flour, wheat germ, and vital wheat gluten.  Mix in eggs.  Begin to mix in remaining flour, until mixture becomes too hard to stir.  Turn out onto a floured board and knead in remaining flour to for a soft, elastic dough.  Continue to knead for about 8 to 10 minutes.  Place ball of dough in a covered bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled for an hour.

Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon for the filling and set aside.

For the sticky bottoms, mix together brown sugar and margarine in a saucepan.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Pour into the bottom of a cookie sheet with sides or a baking pan.   Sprinkle the dates over top of the sugar mixture.

Turn dough back out onto floured board.  Divide dough in half.  Roll each half out into something like a 9x13 rectangle and brush with melted butter. Sprinkle sugar mixture over the dough.  Roll dough into a tube starting with the narrow side.  Pinch edges together.  Cut into one inch slices with a knife.  Place slices over the sugar/date mixture leaving room between each roll for it to rise.  Cover and put in a warm place for 30 to 60 minutes until doubled in size.

Bake at 375 for 18 to 24 minutes, or until done.  Invert rolls onto a serving platter.  Cool.

Gingerbread Spiral Rolls

The great gingerbread bonanza continues...yes yes.  After I made gingerbread blondies, I wondered how a gingerbread flavoring would work in a sweet yeast roll.....and it worked out beautifully.  The bread smelled amazing.

If you aren't fond of dates you can always use a different dried fruit or just leave the fruit out.

I had planned to leave a couple rolls without icing to make french toast, but I went on some sort of crazed icing spree and forgot all about it.  Sniff.....the gingerbread french toast will have to be tried another time.  Mmm.....gingerbread french toast....I wants it!


Gingerbread Spiral Rolls

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour (approx)
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 package active dry yeast
3 tbls Vital Wheat Gluten
1 cup skim milk
1/4 cup oil
1/3 cup molasses
2 eggs, beaten lightly
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

Filling:
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup chopped dates
2 tbls tub margarine, melted

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in about 1/4 cup warm water.  Warm milk in the microwave and stir into the yeast mixture along with the molasses, oil, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.  Mix in whole wheat flour, wheat germ, and vital wheat gluten.  Mix in eggs.  Begin to mix in remaining flour, until mixture becomes too hard to stir.  Turn out onto a floured board and knead in remaining flour to for a soft, elastic dough.  Continue to knead for about 8 to 10 minutes.  Place ball of dough in a covered bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled for an hour.

Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon for the filling.  Turn dough back out onto floured board.  Divide dough in half.  Roll each half out into something like a 9x13 rectangle and brush with melted butter. Sprinkle sugar mixture over the dough.  Top with chopped dates.  Roll dough into a tube starting with the narrow side.  Pinch edges together.  Cut into one inch slices with a knife and place on a greased cookie sheet.  Cover and let rise 30 to 60 minutes until doubled in size.

Bake at 350 for 18 to 20 minutes or until done.  Remove from cookie sheets to cool.  Drizzle icing over warm rolls.

Icing:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbls skim milk
2 tbls maple syrup

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, until smooth and well combined.

Maple Apple Braid 1.0

It's pretty to look at and the bread was quite tasty, but I wasn't too happy with the overall result. I should have divided the dough into thirds instead of halves.  The bread to filling ratio was really off.  The apple filling was yummy....the apple filling mixed with the cream cheese I wasn't thrilled with.  Next time it's all fruit baby!

The maple flavoring in the dough and the frosting was quite nice.  It was a lovely, subtle flavor.

Definitely need a do over on this recipe though.


Maple Apple Braid 1.0

Dough:
3 cups unbleached flour (approx)
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup skim milk
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1/3 cup tub margarine
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten lightly
2 tbls vital wheat gluten

Dissolve yeast in about 1/4 cup warm water.  Heat milk and margarine together until milk is warm and margarine is melted. I use the microwave to heat the milk instead of the stove top, but either works fine. Stir into dissolved yeast. Mix in maple syrup and salt. Add in a cup of flour and the vital wheat gluten. Stir in eggs. Work in enough flour to create a soft dough. Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead in remaining flour. Continue to work your dough for 8 to 10 minutes.

