Fruity Cinnamon Rolls

I am warning you--if you read this, you might wind up with flour all over your face and glaze on your chin by the end of the evening! (or 2 days, however you choose to make yours)
These were awesome!! As I said before, we have Anika in town, and I wanted to make a few special things, so I decided to try a blueberry bread with some blueberries I had in the fridge. I searched for a while and found Annie's Eats version of blueberry cinnamon rolls, and they are amaaaazing! There is a little lemon zest in the dough and then zest and juice in the glaze, which just brighten up the flavor and combine so well with the fruit. I didn't have enough blueberries, so I subbed in some strawberries, which were also excellent! Even Norris liked them after he got over the initial shock that I didn't make my regular cinnamon rolls :)
The fruit practically turns into jam when baked, which was another added bonus. Try these soon!!

Fruit Filled Cinnamon Rolls

Yield: 12 rolls

for the rolls:

6 1/2 tbsp sugar, divided

1 tsp salt

5 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 large egg

1 tsp lemon zest

3 1/2-4 cups bread flour

2 tsp instant yeast

1 cup plus 3 tbsp milk, at room temperature (I used 2%)

for the filling:

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups fresh fruit (I used blueberries and chopped strawberries)

~3 tbsp softened butter or margarine

for the glaze:

3 cups powdered sugar

1 tbsp lemon juice

~6 tbsp milk

1 tsp lemon zest


Directions:

Sprinkle yeast and 1 tbsp sugar over milk and set aside.

Cream together sugar, salt, and butter on medium high speed. Mix in the egg and lemon zest.

Mix in yeast/milk mixture and flour until a dough forms. Once you have a dough, turn it out onto a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes. When you hold your dough up from both ends, it should sag but not come apart. (That's how you know the gluten strands have developed enough). It should be smooth and tacky (not sticky!). It might take a little extra flour or liquid during your kneading to get it to that point. It typically takes me at least an extra 1/2 cup of flour to get there.
Place in oiled bowl and turn once to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and set in warm spot to rise for about two hours OR put it in your refrigerator overnight and continue work the next day.

Spray a work surface with nonstick cooking spray and dust lightly with flour. Turn dough out, knead a few times, and let rest about fifteen minutes. Come back to it and roll it out to a 9x18 rectangle.

Spread melted butter or margarine over the dough. Combine cinnamon and sugar in a bowl and sprinkle evenly over the dough. Sprinkle the berries evenly across the dough.

Starting on the wide end of your rectangle, roll your dough into the actual cinnamon rolls. I had to roll these a tiny bit looser than I normally roll cinnamon rolls just because of the bulk of the blueberries. Seal the edge by using a bit of water--rub the water over the edge and it will work like gluey magic!!

Cut your rolls about 1.5 inches thick and place in sprayed baking dish about 1.5 inches apart from each other. Cover with towel and let rise in warm place for another 1.5 hours OR cover with plastic wrap and return to refrigerator until the next day!

Preheat oven to 350. Bake rolls (if you refrigerated them, take them out about 30 minutes before baking to come to room temp) for about 35 minutes, or until lightly golden brown on top.

Combine glaze ingredients after you pull rolls out of oven. Allow rolls to cool for about 10 minutes, then glaze them. Devour!!
from Annie's Eats