Bailey's Cream Filled Sweet Rolls

Saint Patrick's Day is just around the corner.  I remember way back when....my husband and I and our friends would meet in Boston at the Black Rose and we'd be there all day long.  Jeez I sound like I'm 80 years old or something! HA!

These day's I put my daughter in a green t-shirt and if I'm lucky I wear something green too and we don't do anything out of the ordinary all day. :)

I did remember far enough in advance to post something I created for St. Patrick's Day and these days that's a big accomplishment for me.  I'm pretty pleased with these sweet rolls.  I didn't really know what to call these because they are 50% sweet roll and 50% donut.  The thing I liked most about this recipe was that it was baked not fried.  I don't have anything against fried donuts I just don't like the smell and mess it makes.  

 The rolls are fairly straight forward, you mix the dough and let it rise.  After that you roll it out and cut the round shapes then let it rise again.  Bake, fill, frost, eat.  Repeat.

The cream I used for the filling was thick and not too sweet.  I tried it both with the Bailey's and without and I thought both were fantastic.  The roll is very soft, just as you'd expect a good yeast donut to be.  Since they were baked and not fried, feel free to have two. ;)

Add some little green sprinkles on top and you've got yourself a very festive St. Patrick's Day treat!

Sweet Rolls

Recipe found at FromScratchToPlate

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup warm milk
• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 large egg, whisked
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2-3 cup all-purpose flour

Cooking Directions

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer, add the warm milk and the yeast and let sit for 5-10 minutes.
2. Add the butter, sugar and egg and mix to incorporate.
3. Slowly add the flour 1/2 cup at a time (add the salt with the first addition of flour). Mix on low until the flour is blended and then add another 1/2 cup of flour. Do this until the dough forms into a ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Mix on low for 5 minutes, sprinkle with a little more flour if the dough begins sticking to the sides again. The key is not to add too much flour, less is more in this case. I used about 2 cups of flour.
4. After you've finished mixing for 5 minutes, cover the bowl and place in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size (about an hour but it could be longer).
5. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to about 1/2 inch thick.
6. Cut circles in the dough by using a cookie cutter or a glass. Try to use as much of the dough as possible with this first cut. If necessary you can use the scraps to re-roll and cut more circles, you can even do it a third time but the rolls won't be as light as the first cut.
7. Place the dough circles on a parchment lined cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about another 1 hour.
8. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
9. Bake the rolls for 5-7 minutes or until they are light golden brown in color.
10. Immediately slide the rolls onto a cooling rack.

Pastry Cream and Bailey's Filling

Recipe from Joanne Chang via Martha Stewart

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cake flour
• 1/2 tsp coarse salt
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp Bailey's Mint Liquor

Cooking Directions

1. In a medium saucepan add the milk and cook on medium heat until bubbles form around the edges but NOT to a boil. Remove from the heat.
2. Meanwhile in a small bowl add the sugar, flour and salt.
3. In another bowl add the egg yolks and whisk. Add the eggs to the bowl with the flour mixture and stir until it is thick and pasty.
4. When the milk has heated, add a small amount of the hot milk to the egg/flour mixture while whisking until smooth. Add another small amount of hot milk and continue this process until the milk/egg/flour mixture is warm. Now add the warm milk/egg mixture back into the pan with the hot milk and whisk until smooth.
5. Return the saucepan to a medium heat and whisk until it is thick (about 3 minutes) and then let it bubble for 10 seconds and remove from the heat.
6. If your mixture isn't too thick you can use a fine mesh sieve to get out any clumps that might be in there. Mine was way to thick and I skipped this step.
7. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to three days.
8. When you're ready to fill the sweet rolls, add the 2 tsp of Bailey's Mint Liquor and whisk well to incorporate. 

Filling the Sweet Rolls: 

1. If you have a pastry injector that's wonderful because it's perfect for this recipe. If you don't you can use a pastry bag with a small round tip attached. 
2. Make a hole in the side of the sweet roll and insert the tip of the pastry device you are using, fill until the cream just starts to reach the surface. 
3. I made a quick glaze using confectioners sugar and milk until it was a consistency that I liked and then just turn the sweet roll upside down and dip in the mixture.  Let the excess glaze run off and then top with sprinkles.