Place dough in covered bowl and let rise for an hour in a warm place. The microwave makes a great spot to rise dough. Take a glass of water and heat it to boiling in the microwave. Leave the glass inside and put the covered bowl inside and shut the door. It's a warm, steamy spot.

Turn dough out onto your board and divide in half.  Roll each portion of dough out thinly with a rolling pin into a rectangle. Spread a layer of filling down the center of the dough.  Use a pizza cutter to slice one inch wide strips in the dough surrounding the filling.  You want to slice the strips at a slight downward angle.

Tuck one strip of dough across the filling.  Bring a strip of dough from the other side across the top of the first strip.  Continue alternating strips of dough until you reach the bottom.  Think of shoelaces here.

Cover the braid and raise in a warm place for 30 minutes.  Uncover and bake at 375 for 25 to 30 minutes, or until braid is a lovely golden brown.

Drizzle frosting across the top with a spoon or fork.


Apple Filling:
2 Fuji apples or your current favorite
1 tbls sugar
1.5 tbls flour
1 tsp cinnamon
dash of salt
1 tbls lemon juice
1 tbls tub margarine

Peel and core apples.  Slice thin and then chop into cubes.  Combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt.  Toss the apples in the mixture.  Turn covered apples into a pan and top with lemon juice and margarine.  Bake at 375 for 30 mins or so stirring occasionally until apples are tender and cooked down.  Cool.

Cream Cheese Filling:
4oz reduced fat cream cheese
1 egg yolk
2 tbls sugar
1/2 tbls flour
1 tsp lemon zest

Mix everything together and combine with the apple filling.

Maple Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbls skim milk
2 tbls pure maple syrup

Mix everything together.  The icing will actually be too thick to drizzle at this point until you heat it for 10 to 15 seconds in the microwave to loosen it before drizzling across the hot bread.  Alternately you can thin it further with milk instead of heating it.

A few more pics....

Pretty...yes.  Too much bread and too little filling....I'm still a little cheesed off about that since I should have seen that coming.  I didn't think about the whole double in size bit in the final rise....how I could not think that through I do not know considering how much bread I bake....ehehehe.  The cream cheese baked into the bread as well which surprised me a bit. Honestly it looked like I only had a fruit filling going.

The nekkid braid.  I had one little flap sticking up on the tail end of both braids.  It was like the loaves were flipping me off.....too funny.  My bread was issuing it's own feedback.  ;)

An egg white wash right before baking would give the crust a prettier finished look, but honestly I knew I was going to cover it with frosting so I didn't worry about it.  Something to think about for next time.

I added this treat to the Sweet for Saturday #3 over at Sweet as Sugar Cookies.  So many wonderful treats over there to check out and drool over.

Cinnamon Sunflower Pull Aparts

I thought peeling apart layers of warm, cinnamony goodness would be a fun way to eat this treat....and it was, but there was way more labor involved than I was looking for.  ;)  Seriously just roll these bad boys up cinnamon roll style and glaze.  If I want that shape I'll just toss the cut cinnamon roll into the muffin tin and call it a win....ehehehee.  Lazy? Yes, yes I am.

I considered this finger food.  My beloved hubby ate it with a fork.  Not even the epic amount of stink eye I gave him would make him use his fingers....rofl.  Bless his heart he doesn't like messy food.  I go with the messier the better rule myself.  I'm pretty sure that's the inner two year old speaking though.  Wet naps are my friend. 


Cinnamon Sunflower Pull Aparts

3 cups unbleached flour (approx)
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup skim milk
1/3 cup raw honey
1/3 cup tub margarine
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten lightly
3 tbls vital wheat gluten


Filling:
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup tub margarine, melted
1 cup sunflower seeds

Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
2oz cream cheese
1/4 cup tub margarine
1 tsp vanilla

Dissolve yeast in about 1/4 cup warm water. Water from the tap works just fine. Heat milk and margarine together until milk is warm and margarine is melted. I use the microwave to heat the milk instead of the stove top, but either works fine. Stir into dissolved yeast. Mix in honey and salt. Add in a cup of flour and the vital wheat gluten. Stir in eggs. Work in enough flour to create a soft dough. Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead in remaining flour. Continue to work your dough for 8 to 10 minutes.

