I ate the most amazing sweet roll on my recent Alaska trip. We had the good fortune of stumbling upon the cutest little bakery in Girdwood. The amazingly beautiful begonias caught our attention and we decide to stop and get a treat.
The Bake Shop is charming and the owner, Stefanie, is even more charming. We asked her about her amazing flowers – things grow big in Alaska. She grows the flowers in a greenhouse until it’s warm enough to put them outside. Then she loving tends them with plenty of Miraclegro.
She tends to her customers with the same loving care and treated us to her fabulous sweet rolls. The huge fluffy rolls are topped with jam and sliced almonds.
After indulging, I decided I had to have the recipe and Stefanie was gracious enough to email it to me. The original recipe made a giant pan of sweet rolls and I downsized it and made one quarter of the recipe.
The dough was pillow soft and easy to work with. I just pressed out the dough with my hands into a rectangle and didn’t even need to use a rolling pin.
I didn’t have the anise seed or mace called for in the original recipe, so I subsitute a finely ground star anise and a bit of freshly grated nutmeg. I also substituted (since I was serving them for the 4th of July) dried cherries for the raisins and black cherry jam for the raspberry jam.
They baked up so light and fully and the tart cherries were a nice contrast to the sweet cherry jam. The rolls were just as good as I remembered. My family loved them.
The only thing I would do differently next time is roll the dough out thinner, in more of a square shape, so that there are more thin, delicious layers like the fabulous sweet rolls at The Bake Shop.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup warm water (about 110º)
- 2 tablespoons yeast
- 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 cups all purpose or bread flour, divided
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup powdered milk
- 1 star anise, finely ground
- 1 pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- 5 eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons - 1 stick) butter, room temperature, divided
- 1/2 cup dried cherries, diced
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup black cherry jam
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Directions
- Whisk together warm water, yeast, and 1 teaspoon sugar and set aside.
- Mix 2 cups flour, 1/3 cup sugar, salt, powdered milk, anise, and nutmeg in stand mixer fitted with a beater blade. Turn machine to low and add 6 tablespoons butter, eggs and yeast mixture.
- After the liquids are incorporated, switch to the dough hook, and gradually add the remaining flour (add more or less as necessary) until dough clings to the hook and almost cleans the sides. Knead until the dough is smooth and just slightly sticky, 6 to 7 minutes. Knead in dried cherries the last minute.
- Turn dough onto lightly floured counter and knead briefly to form smooth, round ball. Coat large bowl with nonstick cooking spray. Place dough in bowl and coat surface of dough with cooking spray. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm, draft free place until dough doubles in size, 50 to 60 minutes.
- While dough is rising, mix brown sugar and cinnamon together in bowl.
- Remove dough from bowl, and pat into a 16 inch square. Spread 2 tablespoons melted butter evenly over dough and sprinkle on brown sugar cinnamon mixture. Using dental floss or knife, cut dough into 12 pieces.
- Place each roll cut side up in a greased 13 x 9 pan. Top each roll with a teaspoon or two of jam and sprinkle with sliced almonds. Cover pan with plastic wrap and let rise until double in size, about 30 minutes.
- Heat oven to 325 degrees. Bake uncovered, 30 minutes or until golden brown.
- For the glaze: whisk powdered sugar, milk and vanilla in small bowl until smooth. Drizzle glaze over warm sweet rolls.
Some of the links in my posts may be “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Thank you for supporting Barbara Bakes when you shop!
I love to bake, especially cookies, cakes, and pies. I’ll post my adventures in the kitchen, my favorite new recipes, as well as our family favorites.
These look so good, Brbara. You are such a great baker. The cherry filling sounds delicious.
Wowo these looks so so good, I am bookmarking them as you said it is so so soft and indeed gracious of her to give you the recipe, normally here is you ask them they won’t give it.
Oh my!! These look amazing! I love getting tried and true recipes from restaurants and bakeries. I am saving these to make for my next cinnamon roll adventure.
What divine looking rolls! They must be so delicious.
Cheers,
Rosa
Your combination of flavors sound very good!!
When can I come over for breakfast???
These look incredible, Barbara! I just judged a whole bunch of different sweet rolls in a baking competition last weekend…you would have gotten my vote for these on looks alone.
This look slap my mama Good!
They look so professional and I am sure taste even better!
Hi Barbara. Those sweet rolls look amazing! I love your food blog, and I subscribed so I don’t miss any delicious treats
These look and sound delicious! Both the cherry and the raspberry filling sound delightful. I will have to try these!
These look amazing; I love the addition of the cherries. Thanks for sharing this recipe and not insisting we would have to go to Alaska to get it.
Oh my goodness……..those rolls look outstanding! These are going to be a must try for me.
