Baking has never been my strong point, but I think there's something about the holiday season that makes you want to get the oven cranked up. Those pie scented candles just don't quite replace the warm smells of something baking in the oven.
I decided to give coconut rolls a try because they don't require a whole lot of ingredients and the dough is similar to a bread dough. And one of the few things I can bake is bread.
You could add the food coloring or leave it out. I like it because its festive looking and the red food coloring scare is so 30 years ago. The sweet dough can be used for a number of different recipes, like cinnamon rolls.
All in all it came out pretty well and its impressive enough to serve at Christmas brunch.
Here's what you need:
Multi purpose sweet dough:
1 cup of milk
1 tablespoon yeast (1 packet)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs beaten
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups of sweetened grated coconut (The recipe I saw called for fresh coconut that needed to be grated and mixed and cooked with sugar, but this was so much easier and yummy as heck)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons of melted butter or margarine
Food coloring (optional) - about 3 drops, depending on how deep you want the color
Here's what you do:
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Scald the milk (heat it but don't boil), add salt, sugar and yeast.  A regular package of yeast has one tablespoon worth |
Add the butter or margarine
Beat two eggs and add to the bowl
Add about 3 cups of the flour and mix with a wooden spoon to form a dense batter
Then add the remaining flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, to form a firm but elastic dough. Lightly grease the bowl and leave the dough covered for about an hour and a half until doubled in size. Most bread dough will rise in about an hour, but since this dough is dense with the milk and egg, it takes a little longer.
Drink a mimosa while you wait for the dough to rise. This one had orange mango juice. Yum!
Punch down the dough and divide into two even sized balls. These are obviously not even. Oops.
Roll out one of the dough balls to a rectangle of an approximate size of 9 x 13 inches. I know this looks more like an oval than a rectangle, but you get the gist. Brush the dough with the melted butter or margarine (I forgot to take a picture of this)
Place the shredded, sweetened coconut in a stainless steel or glass bowl. This way it doesn't become stained with the food coloring.
Add cinnamon and about 3 drops of food coloring and mix well
Sprinkle the coconut all over the dough.
Fold a small flap of dough over the coconut
Now fold small flaps on the top and bottom, like you're rolling a burrito or an egg roll.
Then roll up the rest of the dough
Place on a greased baking sheet or (as I've done here) on a parchment lined pan. Cover and let it rise for a second time. About 35 - 45 minutes. During the last 10 minutes or so of the second rise, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes until golden. This got a little darker than I would have preferred, but oh well. I brushed it with a little melted butter when it came out of the oven and it was fine. Let cool on a rack for about 20 minutes.
Using a serrated bread knife, cut slices off the roll. I cut mine on an angle, but you can cut into straight slices if you prefer.
This is what the roll looks like when sliced.
After I finished slicing up the whole roll, I left them to cool completely on a wire rack.
And voila! Here's the finished product. Good with coffee or a second mimosa!