Place dough in covered bowl and let rise for an hour in a warm place. The microwave makes a great spot to rise dough. Take a glass of water and heat it to boiling in the microwave. Leave the glass inside and put the covered bowl inside and shut the door. It's a warm, steamy spot.

Grease jumbo muffin pans.  Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon.  Turn dough back out onto your board and punch down. Sprinkle a little margarine, brown sugar, and sunflower seeds in the bottom of a muffin well.  Cut off a small portion of dough and flatten it into a thin round.  Place in the bottom of the muffin pan.  Brush margarine across the top and sprinkle it with the brown sugar mixture and sunflower seeds.  Cut off another portion of dough, flatten it into a thin round, and layer it on top of the last one.  Brush with margarine and sprinkle on the sugar and sunflower seeds.  Repeat until your muffin cups are 3/4 full.  Leave the final layer bare of sugar, butter, and sunflower seeds.  Repeat the same process with the other muffin wells.

Cover the muffin pans and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.  Bake at 375 for 15 to 20 minutes until nicely browned.  Turn out of pans to cool.  Mix together icing ingredients and drizzle over the tops of the warm stacks.  Nom!



 A couple more pics....

Fresh out of the oven and just waiting on a slew of glaze.  Hmmm....I could have done a right side up version instead of inverted.....skip adding margarine, sugar, and sunflower seeds to the muffin wells and add it to the top of the final layer of dough instead. 

A non sunflower seed version......which seemed quite boring.

Cranberry Orange Rolls 1.0

Man these rolls hit the spot for me....light and fresh.  They are a nice twist on the usual cinnamon roll.  I've been feeling a compulsion to make sweet breads lately so expect a string of yeasty glory down the road.  ;)

I might experiment next time with adding some zest to the actual bread dough...or even some orange juice...sometimes that small tweak can create a huge boost in flavor.  I divided the dough into thirds before I rolled it out to make some mini rolls....I think I like the larger size better though so I changed the recipe below to reflect that.

I learned an important lesson while adding in the cranberries....the cherry flavored cranberry pack looks exactly like the regular cranberry pack unless you are actually paying attention....ahem.  ;)


Cranberry Orange Rolls 1.0

3 cups unbleached flour (approx)
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup skim milk
1/3 cup raw honey
1/3 cup tub margarine
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten lightly
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbls orange zest
1 cup dried cherry cranberries


Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
2oz cream cheese
1/4 cup tub margarine
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp orange zest

Dissolve yeast in about 1/4 cup warm water. Water from the tap works just fine. Heat milk and butter together until milk is warm and butter is melted. I use the microwave to heat the milk instead of the stove top, but either works fine. Stir into dissolved yeast. Mix in honey and salt. Add in a cup of flour. Stir in eggs. Work in enough flour to create a soft dough. Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead in remaining flour. Continue to work your dough for 8 to 10 minutes.

Place dough in covered bowl and let rise for an hour in a warm place. The microwave makes a great spot to rise dough. Take a glass of water and heat it to boiling in the microwave. Leave the glass inside and put the covered bowl inside and shut the door. It's a warm, steamy spot.

Turn your dough back out on your board kneading it a bit. Divide it in half and place one half off to the side. Roll the dough into something like a 9x13 rectangle. Mix together 1/2 cup sugar and orange zest. Brush the rectangle with water (melted butter is also an option)  and sprinkle half the sugar mixture over the top of the dough. Sprinkle half the cranberries on top of the sugar.  Roll the dough up starting with the longest side. Cut into segments and place each piece on a greased cookie sheet. Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Cover the cookie sheets and let rise 30 minutes in a warm place.

Bake rolls at 375 for 15 to 20 minutes, or until they brown nicely. Mix together powdered sugar, cream cheese, margarine, zest, and vanilla. Remove rolls from cookie sheet and drizzle or spoon the icing over the tops. Consume with great joy!

Unruly Monkey Bread

Zomg the scent of this baking was amazing! I wanted it! I wanted it all....ahem. So good. I have a serious weakness for sweet breads. ;) It's actually quite surprising I've never made monkey bread before really.

