Ok, so I’m trying to get on a more consistent publishing schedule now that it’s summer, but I’m still a little behind on my recipes so it might be a little wonky for a while. But I made good progress this week in catching up, and I have some pretty tasty recipes headed your way.
I also have a lot of work that needs to be done on my project, but I want to get caught up on my recipes before I dive into that.
I was looking at my recipes for this summer and I don’t have as much fruit stuff as I did last year. Lots of fruits are in their peak season during the summer, but I personally don’t love fruit desserts. I would rather enjoy fresh fruit by itself rather than in something in most cases. But, I might try to work in a few extra fruit recipes to make these next couple months feel more summery.
But right now we’re focused on these sweet rolls. I feel like the pistachio chocolate trend is basically over now, but I still really like the flavor combination. And I feel like sweet rolls are the perfect blank canvas for such a great flavor combination.
Describe These Sweet Rolls to Me
Taste: The dough itself has a delicate buttery flavor, similar to that of brioche. The filling has the sweetness of the pistachio cream mixed with nutty and slightly salty brown butter pistachios, and speckles of dark chocolate to cut through the sweetness. The glaze on top offers one last punch of flavor and sweetness.
Texture: The dough is a soft and pillowy brioche-like dough, which is delicate but still strong enough to support the filling. The filling is slightly gooey from the pistachio cream and melty chocolate chunks, but still has a little crunch from the brown butter pistachios. The glaze on top adds one final little bit of moisture to perfectly balance out these rolls.
Ease: These might be slightly more difficult than a classic cinnamon roll, but only because the filling is slightly more complicated. Even so, this recipe is perfectly manageable for any baker. However, it does need plenty of time to rise so make sure not to rush anything!
The Dough
This is the same dough I use for most of my sweet rolls. It’s buttery and delicate, but still strong enough to hold up the filling. It has a very similar structure to a brioche in that it’s heavy on the eggs and butter. This makes it the perfect, simple and quick base for a delicious sweet roll.
The Filling
The first layer to this filling is a generous spread of pistachio cream. This adds sweetness, a fun color, and plenty of pistachio flavor. The next element are the brown butter pistachios. We make these by browning a little bit of salted butter, toasting some ground up pistachios in it, and finishing it off with a little brown sugar, pistachio extract, and vanilla. This gets sprinkled on top along with a generous handful of dark chocolate chunks.
The Glaze
There are two toppings for these rolls. The first is a simple chocolate fudge glaze which comes together with a little bit of water, butter, cocoa powder, sugar and vanilla. This will set a little as it cools so the rolls won’t get too messy. Then, we top these rolls off with a drizzle of slightly melted pistachio cream.
Chocolate Pistachio Sweet Rolls
Ingredients
Method
- In a large bowl, whisk together the warm milk, yeast, and brown sugar. Cover with a paper towel and let rest for 5 minutes. The yeast should foam up during this time, and if it doesn't your yeast is dead and you should start over with new yeast.
- Add in the butter, eggs, salt, and 1 cup of the flour and whisk until smooth. Add the remaining 3 cups of flour and use a large rubber spatula to fold together until you have a sticky dough.
- Turn the dough out on a heavily floured work surface and knead it gently for roughly 2 minutes, until you have a sturdy ball of dough. It should be sticky, but if it's so sticky to the point that it is difficult to handle, add more flour 1 Tablespoon at a time. Place the dough in a large greased bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel to rise at room temperature for 2 hours.
- In a food processor, pulse the pistachios until they are mostly broken up. It shouldn't be powdery/sandy but you shouldn't have any whole or large chunks of pistachio. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once melted the butter will start to sizzle and bubble, keep cooking until it just barely starts to form brown specks and have a slight nutty aroma. With the burner still on medium heat, add in the pistachios and continue cooking, stirring frequently until the pistachios are slightly toasted. Add the brown sugar, pistachio extract, and vanilla extract. Mix until combined. Pour/spread the mixture onto a plate and place in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan with butter and set aside.
- On a floured work surface, roll the dough into a 12×16 inch rectangle. Spread the pistachio cream in an even layer on top. Crumble the slightly solidified mixture from earlier evenly over the pistachio cream. Sprinkle the chopped chocolate evenly on top. Slowly and carefully, roll the dough into a 16 inch log. Slice the log into 12 rolls. Arrange the rolls in the previously prepared baking pan. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or cling wrap and let the rolls rise for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉.
- Bake the rolls uncovered for 20-22 minutes or until lightly browned and hollow sounding when you tap on them. While the rolls cool a little, make the glaze.
- In a medium sized microwave safe bowl, melt the butter and water together in the microwave in 30 second increments until the butter is completely melted. Add in the sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt and use a whisk to combine. Let the glaze cool at room temperature for about 15 minutes to thicken a little.
- Spoon a generous amount of the chocolate glaze over each roll, and drizzle some of the melted pistachio cream on top. Rolls are best enjoyed warm but will last up to 4 days in an airtight container .