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Grand Marnier Raisin Rolls

As the weather gets colder, so do my cravings for carbs. And considering what's going on in the news these days, I'm spending a lot more time stress eating. In an attempt to assuage my guilt for consuming the extra calories, I do my best to make each bite count. In my humble opinion these little gems are worth the extra steps I may need to add to my next hike. 

Lucky for me baking and cooking is a productive way to distract myself from all the insanity of our current reality. It helps me to bide my time while I count down the days until we have a new president and a better tomorrow. The dough is fairly easy to make. With a little planning and a lot of patience, your home will soon be filled with the lovely aroma of baking bread layered with the citrusy scent of clementines. Yum.
Another snowy morning here in upstate N.Y. A perfect day to stay home and bake.

Organize your ingredients before you begin to ensure nothing gets left out.

For maximum flavor, macerate your raisins in the Grand Marnier
and clementine zest the day before baking.

A nicely risen dough will roll out easily, ready for the aromatic filling.
I prefer snipping the dough with my kitchen shears, but a sharp knife works too.


I love using my mini bundt pans for this recipe but a well oiled muffin tin
will do the job just as well.
These rolls are filled with flavor and need no additional butter or jam.

Grand Marnier Raisin Rolls


1 1/4tsp yeast
1 c warm milk
5 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp butter, room temperature
3c flour
2 tbsp melted butter
3/4c raisins soaked overnight in enough Grand Marnier to cover
1 tsp clementine or orange zest
1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tbsp cream

Directions:

1. Dissolve the yeast the warm milk in a mixing bowl. Proof. Add the sugar, salt, and  1 1/2tsp butter. Add the flour. Using a wooden spoon, fold in the flour.

2. With a dough hook of a standing mixer or by hand, knead the dough until smooth and elastic, for about 10 minutes.

3. Butter the bowl. Place the dough in the bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size. This usually takes 1-2 hours.

4. After the dough has risen, remove from the bowl and roll into a rectangle.

5. Brush the dough with the melted butter and scatter the plumped raisins.

6. Starting with a long end of the dough, roll up tightly into a log.

7. Using a knife or kitchen shears, divide the roll into 12 even pieces.

8. Butter 6 mini bundt pans or large muffin tin. Place two rolls, cut side up, in the buttered pans or muffin tin. Loosely cover with a cotton towel and let rise until doubled in bulk. For me this usually takes about an hour.

9. After the dough has had its' second rise, brush the rolls with the egg yolk mixture.
Bake in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until lightly golden.

10. Remove the rolls the pan and cool on a rack. Store rolls in an airtight container. 



















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