Cinnamon Blueberry Sweet Rolls

I really love sweet rolls, buttery brioche dough filled with cinnamon, sugar and sometimes butter, rolled up and set atop a sweet glaze with nuts and or raisins.  An early morning cup of coffee with my lovely wife and a couple of handmade sweet rolls, life could not get any better.  This past weekend we had a guest in the house who had a tree nut allergy but I had a craving for sweet rolls.  Fortunately we had some local blueberries so why not use those for the glaze?  Cinnamon and blueberries are a great combination, add a pat of local butter and suddenly I had blueberry greatness.  If you love this kind of stuff for breakfast, here’s a great cookbook for you by Carole Walter.

I started with a buttermilk sweet yeast dough recipe:

1/4 cup warm water

1 tablespoon yeast

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoon molasses

1 tablespoon cinnamon

2 eggs + 1 egg yolk

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 & 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into squares

3 cups flour (I used 2 cups A/P and 1 cup whole wheat)

Glaze

1 pint blueberries

1 stick butter

1 cup sugar

When working with yeast remember two things will kill it, heat and an excess of salt. Yeast is a single cell plant and to wake it up we need warm water and food. Place the 1/4 cup of warm water in the bowl of the mixer. Temps over 110 may kill your yeast so keep the water at roughly body temperature.
Add the yeast to the warm water
Add the sugar. I used 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons molasses but you can use any sweetener such as Cane Syrup, Honey, Maple Syrup or Agave
Now add the salt and cinnamon
Now whisk this together and leave it alone. Let’s get the blueberry glaze going while the yeast works its magic
Wash the blueberries in a bowl of warm water. Lift the berries out of the water then…
place them in a strainer. DO NOT just dump them, water and all through a strainer because then the dirty water will just end up back on the berries
Place the berries in the bottom of a casserole dish that has been sprayed with PAM then sprinkle a cup of sugar over them
Now add a stick of butter cut into small pieces. If you really enjoy cinnamon go ahead and sprinkle some more cinnamon or you can add a splash of vanilla or even some rum 😉
Now go back to the mixing bowl. Your yeast should have a nice bubbly top on it. Those are carbon dioxide bubbles. If not THROW IT AWAY and start over.
Now to the yeast mixture add the eggs and egg yolks…
…the butter, buttermilk and all the flour then place the bowl on the mixer and using the dough hook mix on low speed
After five minutes of mixing my dough was still a little shaggy…
so I added a couple of tablespoons of A-P flour
after about five more minutes I had a nice, glossy dough
Now cover the dough and leave it alone for about forty five minutes
After the time’s up the dough should have doubled in size and have a smooth, supple texture. Place it on a clean, lightly floured surface and you’ll need a rolling pin and a serrated knife
I rolled this out to about a half inch thickness
Cut the dough in half
then rolled the halves out into long strips
then I sprinkled the strips with cinnamon and sugar. If you want to gild the lily, add some butter. You can also add raisins or pecans or dried cranberries…
Now roll this up, use your thumbs. If the dough is warm and your kitchen is hot you may want to chill the dough prior to doing this step but I have granite counters and the A/C was blowing cold

 

When you’re done…
Make 1 inch slices
Then place the rolls atop the blueberries. Now we’re looking good!

 

I cut these guys a little small but had enough to almost fill this pan. Now into the fridge. We’re going to let them proof overnight and first thing in the morning, before you have your coffee, put the rolls in the oven (375 for about 35 minutes or until an internal temperature of 195 F is reached

 

And here we are after about 35 minutes in the oven. Whenever I bake breads I always use an electronic thermometer and look for an internal temperature of at least 195 before removing from the oven.
Now let’s hit that stair master 😉

 

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5 Responses

  1. Who could hit the StairMaster after *that?!* Lovely, as always, John! I am a huge fan of sweet dough. I don’t make it too frequently because of my Aversion to StairMasters. 😉

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