sweet rolls

Chocolate Sweet Rolls

Chocolate Sweet Rolls Recipe by Kate Wood of The Wood and Spoon Blog. This recipe makes two pans of fluffy cinnamon buns filled with a chocolate and espresso swirl filling. A cream cheese glaze frosting finishes off these perfect breakfast treats. The dough is similar to a brioche style dough as it contains a bit of sugar, milk and eggs. This is a yeast roll. They make a great holiday brunch item , treat, or dessert. Find the recipe and the how to on thewoodandspoon.com

I may or may not be crying real tears, as the reality of #monthofchocolate coming to a close is too much for me to bear. Nothing gives me more pleasure than rolling out decadent chocolatey goodness for y’all, so you better believe we’re going to wrap up this month with two beyond-fab recipes in one week, starting with these chocolate sweet rolls.

Chocolate Sweet Rolls Recipe by Kate Wood of The Wood and Spoon Blog. This recipe makes two pans of fluffy cinnamon buns filled with a chocolate and espresso swirl filling. A cream cheese glaze frosting finishes off these perfect breakfast treats. The dough is similar to a brioche style dough as it contains a bit of sugar, milk and eggs. This is a yeast roll. They make a great holiday brunch item , treat, or dessert. Find the recipe and the how to on thewoodandspoon.com

Chocolate Sweet Rolls

I am a huge fan of sweetened yeast rolls. While the process of making, rising, filling, and baking the dough can be a bit lengthy, the end product totally justifies the means. Nothing says “WORTH IT” like two pans of sweet, fluffy dough wrapped around a rich, coffee-scented chocolate filling. If you give them a try, I think you’ll agree.

Chocolate Sweet Rolls Recipe by Kate Wood of The Wood and Spoon Blog. This recipe makes two pans of fluffy cinnamon buns filled with a chocolate and espresso swirl filling. A cream cheese glaze frosting finishes off these perfect breakfast treats. The dough is similar to a brioche style dough as it contains a bit of sugar, milk and eggs. This is a yeast roll. They make a great holiday brunch item , treat, or dessert. Find the recipe and the how to on thewoodandspoon.com

The recipe for these chocolate breakfast rolls are a combination of a few other buns on my site (see here, here, and here!) and the dough for my favorite cinnamon bread. We start the dough by dissolving the yeast in a bit of warmed milk. Once smooth, add the sugar and egg as well as the salt, leavening and flour. The dough gets kneaded by hand or in the bowl of a stand mixer before being set aside to rise.

Making the Rolls

Once the dough has risen and is nearly doubled in size, prepare the filling. Chocolate, butter, cocoa, and espresso powder are melted together on the stovetop until smooth. Pull the mixture off the heat, stir in the confectioner’s sugar, and allow the filling to cool to a spreadable consistency.  One cooled, roll the dough out into a large rectangle on a floured work surface and spread the filling evenly over thin sheet of dough. Starting with one of the long ends, roll the dough tightly into one long tube and pinch the ends to seal in the filling. Use a sharp knife to cut the tube into slices and place the rolls two inches apart in one or two greased baking dishes. Allow the dough to rise a second time before baking until golden brown.

Chocolate Sweet Rolls Recipe by Kate Wood of The Wood and Spoon Blog. This recipe makes two pans of fluffy cinnamon buns filled with a chocolate and espresso swirl filling. A cream cheese glaze frosting finishes off these perfect breakfast treats. The dough is similar to a brioche style dough as it contains a bit of sugar, milk and eggs. This is a yeast roll. They make a great holiday brunch item , treat, or dessert. Find the recipe and the how to on thewoodandspoon.com

I like to spread these chocolate sweet rolls with a cream cheese frosting. The cream cheese adds a bit of tang to an otherwise sweet frosting and perfectly compliments the chocolate sweet rolls. These buns are best eaten the day they are prepared. Nonetheless, you can easily warm them in the microwave or toaster oven for a quick breakfast treat. These chocolate sweet rolls are as delicious as they are beautiful; I would bet that if you try them once you’ll have a new weekend baking tradition in the making.

