Zesty Lemon Rolls with Lemon-Vanilla glaze

Take the well known cinnamon roll and shake it up a little.

You won't find a hint of cinnamon here, instead a zingy , citrusy, fluffy mouthful of goodness. Enjoy!

I first made a version of this recipe in Easter. I wanted a cinnamon roll recipe that was easy, with minimal kneading (because I'm lazy), but produced a fluffy bun. I think I've cracked it. The key is in the 3 proving steps. Now, this may seem like a bit of a long and drawn out process, but actually is very easy. I tend to make these and whilst they are proving get on with some jobs, or revision as this term has consisted of. For any fellow students out there, these are ideal for procrastobaking during revision.

I have also put some alternative fillings down here, but this is so versatile you can literally do anything.

Zesty Lemon Rolls with Lemon-Vanilla glaze

Makes 18-20

Ingredients:

Dough

1 cup (250ml) milk
1/2 cup (125ml) boiling water
1/3 cup (80ml) melted unsalted butter
1/4 cup (50g) sugar
1 tbsp fast action yeast
2 tsp salt
4 3/4 cup (570g) flour (I have used any flour here - see note)
1 egg

Filling

1/4 cup (60g) melted butter
2/3 cup (120g) white sugar
3 small lemons (or 2 large lemons) zested

Glaze

180g cream cheese
Juice of 1 lemon
200g icing sugar

(see notes for ingredient replacement and store cupboard substitutions below the method)

Method:

Put the milk, boiling water, melted butter and 1/4 cup sugar in a bowl and stir to combine. Stir in the yeast, then leave to stand for 5 minutes.
Place 4 cups of flour (not all! Leave 3/4 cups for later) in a bowl (I actually use a food processor to combine all this but you can do it by hand). Add the milk-yeast mixture, salt and the egg. Stir everything well to combine or pulse in the food processor. Cover with cling film and leave to stand in a warm place for 30 minutes until doubled in size.
Add the remaining 3/4 cups of flour, stir to combine and then leave to rise for another 30 minutes.
On a floured work surface roll out the dough to a 20x30 cm rectangle. Spread the melted butter over the dough, then sprinkle with the sugar and lemon zest. Roll up the rectangle, starting from the long edge.
Cut into equal circular rolls, about 1 inch thick each and place on a lined baking tray about 1 cm apart. Cover the tray with cling film and place in a warm place for about 30 minutes until the rolls have risen and joined together.
Place in an oven preheated to 180C (160C fan) and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.
Remove and allow to cool.
Make the glaze beat the cream cheese until smooth, then add the icing sugar, lemon juice and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Drizzle over the rolls, scatter with a little lemon zest and serve!!

Notes, substitutions and variations:

Flour: For best results I used 1/2 plain flour, 1/2 bread flour. However, any flour works, self raising flour is particularly light. I would say plain four works the least well, so if you use that, add 2 tsp of baking powder along with the flour.
If you have the time you can knead the dough, which gives a great texture, but isn't essential.
These are best eaten on the day they are made, but if they are a couple of days old just simply place in the oven with a drizzle of golden syrup to revive them.

Alternative fillings:

Peanut butter and chocolate (use smooth peanut butter and dot with milk chocolate before rolling up)
White chocolate and strawberry (dot fresh strawberries and white chocolate chunks before rolling up)
Nutella and banana (spread with Nutella and sliced banana before rolling up)
Lemon and raspberry: Mash some fresh or frozen raspberries and add in stage 4.
Lemon and Blueberry: Scatter the rolls with blueberries in stage 4.