As you may know, while most of what I have on this blog is projects I make, sometimes my partner gets it in his head to make something needlessly elaborate and documented it for me. It’s what happened when he made his big pavlova, and when he made a borek for dinner. His projects usually hit snags and lightly derail, and sometimes I have to rescue him, but they do turn out pretty delicious.
Today’s recipe is another example of this. He decided he wanted to make something, and was initially going to surprise me, until he ran into issues proofing some yeast and I stepped in to help. Yes, proofing the yeast is the first step after prep. Yes, it didn’t end up being much of a surprise. Fortunately, it was still delicious.
What I’ve put together here (with his input) is a more refined version of the recipe he used. The one he found to follow turned out to have been a copycat of another recipe, but poorly transcribed, so it missed some steps and didn’t do a great job of being logical. I’ve fixed that.
So, what did he make? Well, you’ve seen the pictures by now, and of course you read the title. Cinnamon rolls, but with strawberries! We have a lot of fresh berries right now so we’re always looking for new ways to use them.
One important note for this recipe is that it is, actually, cinnamon rolls. A lot of “strawberry cinnamon rolls” out there are effectively just bread rolls with a strawberry compote in the middle. That’s fine, but it’s not what he wanted.
As always, if you make these for yourself, let me know how it goes! And forgive the photos; my partner took them, so they aren’t as up to my usual standards.
Cinnamon Rolls with Strawberries
Equipment
- Stand Mixer With dough hook and paddle attachments.
- Rolling Pin
- Baking Dish 9×9 minimum, 9×13 ideally.
- Parchment Paper
- Serrated Knife
- Mixing Bowl For proofing the dough.
Ingredients
For the Rolls
- ¾ Cup Milk Warmed to about 110℉.
- 2¼ Tsp Active Dry Yeast One packet's worth.
- ¼ Cup White Sugar
- 2 Eggs One egg + one yolk; the extra white can be used as egg wash later if you like. Let these come to room temperature.
- ¼ Cup Unsalted Butter Melted.
- 3 Cups Bread Flour
- 1 Tsp Salt
For the Filling
- ⅔ Cup Dark Brown Sugar
- 1½ Tbsp Cinnamon Pie spice also works for a more robust flavor, if you have enough.
- ¼ Cup Unsalted Butter Softened.
- 1 Cup Strawberries Chopped small.
For the Frosting
- 8 Oz Cream Cheese Softened.
- ¼ Cup Unsalted Butter Softened.
- 1 Cup Powdered Sugar
- ½ Tsp Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Lightly oil your mixing bowl for proofing dough later.
- In the stand mixer bowl, stir the warm milk, yeast, and about a teaspoon of the sugar together. Let this sit for 5-10 minutes, until it's foamy.
- Add the rest of the sugar, the egg and egg yolk, salt, and melted butter to the yeast and start mixing with the dough hook. Start at medium speed to incorporate it all.
- Turn the speed to low and start incorporating the bread flour a few spoonfuls at a time. Keep this going until all of the flour has been added, and let the mixer knead it for an additional 10 minutes. Optionally, hand-knead for a few minutes to get a feel for it.
- Transfer the dough ball to your oiled bowl and cover it with a clean towel. Let it proof at room temperature for around 1½ hours, or until it has doubled in size.
- Grease your baking pan with some extra butter and line it with parchment paper for easy removal of the rolls when they're done.
- Once your dough has risen, transfer it to a well-floured surface. Roll it out using the rolling pin. You want to get it to be rectangular, about 9×14".
- Using a spatula or knife, spread the softened butter across the surface. Leave one of the short ends unbuttered to better seal the rolls later.
- Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon until it's crumbly and sandy. Spread this mixture across the buttered surface of the dough. Spread the strawberries across this evenly.
- Starting with the short side, tightly roll the dough into a spiral, careful not to squeeze out the filling as you go. The unbuttered edge should be the last bit rolled up.
- Optional: If you're using a small pan, or your dough wasn't a nice rectangle, cut about half an inch off of each side, since these edges will be uneven and poorly filled. We didn't do this, and two of the rolls ended up pretty misshapen and empty.
- Measure your dough roll, and mark out 8-10 even pieces. If you're using a square 9×9" baking dish, cut nine; if you're using a larger rectangular dish, cut either 8 or 10 depending on how many and how large you want.
- Arrange your freshly-cut rolls in your pan. Cover this with the towel and let it rise again, for at least 30 minutes. You can let it rise overnight in the fridge, but make sure to let it come to room temperature for baking.
- Preheat your oven to 350℉. If you want, brush your rolls with the egg white for an egg wash, but you don't need to. Bake the rolls for 30-40 minutes, or until nicely golden. A thermometer showing the bread at 185℉ is a good way to tell they're done.
- Remove form the oven and let them start to cool while you make the frosting. To make the frosting, add all of the ingredients to your stand mixer with the paddle and whip it together until it's fluffy. Spread over the cinnamon rolls and serve!