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Baklava Sweet Rolls

Inspired by delicious flakey chocolate baklava, these rolls take all of those flavors and wrap them up in a soft and buttery brioche dough. Layers of nutty chocolate filling and phyllo dough get swirled into a simple one bowl brioche dough recipe. Finally, these are topped with a warm honey syrup. These rolls are perfect to make as we head towards cozy season.
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Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 20 minutes
Rising Time 2 hours 10 minutes
Servings: 12 rolls
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

Dough
  • 4 cups all purpose flour plus more for shaping
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
  • ¾ cup whole milk warmed to about 110℉
  • 2 Tablespoons honey
  • 3 large eggs at room temperature and beaten
  • ½ cup salted butter melted and slightly cooled
Filling
  • 2 cups raw walnuts
  • ½ cup raw hazelnuts
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
  • ¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) salted butter softened and divided
  • ⅓ cup honey
  • 6 sheets 9x14" frozen phyllo dough thawed
Glaze
  • ½ cup honey
  • 2 Tablespoons water
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Method
 

Start by making the dough
  1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, cardamom, salt, and yeast. Add the milk, honey, eggs, and melted butter. Using a wooden spoon, stir until a soft and sticky dough forms. If too sticky, add a little more flour.
  2. Turn the dough out onto a heavily floured work surface and knead by hand for about 3 minutes, or until you have a smooth dough that isn't sticking to you anymore. If it is unworkable and unmanageably sticky, add a little more flour. Form the dough into a ball, place in a greased bowl, and cover with cling wrap to rise in a warm environment for 2 hours or until doubled in size.
In the last 30 minutes of rising time, make the filling
  1. In a food processor pulse the walnuts, hazelnuts, and cinnamon together until the nuts are mostly ground up. Add the chopped chocolate and pulse to combine. It's ok if there are some small chunks of nuts or chocolate. Add ¼ cup (half a stick ) of softened salted butter, and the honey. Pulse until you have a very thick and somewhat lumpy paste. Set aside.
  2. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with butter. Set aside.
  3. Remove the risen dough from the bowl and punch it to release the air. Turn it out onto a floured work surface and roll it into a 10x16 inch rectangle. Spread about a Tablespoon of the remaining 1 stick of softened butter over the dough and top with one sheet of the phyllo dough. Spread very little of that butter over the phyllo, and top with another sheet. Do this again with one more sheet. You should have 3 layers of phyllo, and the top one should also have butter spread on it. Spread the nut filling evenly on top. Top with another 3 layers of phyllo, spreading a very thin layer of butter between each.
  4. Slowly and carefully roll the rectangle up into a 16 inch long log. Using a sharp serrated knife cut into 12 even rolls and arrange in the previously prepared baking dish. Let the rolls rise covered for 10 minutes.
Bake
  1. Preheat the oven to 375℉.
  2. Once heated, bake the rolls uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Let the rolls cool some in the pan while we make the glaze.
Make the glaze
  1. In a small saucepan, mix together the honey, water, and vanilla. Bring to a boil on medium heat before reducing the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool for 3 minutes. Then, pour the warm glaze over the warm rolls, and use a pastry brush to make sure rolls are evenly covered. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving warm, the best way to eat them!
  2. Cover leftover rolls with foil and store in the fridge. Rolls will stay fresh for up to 4 days. To reheat, preheat the oven to 300℉ and bake the rolls for 5-7 minutes or until just warmed.