Danish Cherry Almond Cinnamon Rolls
Okay, this recipe is a process. A bit of an ordeal, you might say. It’s the kind of baking you do when it is rainy outside, you don’t have to be anywhere, and you have the house all to yourself. Oh, and there is a nice full bottle of red wine just waiting for you to uncork. And you are still in your pajamas. It’s that kind of baking.
Danish Cherry Almond Cinnamon Rolls begins our journey into the land of Enriched Breads. It’s a wonderful place to visit because it is full of butter, milk, eggs, and sugar-that is what makes the yeasted bread “enriched”. These cinnamon rolls are light and gooey. The cherries add a nice tang to the sugary goodness, and they almost convince you that you are eating a health food. Almost.
Yeast bubbling up
Add scalded milk, salt, sugar and butter to the bubbling yeast
Add eggs and nutmeg to milk/yeast mixture
Mix in the flour
Danish dough before rise
After the rise
Press out the dough into a large rectangle
Smear butter in the middle of the pressed out danish dough
Then fold the dough up like a love letter
After a third rise, pat out the dough into a rectangle and sprinkle on the cinnamon, sugar and ground almonds
Add the cherries
Then roll the dough up as for a jelly roll, and cut out slices
- 2 packages Active Dry Yeast
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) Warm Water, 105 to 115 degrees F
- 1/4 tsp. (2 g) Salt
- 2 TBS (26 g) Sugar
- 2 TBS (28 g) Unsalted Butter
- 3/4 cup (175 ml) Milk, scalded
- 2 Eggs
- 1/4 tsp. Ground Nutmeg
- 3 1/2 cups (465 g) All-Purpose Flour
- 4 TBS (56 g) Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- (72 g) Unsalted Butter, melted
- 1/2 cup (57 g) Ground Almonds
- 2 tsp. (4 g) Ground Cinnamon
- 4 TBS (53 g) Sugar
- 3 cups (204 g) Cherries, pitted and chopped
- 1 1/3 cup (171 g) Powdered Sugar
- 3 TBS (25 ml) strong hot Coffee
- 3 TBS (25 ml) Milk
- 1 TBS Vanilla Extract
- In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Let stand 5 minutes.
- Add the salt, sugar, and 2 tablespoons of butter to the scalded milk; cool to lukewarm.
- Add milk mixture to the yeast mixture; beat in the eggs and nutmeg.
- Mix in 3 1/2 cups of flour, beating until the dough is satiny and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Dust dough with additional flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Rub work surface with oil and turn dough out onto it. Dust lightly with flour if necessary to prevent stickiness on the surface of the dough. Pat out to make a rectangle 10 by 12 inches.
- Spread half of the 1/2 cup of butter along one long half of the dough.
- Fold unbuttered side over the dough. Press edges together. Transfer onto an oiled baking sheet and chill for 1 hour.
- Without removing dough from the baking sheet, pat out to 10 by 16 inches.
- Spread center third with the remaining butter.
- Fold one side of dough over the buttered center, then fold other side over to make 3 thicknesses of dough. Chill for 1 hour longer.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- On a lightly floured board, roll dough out to make a 16-inch square.
- Drizzle the melted butter over the rectangular-shaped dough.
- Combine the 4 tablespoons of sugar with the cinnamon and ground almonds.
- Sprinkle the sugar mixtures and then the cherries over the dough.
- Roll up as for a jelly roll and cut into 24 slices.
- Carefully place cut rolls into a greased cake or brownie pan.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.
- While the rolls bake, mix the powdered sugar, coffee, milk and vanilla extract in a medium sized bowl.
- Drizzle this glaze over the hot rolls as soon as they come out of the oven.