Thank you Barbara,
Carol
How nice that the owner of the shop gave you the recipe and thank you for sharing with us. They are beautiful. I have fresh raspberries from my patch so maybe I need to make some of these and top them.
~B.
WOWIE!
I will be making these with my Mama.
That dough looks so soft and fluffy. I love scrolls fresh from the oven. Hope you had a good 4th of July!
omg! These are heavenly!
Glorious deliciousness!
Oh my word they look incredible. I am craving one right now! I love my sweet rolls and these are no exception! I love your rendition!
wow those rolls look to die for! Great clicks too.
Looks amazing, Barbara, and sounds wonderful with the dried cherries and cherry jam! They look like they absolutely melt in your mouth, and it was so nice of Stefanie to give you the recipe! And thanks for passing it along to us!
I love recreating recipes—so fun that she shared with you. They look incredible!
These look divine! I love yeast rolls. YUM. Sounds like an amazing trip you had!
Hmm Barbara, you know I SUCK at baking. So I just have to live vicariously through posts like this! Now, can you please ship some of those to me?
Perfect! Gorgeous rolls and WOWEE cherry is my favorite! I have so bookmarked these, Barbara!
Thanks for sharing this fabulous bake! Looks so tempting….
Getting ready to make these yummy looking rolls. When do I add the eggs? It’s probably obvious to a more experienced baker. lol Can I link back to your post on my blog, please?
Thanks Luci – I did leave off the addition of the eggs – sorry. I have updated the recipe to include adding the eggs with the other liquids. I appreciate the heads up. Please let me know how they turn out. Hope you enjoy them as much as we did. I’d be happy to have you link back to my post. Thanks!
I really want to make these now mum! And isn’t that lovely of her to share the recipe with you!? I bet she knew that it would be in good hands
xxx
Stefanie must be one special lady to share here bakery recipe and in her and your honor, I want to make this, as soon as we have a reasonably “warm” day. My kitchen is unbearable once the oven goes on.
Would you link this up to Bake with Bizzy, please.
http://bizzybakesb.blogspot.com/2011/07/bake-with-bizzy-8.html
What a lovely combination, Barbara. Dried cherries AND cherry jam. The little places we run into while traveling often have gems on their pastry counters. How generous of her to share the recipe with you! Love your mosaic!
Beautiful yeast rolls! Not many bakeries (or bakers) are willing to share their recipe.
I just spent about 10 minutes reading and clicking the links on their website – what an amazing story they have. Now I want to go there and try their sourdough pancakes!
When you ate their rolls in Alaska, did you detect anise? And does your recipe’s instructions to pat them into a 16-inch square reflect rolling them thinner, as you mentioned?
Thanks! She was so sweet and I didn’t even have to twist her arm to get her to share it. I loved spending time on their website too.
I could not detect anise in their rolls and couldn’t taste it in mine, although I could smell it in mine. Perhaps because I used star anise which is stronger, or perhaps just because I knew it was there. No one in my family seemed to notice it.
Yes the 16 inch square does reflect rolling them thinner.
What a dear to share her recipe with you! And a lovely one it is…your rolls look amazing, and I love your substitutions- raisins are just not my cup of tea! Cherries, now, I love. I have some homemade cherry jam that would be delightful on these!
These look delicious!!
I want to be as fearless in the baking department as you are. Such a beauty you’ve made here. Such a beautiful looking sweet. Longing for the sweet taste of cherries. Mmmmmmmmm
These look so lovely! I am always too nervous to ask anyone for their recipes. It was so kind of her to share!
Your sweet rolls look perfect, Barbara! Love that cherry filling.
Barbara look absolutely nice!! gloria
Those look so good! I love the cherry jam on top. And the almonds and the glaze, and just all of them! They’re so pretty
Great recipe.
been up for hours. this would have been a great treat for my kids to wake up to! besides, this is one of my guilty pleasures!
Barbara, can you come to my house and make these sweet rolls? They look amazing!
These rolls look incredible!!
Oh my gosh, I do love sweet bread! Delicious.
I would be such a happy camper if I had one of these to enjoy right now
I want to make these beautiful rolls! However, could you tell me the amounts of the “original” spices of anise and mace? I don’t have anise star, but I do have anise seed.
Thanks!
Hi Holly – thanks for reminding me about these great rolls. I should make them again soon. The original recipe was for a huge batch, so dividing the original recipe by four I think you’d want to use 1 tablespoon anise seed and a pinch of mace. You could use less if you don’t want a strong anise flavor. Enjoy!
Why powdered milk?
Hi Dawn – the original recipe called for powdered milk and I’ve read that using powdered milk gives you a better rise. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/bakers-special-dry-milk-16-oz. You could substitute milk for the water and omit the powdered milk. Please let me know if you give them a try. Thanks for the great question.