This batch was a bit of a fail though. I should have divided my dough into smaller pieces than I did....I was feeling quite lazy. Plus half of the loaf got stuck in the pan....there was much swearing. None of that affected the very yummy flavor happily...it just looked a mess. When in doubt, pile up the pieces that stuck in the pan and ice the heck out of them!


Monkey Bread

3 to 4 cups unbleached flour
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup skim milk
1/3 cup tub margarine
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten lightly
2 tbls vital wheat gluten
1.5 cups brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup melted tub margarine
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tbls milk

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water. Heat milk and margarine in the microwave until the milk is warm and the margarine is melted. Pour liquids into the dissolved yeast and stir together. Add in salt, sugar, and vital wheat gluten. Mix in a cup of flour before adding in eggs. Begin mixing in additional flour until dough becomes too difficult to stir. Turn dough out onto board and work in remaining flour. Knead for 8 minutes or so until dough is smooth and elastic. Put dough into a bowl, cover, and let rise for an hour in a warm place.

Turn dough back out onto floured board and cut into small pieces. Roll each piece into a round. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon. Roll rounds through the melted butter. Then roll each round through the sugar mixture. Arrange pieces in a well greased bundt pan. When you have all your sugar covered dough in place, cover and let bread rise for 30 minutes in a warm place.

Bake at 375 for 30 to 35 minutes or until top is golden brown. Invert on serving plate. Mix together powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. Drizzle glaze over warm monkey bread. Nosh!


Another pic of the yummies....
I didn't add icing to the half that stayed together, but it looks all unfinished without it. Seriously, I needed to cut my pieces into a much smaller size...ehehehe.

Streusel Rolls

I actually made this recipe with too much butter in the streusel filling, so I adjusted the butter by half in the recipe below. I was trying out different flavors so I filled half with sunflower streusel and half with cranberry streusel. I marked the different rolls by adding a small extra strip of dough across the top of the cranberry rolls.....can't say I care for how it looks (the middle roll above), but I could tell them apart. ;)


Streusel Rolls

3 to 4 cups unbleached flour
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup skim milk
1/3 cup tub margarine
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten lightly
2 tbls vital wheat gluten

Streusel filling:
1/2 cup tub margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup unbleached flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup cherry flavored cranberries or sunflower seeds (you can do 1/2 cup of both as well)
1/2 tsp salt (optional)

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water. Heat milk and margarine in the microwave until the milk is warm and the margarine is melted. Pour liquids into the dissolved yeast and stir together. Add in salt, sugar, and vital wheat gluten. Mix in a cup of flour before adding in eggs. Begin mixing in additional flour until dough becomes too difficult to stir. Turn dough out onto board and work in remaining flour. Knead for 8 minutes or so until dough is smooth and elastic. Put dough into a bowl, cover, and let rise for an hour in a warm place.

Prepare the streusel filling....Mix together margarine, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in cranberries or sunflower seeds. Set aside.

Punch dough down and turn back out onto floured board. Cut dough into smaller pieces and form into rounds, adding flour as needed. Hold a portion of dough in one hand and turn the edges of the dough under while rotating the round of dough. You will end up with a nicely shaped, ball of dough. Press dough out into a thinnish, 3x5 shape. Drop a spoonful of streusel filling in the middle of the dough and spread around, leaving a little border all along the edges. Roll dough up from narrow side and pinch the seams together.

Place the rolls on a greased cookie sheet, seam side down. Slash top of rolls with a knife and let rise in a warm place for an hour or until dough has doubled in size. Bake in 375 oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until rolls are golden brown. Cool on rack.

Sweet and Buttery Dinner Rolls

I used to make these buttery rolls all the time before I switched to multi grain breads. It was amazingly difficult not to toss in at least a little wheat germ when I was mixing up this batch....I felt some multi grain guilt I tell you!

I forgot how silky this dough actually is though....so so pretty to work with....and the texture of the baked roll is just lovely. It was quite hard to resist diving in on a taste testing/quality control mission when the rolls came out of the oven...ehehehe.

