I’ve heard of cinnamon rolls, of course, but until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of jam rolls. Of course, now that I know about them, the concept makes so much sense; you get the tastiness of a cinnamon roll but without the loads of butter and icing that make them seem so indulgent and guilt-inducing. Plus, you get to use up some extra jam, which in my case is a good thing because we have jars and jars of jam that we barely ever use.
What’s great about this recipe is that although rolls look like they could be complicated to make, these are actually really easy, thanks in part to the fact that the dough is made with a bread machine. It’s beautiful how nicely the dough comes together. You just know when you look at it that the rolls are going to be mouth-watering. Sometimes you come across a really good bread with a dough that mixes, kneads, and rises perfectly by hand, but other times, that process can be frustrating. With these rolls, the bread machine does all the work without any headache.
These jam rolls don’t have gobs of jam in them, so they aren’t overly sweet. It’s just the right amount to give the rolls a fruity, sweet flavor without being overwhelming. You could add more jam if you want to, but I think that they’re nice as is. They store and microwave nicely to be eaten for mornings to come, so you can make them on a weekend and enjoy them all week :)
Jam Rolls
adapted from The Cooking Photographer
(makes 12 rolls)
Dough
1 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons rapid-rise yeast
Filling
3/4 cup jam, flavor of your choice
Topping
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
sugar, for sprinkling
Oven Temperature: 400 F
Note: Some bread machines require you to add your dry ingredients before your liquids, so reverse the order describe below if this is the case for your machine.
1. Heat the milk in the microwave at thirty second intervals, until it is very warm. Pour it into the bread machine pan along with the melted butter and sugar, stir, and let sit for 15 to 20 minutes, until the mixture has reached room temperature.
2. Add the lightly beaten eggs to the bread machine pan, and sprinkle the bread flour on top of the liquids, making sure it covers them completely. Add the salt to a corner of the pan, and make a small well in the center of the flour, where you can add the yeast. Set the machine to the dough setting. It’s a good idea to watch your machine in the first few minutes of kneading to make sure that it doesn’t need any help or adjustments.
3. When the machine is almost done with the dough cycle, grease a 9 x 13 inch pan to prepare for baking. Roll the finished dough into a 16 x 21 inch rectangle over a surface covered in saran wrap, or preferably, parchment paper. It will take a bit of work to get the dough that large and thin, so don’t give up. Spread the jam over the rolled out dough, making sure to go all the way to the sides. Roll up the dough by the longer side, smoothing the seam down at the end. Cut the roll into quarters, and cut each quarter into thirds so you end up with 12 rolls.
3. Place the rolls into the greased pan with each seam facing another roll. Cover with saran wrap and let sit for 30 minutes in a warm place to rise. I just set my oven on preheat at the lowest temperature for 1 minute, and then turned it off and put the rolls in there. Once you have about 10 minutes of rising time left, preheat the oven to 400 degrees, removing the rolls if you placed them in there. Right before baking, brush the rolls with the melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, until the tops start to get golden.
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I’d never heard of them either, but they look seriously delicious! I think they’d work perfectly with my damson jam, yummy.
Well, I just learned what a damson is because of you, so that’s one more thing that was new to me! Glad you like the rolls :)
I’ve never seen jam rolls before but they look and sound delicious! You did a great job with them. Thanks for sharing on Sweet Indulgences Sunday.
Thank you! And I thought maybe it was just me who hadn’t heard of them, nice to know it wasn’t.
Thank you so much for linking up on Whisking Wednesdays this week. I hope you’ll come back again this week and link up another recipe or two!
http://pinchofthisthatandtheother.blogspot.com/2011/09/whisking-wednesdays-17.html
I’ll be back when I have something new to link up for sure! Thanks :)
Its like you read my mind. I had a jar of jam in the refrigerator that I looked at and said to myself today- how can I finish this off by making a dessert. Now I know! Thanks for sharing. Bookmarking it!
That’s so funny how things work like that sometimes. I’m thrilled that you found what you were looking for on my blog. Thanks for letting me know :)
Could I use this dough recipe to make half cinnamon rolls and half of your jam rolls? I want to make both but 12 of each is a bit excessive for my family.
You bet! In fact, the cinnamon roll recipe I have on this site is almost the exact same recipe. One of the biggest differences is that the cinnamon rolls have instructions for making them with a stand mixer, as opposed to a bread machine. Either way you want to do it, I would just slice the dough in half once you roll it out and then fill each half with a different filling. Then, you can bake the rolls in separate dishes if you have two smaller dishes that will work, or you could just bake them in the same dish, which should work out just fine.
(And whichever recipe instructions you decide to follow should work well too.)
Is it easily halved? And what about substituting some whole wheat for the bread flour?
Just use a good serrated knife to slice the dough in half once it’s rolled out. It’s really easy.
And if you add whole wheat flour, I wouldn’t do more than 1 1/2 cups whole wheat. Keep the rest as bread flour. Also, keep in mind that when using whole wheat you may need to allow more time for the dough to rise before it doubles in size.