Chocolate Sweet Rolls Recipe by Kate Wood of The Wood and Spoon Blog. This recipe makes two pans of fluffy cinnamon buns filled with a chocolate and espresso swirl filling. A cream cheese glaze frosting finishes off these perfect breakfast treats. The dough is similar to a brioche style dough as it contains a bit of sugar, milk and eggs. This is a yeast roll. They make a great holiday brunch item , treat, or dessert. Find the recipe and the how to on thewoodandspoon.com

Give these chocolate sweet rolls a go and try not to eat them all in one sitting. I’ll be sharing one more #monthofchocolate recipes at the end of this week. Keep your eyes peeled for a knockout finish to this special month of recipes. Happy Monday, y’all!

Chocolate Sweet Rolls Recipe by Kate Wood of The Wood and Spoon Blog. This recipe makes two pans of fluffy cinnamon buns filled with a chocolate and espresso swirl filling. A cream cheese glaze frosting finishes off these perfect breakfast treats. The dough is similar to a brioche style dough as it contains a bit of sugar, milk and eggs. This is a yeast roll. They make a great holiday brunch item , treat, or dessert. Find the recipe and the how to on thewoodandspoon.com

If you like these chocolate sweet rolls, you should try:

Brown Sugar Danishes

Orange Cardamom Rolls

Hazelnut Cinnamon Rolls

Bananas Foster Cinnamon Rolls

Peppermint Bark Bread

Pumpkin Pull-Apart Bread

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Chocolate Sweet Rolls

These chocolate sweet rolls are soft and tender, filled with a coffee-chocolate spread and topped with a sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting! Perfect for breakfast, brunch, or dessert!

  • Author: Kate Wood
  • Prep Time: 120
  • Cook Time: 30
  • Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
  • Yield: 18

Ingredients

For the dough:

  • 1 cup (230 gm) milk (2% or Whole), lukewarm
  • ½ cup (100 gm) sugar
  • 21/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 31/2 cups (455 gm) all-purpose flour
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 6 tablespoons (85 gm) unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the filling:

  • 6 ounces (170 gm) chopped semisweet/ bittersweet chocolate, depending on your preferences
  • 6 tablespoons (85 gm) unsalted butter
  • 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 1 tablespoon espresso powder
  • ½ cup (60 gm) powdered sugar

For the frosting:

  • 6 ounces (165 gm) cream cheese, room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
  • 2 cups (250 gm) powdered sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 12 tablespoons of milk, plus more as desired

Instructions

To prepare the dough:

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together the warm milk and half of the sugar. Sprinkle the yeast over top of the milk and allow the yeast to activate, about 5 minutes. The mixture should froth and foam slightly. You can stir it gently to make sure all the yeast has been moistened, but if the yeast does not foam, dump it out and start over. Once the yeast has been activated, stir 1/4 cup of the flour in to the milk mixture. Once combined, add the remaining sugar, 1 egg, salt, and baking powder and stir to combine. On low speed, add an additional 3 cups of  flour and beat to combine, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Once evenly combined, increase the speed to medium (I use speed number 4 on my Kitchen Aid stand mixer) and add the softened butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Add up to an additional ¼ cup flour if the dough is too soft and doesn’t hold it’s shape somewhat. Scrape the sides of the bowl and then continue to beat on medium speed for an additional 4 minutes. The dough will be quite moist and sticky.
  2. Lightly grease a large bowl and place the dough inside, covering it tightly with a piece of plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rest in a warm spot in the kitchen until it has approximately doubled in size, about 1-1/2-2 hours.

To prepare the buns:

  1. Once the bread has nearly risen, melt the chocolate, butter, cocoa powder, and espresso powder in a saucepan over low heat. Once smooth, stir in the powdered sugar until well combined. Set aside until the dough is ready. If it firms up beyond a spreadable consistency, gently melt it again.
  2. On a floured surface, roll out the risen dough into an approximately 19”x13” rectangle. Use an offset spatula to spread the chocolate filling evenly over the entirely of the dough. Starting with one of the long ends, roll the dough somewhat tightly and pinch together the ends to seal in the filling. Cut 1-1/2” slices of dough and place them about an inch apart inside of a greased baking dish. I bake mine in two 9” pans. Cover the dishes with plastic wrap and allow them to rise a second time until puffed, about 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  3. Once the buns have risen, remove the plastic wrap and bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until a light golden color. Allow to cool.

To prepare the frosting:

  1. Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add sugar and vanilla, beating until evenly combined. Add milk slowly, 1-1/2 teaspoons at a time, until desired consistency is reached. Add extra liquid to thin out frosting to a drizzling glaze. Spread the frosting evenly over the buns and eat while warm!

