sweet rolls + a makeover - The Baking Fairy

Well... I started this blog quite a few months ago, fell in love with it, posted super regularly, and then.... Blogger got mad cause I had too many pictures and it told me I had to pay to purchase more picture space.
So I gave up on it.

But now I'm back! 🙂 I completely gutted the website and I'm starting fresh. I'm most definitely not doing step-by-step anymore because... I have a life, it takes too much time, and I don't wanna use up all my picture storage.

Did you know that on one of my posts, I had 67 pictures? SIXTY-SEVEN? On ONE post? Ha! I'm ridiculous. Now I'll just have one or two pictures of the finished product, and some process pictures if I deem them necessary.

Now, on to food... this weekend I made sweet berry rolls and chocolate chip brown sugar rolls, and I based my recipe on Pioneer Woman's cinnamon roll dough, but I made a few changes. I tried to make them healthier, like I used mostly skim milk instead of whole, used half whole-wheat flour and half white, and I did half butter-half margarine instead of only butter. And I used fat-free cream cheese for the icing.

The result? TO DIE FOR. They were so so good, and you couldn't even tell they were healthified. 🙂

Sweet Roll Dough

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Yields: roughly 5 round cake pans of rolls

-1 ½ cups skim milk

-½ cup whole milk

-½ cup vegetable oil

-½ cup white sugar

-1 package active dry yeast

-2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (plus ½ more cup, separated)

-2 cups unbleached all-purpose white flour

-½ heaping teaspoon baking powder

-½ scant teaspoon baking soda

-½ tablespoon salt

Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add the 2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour plus the 2 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising for at least an hour, add ½ more cup of whole wheat pastry flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down). Chilling the dough makes it much easier to work with.

Chocolate Chip Brown Sugar Sweet Rolls

from The Pioneer Woman

-half of the dough from the above recipe
-¼ to ½ stick butter (2-4 tbsp)
-¼ to ½ stick margarine/I Can't Believe It's Not Butter (2-4 tbsp)
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-½ cup brown sugar (more or less as needed)
-½ cup chocolate chips (more or less as needed)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface. Roll into a large rectangle, about 12 inches wide by 5 to 6 inches deep.

Melt the butter and margarine together, add vanilla, then drizzle mixture all over the surface of the dough (use your own judgement for how much you will need, you may or may not use it all! I sure didn't). Use fingers to spread evenly. Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the butter, followed by the chocolate chips.

Beginning at the side furthest from you, roll dough toward you until it’s in the shape of a tight log. Pinch the edges to seal. Slice into ½ to ¾-inch thick rolls and lay, cut side down, in buttered baking dishes (I buttered mine with the leftover melted vanilla butter). Allow to rise for 20 minutes, then place in oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until deep golden brown on top.

Sweet Mixed Berry Rolls

my own recipe 🙂

-half of the dough from the above recipe
-1-2 tbps melted butter + 1-2 tablespoon melted margarine
-5-6 oz. sugar free (NOT unsweetened) strawberry preserves (about ½ of a standard 13 oz. jar)
-one 16 oz. bag of frozen mixed berries
-1-2 teaspoons sugar

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface. Roll into a large rectangle, about 12 inches wide by 5 to 6 inches deep. Using a spoon, spread the strawberry preserves evenly all over the dough, all the way to the edges. Thaw the berries slightly, and pour them evenly over the surface, trying to not put very many towards the edge closest to you. Sprinkle the sugar over the berries, followed by some of the butter (this is optional, I did it but I don't think it made a difference).

Beginning at the side furthest from you, roll dough toward you until it’s in the shape of a tight log. Pinch the edges to seal. Slice into ½ to ¾-inch thick rolls and lay, cut side down, in buttered baking dishes (I buttered mine with the leftover butter). Allow to rise for 20 minutes, then place in oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until deep golden brown on top.

Cream Cheese Glaze
from Smitten Kitchen
Yields: enough glaze to generously cover 5 pans of rolls

-6 tablespoon softened butter
-6 oz. reduced-fat or fat-free cream cheese
-1 ½ cups powdered sugar
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-⅓ cup of skim milk (more or less as needed)

Beat the butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla together in a bowl with an electric mixer till fluffy. Add in milk a splash at a time until you reach desired consistency. Spread on your sweet rolls straight out of the oven so it has the chance to melt! 🙂

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time for dinner!