This dough makes a nice base/jumping off point for other sweet breads, rolls, and danish. Sweet breads.....oh how I miss snarfling them like crazy....ahh the notty, eating habit days....sometimes I miss them. ;)


Sweet and Buttery Dinner Rolls

3 to 4 cups unbleached flour
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup skim milk
1/3 cup tub margarine
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten lightly
2 tbls vital wheat gluten

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water. Heat milk and margarine in the microwave until the milk is warm and the margarine is melted. Pour liquids into the dissolved yeast and stir together. Add in salt, sugar, and vital wheat gluten. Mix in a cup of flour before adding in eggs. Begin mixing in additional flour until dough becomes too difficult to stir. Turn dough out onto board and work in remaining flour. Knead for 8 minutes or so until dough is smooth and elastic. Put dough into a bowl, cover, and let rise for an hour in a warm place.

Punch dough down and turn back out onto floured board. Cut pieces off the main hunk of dough and form into dinner rolls, adding flour as needed. The easiest way to form the dinner rolls, at least for me, is to hold the portion of dough in one hand and turn the edges of the dough under while rotating the round of dough. You will end up with a nicely shaped, smooth dinner roll.

Place the rolls on a greased cookie sheet and let rise in a warm place for an hour or until dough has doubled in size. Bake in 375 oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until rolls are golden brown. Cool on rack.


A few more pics of the process.....
The rolls all shaped up and looking pretty for their hour of rise time. Normally the second rise is more of a 30 minute interval, but I tend to give rolls a longer time frame. Ok....I also forgot about them for a while....ahem. An awesome spot to rise your dough is a turned off oven with a mug or pan of steaming water on the bottom.

And a look at the rolls after they have doubled in size. I actually made my rolls a little too large. I must dub them jumbo dinner rolls....ehehehehe.....they are halfway between dinner roll and hamburger bun.

Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon Rolls....a classic yummy. They always smell so amazing when they are baking. I needed to roll out my dough thinner than I actually did, but other than that I was pleased as punch with how they turned out. Normally you would see them slathered with icing, but I mailed this batch out to family and a couple of them like their rolls plain......I try not to judge rofl. ;)

Cinnamon Rolls

3 cups unbleached flour
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup skim milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup tub margarine
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Dissolve yeast in about 1/4 cup warm water. Water from the tap works just fine. Heat milk and butter together until milk is warm and butter is melted. I use the microwave to heat the milk instead of the stove top, but either works fine. Stir into dissolved yeast. Mix in sugar and salt. Add in a cup of flour. Beat in eggs. Work in remaining flour until dough stiffens up. Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead in remaining flour. Continue to work your dough for 8 to 10 minutes.

Place dough in covered bowl and let rise for an hour in a warm place. The microwave makes a great spot to rise dough. Take a glass of water and heat it to boiling in the microwave. Leave the glass inside and put the covered bowl inside and shut the door. It's a warm, steamy spot.

Turn your dough back out on your board kneading it a bit. Divide it in half and place one half off to the side. Roll the dough into something like a 9x13 rectangle. Mix together 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon. Brush the rectangle with water and sprinkle half the sugar mixture over the top of the dough. Roll the dough up starting with the longest side. Cut into segments and place each piece on a greased cookie sheet. Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Cover the cookie sheets and let rise 30 minutes in a warm place.

Bake rolls at 375 for 15 to 20 minutes, or until they brown nicely. While they are baking mix powdered sugar, vanilla, and enough water to drizzle in a bowl. Remove rolls from cookie sheet and drizzle or spoon the icing over the tops. Consume warm, iced glory with great joy!


A few pics of the process...

I skipped dividing my dough in half before I rolled it out which is why it ended up too thick. I was too lazy when I realized it needed to be halved to pull it off the board and re-roll it out. I ended up with more bread than sugar filling with the dough that thick. ;) Meanwhile sweet bread dough is so very silky in texture. Pretty, pretty dough.


Dough is all rolled up and ready to be sliced. I just use a knife but some folks use string. Generally I do about one inch slices.

And here the rolls are all ready to to be covered for another 30 minutes to double in size. These are spaced pretty far apart, but I had room to spare with my two cookie sheets. They can be closer just make sure you leave room for them to puff up.