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Orange Cardamom Rolls

Orange Cardamom Rolls recipe by The Wood and Spoon Blog by Kate Wood. Recipe adapted from food52. Simple twists of dough filled with cardamom, orange zest, and cinnamon. These are topped with a cream cheese icing/ frosting / glaze. These can be re warmed and made ahead. These Buns are easy to twist and I'll show you how to roll them on thewoodandspoon.com . Breakfast idea, brunch idea, Christmas breakfast, holiday breakfast, cinnamon rolls buns, recipes using cardamom.

So what’s on your Christmas list? A bike? A record player? New running shoes or a spiralizer? Maybe you’re ready to test the murky waters of mom jeans and lace-up shirts, or perhaps you’re simply looking to expand your collection of baking essentials.

Christmas in our house has changed quite a bit since we’ve had babies. My shopping time this year was spent hunting for water resistant bibs and hooded towels big enough to cover the hind parts of my extra fluffy toddler. Gone are the days where I would shop out my lengthy list of J.Crew sweaters and concert tickets and Kate Spade totes. This year, I didn’t need or ask for anything specific, but for fun, I decided to make up a wish list of random intangibles- my grown up Christmas list. These are items that are in no way achievable, but still super fun to dream about. Don’t judge me, but feel free to make up your own as we go along. 

Orange Cardamom Rolls

MY GROWN UP CHRISTMAS LIST

  1. Sleep.- and not just a night of 8 or 9 solid hours either. I want a week’s worth of sleep completely undisturbed from the baby monitor or my husband tossing about next to me. I want to lay in bed in the morning for an extra hour or two and not think about unloading the dryer or going to work or whether or not I’m going to start leaking milk from every orifice of my body. Basically I want permission to sleep and be lazy.

  2. Bake with Ina Garten and Taylor Swift. Have I talked about this dream too much already? In my wildest fantasies, I’m chilling in the Hamptons, drinking French wine with Jeffery. Taylor is in the corner wearing a cat sweater and playing the “1989” album. She tells me all about what happened with Harry Styles and invites me to spend the next July 4th at her place in Rhode Island. Later, Ina teaches me how to roast chicken and we laugh at the peasants who can’t afford Nielsen-Massey vanilla. Is that obnoxious? Sorry. 
  3. Hair. Did you know that pregnancy hormones do weird things? Did you know sometimes hormones can cause you to lose hair? Did you know that sometimes all of that hair loss is focused in one specific area in your hairline and that it can even make you kinda look like you’re balding? Well, if Santa doesn’t bring me some hair or at least a phone number for Beyonce’s wig person, I’m going to be in serious trouble.
  4. I’m not sure what it’s called, but I want that disease where you can eat a lot and never have to work out. I want to eat chips and drink beer and put extra frosting on my cookies and not worry about that annoying pillow of fat that hangs out where my butt meets the back of my thigh. I don’t want to do another box jump or lunge, but I also want to be considered for Blake Lively’s body double if she ever films a sequel to “The Shallows.” Is that too much to ask?
  5. Adele’s singing skills. I want people to hear her voice on the radio and be like, “Hmm, I’m not sure, but that actually might be Kate Wood.” 
  6. Take a DeLorean time hop back to 1985 and watch a Queen concert. Maybe I could pick up my husband (he would have been in Kindergarten at the time) and he could go with me? That’s a weird item for a wish list, isn’t it? Don’t judge. 
  7. Orange cardamom rolls.

Orange Cardamom RollsOrange Cardamom Rolls

Yeah, yeah, that list is ridiculous and unrealistic. But! You can totally achieve that last item. Because today, I’m sharing this recipe for orange cardamom rolls. 

This recipe was adapted from Posie Harwood who writes a number of terrifically inspired posts both for her blog and on behalf of Food52. Her cardamom rolls have been on my radar for a while, and when I finally had a chance to make them a few weeks ago, I was tremendously pleased with the results. Out of the oven, these orange cardamom rolls are fluffy, fragrant, and perfect with a cup of coffee. I topped them with an orange zest glaze which sweetens up the knots of dough and makes them irresistible to look at. 

These orange cardamom rolls start out similar to cinnamon rolls– a yeast dough sweetened with sugar and moistened up with eggs and butter. The dough rises for a short time before a cinnamon sugar schmear is slathered all over and folded inside the rolled out sheets of dough. A few loops and twists transforms thin slices of dough into pillowed swirls of soft and chewy bread that tastes as delicious straight from the oven as they do heated up the next morning.

