I’ve had some variation of this floating around in my head for years and finally got it out of my system the other day. Part of me is kicking myself for not doing it sooner, because WOW. The other part of me is glad I didn’t, because me of a few years ago didn’t have the skills to make anything this delicious.
Summarily, these are beet/cardamom/rose water rolls, filled with chocolate chunks and candied cherries and topped with blood orange cream cheese frosting. Here’s the recipe:
Dough
1/3 cup milk of choice—the higher the fat, the better (I used coconut milk)
2 tbsp butter of choice or refined coconut oil
3/4 cup beet purée (or maybe more??? who knows)
1/2 tsp rose water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp yeast (or one packet)
2 2/3 cup flour, plus more for rolling
Filling
6 tbsp butter/coconut oil, softened
1/2 cup candied cherries, quartered
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks
Blood orange cream cheese frosting
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp cream or milk of choice
the juice of one blood orange
a splash of rose water (optional)
Topping (optional)
1/3 cup crushed toasted hazelnuts
Directions - for the rolls
Melt 2 tbsp butter in 1/3 cup milk until butter is just melted. Set aside in a large bowl and allow to cool slightly, about 5 min. After the mixture has cooled, activate the yeast in the mixture and allow to rest until bloomed, about 10 min.
Sift flour, cardamom, salt, and sugar together in a medium bowl.
Add purée to the milk mixture once the yeast has activated and whisk to combine. If you didn’t blend the rose water into the purée like I did or you used store bought beet purée, then add the rose water here as well.
Gradually add flour mixture to beet mixture. Mix with a rubber spatula until well combined.
Knead 3 minutes on a floured counter top, then place in a greased bowl and allow to rise in a warm place for about 1.5-2 hours, or until doubled.
Liberally grease a baking pan—a 9 1/2 x 13 inch pan works well.
Punch down the dough and roll into a rectangle. The best way is to have the widest sides on the top and bottom, and the shortest on the sides. You can let the dough rest for a few minutes if you’re having trouble rolling it out.
Massage 6 tbsp softened butter onto the rectangle and ensure it’s evenly distributed. Sprinkle cherries and chunks over the dough, pressing down gently into the butter as you go.
Roll up the rectangle tightly, starting from the bottom and working to the top. I like to gently roll it back and forth a few times to make sure the roll is nice and tight and that the fillings stay in as much as possible, and give it a couple of minutes to rest.
Take a sharp knife and cut rolls approx. 1 inch thick. This should make about a dozen rolls.
Arrange in prepared greased pan and allow to rise a second time, about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350F when you have about 15 minutes left of rising time.
Bake for about 24-26 minutes in the middle of the oven, tenting a piece of foil over the top about halfway through to prevent the tops from browning too early.
Let rest in the pan for about 15 minutes before cutting with a sharp knife and taking them out. Drizzle with frosting and add hazelnuts, if desired.
Directions - for the icing
Beat the butter and cream cheese together with a hand mixer on a low setting. Once thoroughly mixed, gradually add icing sugar in small amounts until fully incorporated.
Add milk or cream and beat until mixture is mostly smooth, then add blood orange juice—and rose water, if using, until fully mixed.
I’ve made a few untested modifications in this recipe. For example, in the original, I used 1/4 tsp cardamom, a mere couple splashes of rose water, and I halved the cherries. I also didn’t measure the beet purée (woops) because I was having A Moment and I just dumped the contents of the blender into the mixture without thinking. It worked out REALLY well, though. So, I’ve included pictures of the dough. If you add 3/4 cup of purée and it doesn’t look as pictured, feel free to add more and, if you’re feeling particularly generous, let me know what your measurement was.
I was also going to toast some crumbled hazelnuts for the top, but I frankly ran out of spoons. I know nuts aren’t for everyone so I was going to leave it as an optional topping. As well, for the beets, I scrubbed the outside and roasted them in a 350F oven, tightly packed in foil, for about 1 hour, then peeled them after they cooled and blended them with the rose water to make the purée.
After baking, the tops retained a beautiful rosey red colour, and the colour baked out of the interior (which I was expecting—beets can be tricky in baking!).
With more testing, I will probably put these up on the website, but as this is still a growing draft, this is the place for them for now. I used the Undertale-inspired Cinnamon Bunny recipe I made for this year’s Stream for Starlight as a base, then altered and tweaked from there. I should probably put the Cinnamon Bunny recipe on the website, come to think…
Did you enjoy this recipe? Want to see me make more posts like this or have other feedback? Please let me know—and let me know if you make it, too!
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Those look lovely and I bet they taste amazing.