As soft as a hug. Almost everyone knows cinnamon rolls – soft yeast dough and the buttery smell of cinnamon from the oven. The Swedish original, the Kanelbullehas been a cult favorite for decades. But I asked myself: What happens if you simply bake this classic with strawberries?
Preparation
Strawberry cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting
For the strawberry filling:
Prepare dough:
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Mix the flour, salt, nutmeg and dry yeast in a large bowl until evenly distributed. Make a well in the middle.
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Melt the butter in the microwave (cover it!). Add the lukewarm milk, eggs, melted butter, sugar and vanilla sugar into the flour mixture.
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Now use a fork to whisk the wet ingredients together in the well, slowly incorporating the flour from the outside. Stir until the flour is completely incorporated.
- Knead the yeast dough on a lightly floured work surface for 5-7 minutes until it becomes elastic and smoother. It can now be stretched and doesn’t tear so quickly.
The dough must be sticky, do not add more than 30g of extra flour.
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Place the dough ball in an oiled bowl, cover with cling film or a damp cloth and leave in a warm place for approx. Let rise for 1 houruntil it has more than doubled in size.
Cook strawberry sauce:
- Cook the cleaned strawberries in pieces with the lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat for about 10-12 minutes, stirring regularly, until the sauce is thick and syrupy.Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
Alternatively: Use 250 g of ready-made strawberry jam, the result is slightly sweeter.
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Grease your baking dish well with butter or oil.
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Now roll out the risen yeast dough on a lightly floured work surface into a rectangle of approx. 35 × 50 cm or stretch it by hand.
- Spread the soft butter evenly over the dough. Go right to the edges. This works well with the rounded back of a tablespoon or a soft spatula. Then spread the cooled strawberry sauce over the butter. Scatter the remaining sliced strawberries evenly over the top.
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Now roll up the dough carefully but relatively tightly from the short side. The role should be stable. Then turn the roll so that the seam is at the bottom.
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Using a very sharp, long knife (also works well with dental floss), cut the roll into 12 equal pieces. Stand these pieces upright (open side up) and crowded into the prepared baking pan.
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Cover the mold with cling film or a damp cloth and leave the snails again approx. 30-45 minutes go until they have doubled in size.
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In the last 15 minutes of the rising time, preheat the oven to 180 °C (top/bottom heat).
- Now cover the mold and put it in the oven. Your snails are now baking 20-22 minutes until lightly golden brown. You can test this with a finger: lightly press the center of a snail, if it springs back, they are perfect and can be removed.
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Remove from the oven and Let cool for 10-15 minutes.
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In the meantime, prepare the frosting. To do this, mix the cream cheese and soft butter in a large bowl with a hand mixer until smooth and creamy.
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Add salt and powdered sugar one at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Stir in the vanilla extract and whipped cream and beat until fluffy and creamy.
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Now spread the frosting generously onto the lukewarm strawberry rolls, distribute the remaining decorative strawberries over them and serve.
Cooling down is mandatory!
Be sure to let the strawberry rolls cool completely before “frosting,” otherwise the frosting will melt. That’s what happened to me at the beginning, it was also delicious, but it wasn’t a fluffy, thick frosting. 🙂
The same goes for the strawberry filling. Allow it to cool completely before applying.
Defrost frozen strawberries
If you use frozen strawberries, let them thaw completely and drain beforehand. Otherwise your filling will be too runny and your snails will be mushy.
Nutritional values1 Piece
For the filling, you should ideally use home-made strawberry jam, which caramelizes during baking and absorbs into the layers of dough. If it’s not in season, you can safely use store-bought jam. The slight acidity of the cream cheese frosting underlines the fruitiness of the strawberries wonderfully.
SOS – Typical errors and the solution
Your yeast is overloaded, meaning it is no longer active, or your milk was too hot. This kills the yeast. Lukewarm milk means: you hold your finger in it and think “pleasantly warm”. 🙂
This is true with yeast snails. This will make them extra soft and fluffy later.
The strawberry sauce will run out while baking
Here the strawberry filling was probably not cooked down long enough. Let it simmer until a thick syrup forms. Alternatively, you may have used frozen strawberries and not allowed them to thaw. Here you have to cook your filling for longer so that the excess water evaporates.
The frosting melts when applied
Your strawberry rolls are still too warm. Let them cool completely.
Arrange
I’m not exactly a hero when it comes to serving dishes, I’ve often admitted that. But with these cinnamon rolls it practically works itself: Spread the cream cheese layer generously and a few fresh strawberry slices on top. If you like, sprinkles or grated chocolate (goes great with strawberries!). Complete. A few fresh mint leaves also look sweet.
Click here for the normal cinnamon rolls.
Storing your strawberry snails
Use leftovers
Strawberry rolls like French toast: Cut open the stale strawberry snails, dip them in an egg-milk mixture and fry them in a pan until golden.
Cut snails into slices and spice them up as a layered dessert: Use the soft dough disks instead of ladyfingers for tiramisu, layer with pudding or cream in a glass or use as a layer in a cake.