Orange cardamom rolls look elegant, and feel special- a perfect treat to wrap up for someone you love or to serve to family and guests on Christmas morning. I photographed these rolls on a cake stand because they were so beautiful and what is a birthday without a cake of some sort! So HBD, Jesus! This one’s for you!

Orange Cardamom Rolls

I hope you all have a merry week celebrating Christmas or just spending time with your family and friends. Make these orange cardamom rolls for Christmas breakfast and maybe even take time to come up with your own grown up Christmas list. I hope you all won’t completely judge me for mine, but if you happen to have any resources to make my wishes come true, you know who to call. Kidding…. but really. 

 

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Orange Cardamom Rolls

These orange cardamom rolls are fluffy knots of sweetened dough, lightly spiced with cardamom and a cinnamon sugar filling, and topped with a zesty orange glaze.

  • Author: Kate Wood
  • Prep Time: 90
  • Cook Time: 30
  • Total Time: 2 hours
  • Yield: 24

Ingredients

For the dough

  • 1cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 12 ounces evaporated milk
  • 2 teaspoons coarse salt
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 4 1/2 teaspoons (2 packages) active dry yeast
  • 7 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened but not melted
  • 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup sugar

For the glaze

  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cream or whole milk
  • Zest of 1 medium orange

Instructions

To prepare the dough

  1. Combine the sugar, cardamom, butter, evaporated milk, and salt in a medium sized saucepan, and, stirring occasionally, heat over medium heat until the butter has just barely melted. Remove from the burner and allow to cool to warm.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and allow to dissolve. You can gently stir it after a few minutes if not all of the yeast has been dissolved. Once dissolved, add 3 cups of flour, the sour cream, eggs, and warm butter mixture to the yeast. Stir until well combined and then begin to the remaining flour while mixing on low speed. You may only need about 6-1/2 cups of flour total, or as much as 7-1/2 cups, but add it until the dough is able to pull away from the walls of the stand mixer. It will still be quite sticky, even sticking to unfloured fingers quite easily, but be sure to not add too much flour as this can make the rolls tough. Switch to the dough hook and knead the dough for 4 minutes on medium speed.
  3. Grease a large bowl with cooking spray, butter, or oil, and place the dough in there, covered tightly with plastic wrap. Allow it to rest for about 1-1/2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size. If the dough is not growing after about an hour, be sure your bowl is in a warm, draft-free spot in your kitchen.
  4. Once doubled in size, prepare the cinnamon filling by combining the butter, cinnamon, and sugar in a small bowl by smooshing it into a paste with the back of a fork or a rubber spatula. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare 2 sheet pans lined with parchment paper.
  5. Sprinkling a good bit of flour on your work surface for rolling the dough and then remove half of the dough from the bowl. Roll it out into a rectangle approximately 9″x20″, adding small bits of flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the surface or the pin. Spread half of the filling evenly on the dough leaving a 1″ border around the perimeter of the rectangle. Fold the dough in half lengthwise to form a 9″x10″ square and roll or pat it out to thin the folded dough a bit. Using a sharp knife, cut 1/2″ strips of dough (approximately 12 total). Take one strip of dough and wrap it around your index and middle finger twice. Remove the double loop from your fingers and tuck both ends of the dough back through the center loop to form a bit of a twisted knot. Place each knot on the prepared sheet about two inches apart, being sure to keep the loose ends on the underside of the bun. Repeat this entire process with the second half of dough and then cover both sheet pans with plastic wrap to rest for about 15 minutes. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool while you prepare the glaze.

To prepare the glaze

  1. Using a whisk, combine all ingredients in a medium sides bowl, stirring until it is uniform in consistency. You can warm it for about 10 seconds in the microwave to make a more pourable glaze, or add a teaspoon or two of cream to thin it out. Drizzle the glaze over your warm or cooled rolls and enjoy!

Notes

 

  • Rolls are best eaten on the day they’re made but will keep up to three days. Rolls are best eaten slightly warm.
  • The glaze prepared as the recipe has written will set up to be slightly firm at room temperature. If you add more liquid to it it is likely the glaze will remain sticky and wet even after sitting for some time.

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Recipe Adapted From: Posie Harwood