Nutty Cardamom Rolls
My daughter texted me a few months ago, during quarantine, saying, “Ma, finish your work soon, let’s bake together on Zoom this weekend. Cinnamon rolls from scratch. It’ll be awesome!” I was thrilled. First, I get to spend time with my daughter and her fiancé, and second, I’d never made cinnamon rolls before so I was keen to try something new. South Indian food doesn’t involve a lot of baking so I don’t get the chance to try these things often.
It was fairly an easy recipe and we chatted and giggled our way through the entire recipe. At the end though, our rolls were totally different from each other! Mine was a total disaster, clumsily rolled and unevenly baked. My daughter and her fiancé managed to do a great job and their rolls were beautiful.
I spent the next couple of months experimenting with different ingredients and developing my own version of a spiced baked roll – nutty cardamom rolls. It’s now become a big hit in the family and I’m happy to share it with all of you. 🙂
Ingredients
DOUGH:
Whole wheat flour – 1/2 cup
All purpose flour – 1/2 cup
Salt – 1/4 tsp
Sugar – 1 1/2 tbsp
Active dry yeast – 1/4 tbsp
Full cream milk – 1/3 cup
Unsalted butter – 1 1/2 tbsp (room temperature)
Water – as required
NUTTY SPREAD:
Mixed nuts – 1/2 cup
Unsalted butter – 2 tbsp (room temperature)
Sugar – 1/4 cup
Cardamom powder – 1/2 tsp
Yield
15 medium sized rolls
Prep time
12 mins to make the dough
2 hrs for first proofing
15 mins to make the rolls
30 mins for second proofing
Cook time
30 mins
Method
1) Heat a pan, add the mixed nuts. Keeping the heat to a minimum, dry roast the nuts for 5 mins (until crunchy). Switch off the heat and leave the nuts in the pan. Until the pan comes to room temperature stir them a bit every 2 mins or so.
2) After the roasted nuts come to room temperature, remove them from the pan and coarsely grind them. Set aside.
3) To make the spread, take the butter, sugar and cardamom powder in a bowl, mix well and set aside.
4) Prepare the dough in a wide bowl. Mix both flours, salt, 1/2 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp butter and set aside.
5) Warm up the milk, add 1 tbsp sugar and the dry yeast. Mix well. Cover and set aside for 5 mins for the yeast to get activated.
6) Now add the activated yeast mixture to the flour mixture and combine evenly. Add very little water to bring the dough together. Now apply some butter in your hands and knead the dough gently for 7 to 10 mins until you get a nice and soft dough which doesn’t stick to the bowl. You should be able to make a ball with the dough without any cracks or without it being too sticky.
7) Transfer the dough ball to a greased bowl. Cover the bowl with cling wrap or a lid. Keep it in a warm dry place for the dough to rest. Proof for 2 hrs.
8) The dough is ready when it has doubled in size. Now slowly punch the air out of the dough and transfer it to a work place (sprinkle some flour here) where you can comfortably roll it out.
9) With a rolling pin roll out the dough gently. Try to keep the shape of the dough rectangular.
10) Roll the dough to a thickness of about 2 mm. Now gently spread the butter, sugar and cardamom mixture on the surface of the dough. Spread evenly leaving a gap of 2 mm on the perimeter of the dough. Now sprinkle the mixed nuts powder generously and evenly on top of the spread.
11) When the entire top surface of the dough is covered with the powdered nuts, gently start rolling the dough as tightly as possible. Pinch and seal the open edges at the end.
12) Now with a sharp knife cut the cylindrically rolled dough into thick slices (approximately 1 cm thick). Prepare a greased baking tray and line it with a parchment paper. Place the cut slices, the spiral layers facing up, on the tray leaving some gap between 2 slices. Now cover the tray with a cloth and set aside for another half an hour for the second proofing.
13) Preheat the oven to 180° celsius for 10 mins. Place the nutty cardamom rolls in the oven and bake for 30 mins at 180° celsius.
14) After 30 mins remove the tray from the oven and allow it to cool down just a bit.
15) Serve warm.
Notes
- I have used a mix of almond, cashew, pecan, walnut and pistachio for this recipe. You can choose the combination according to your preference or simply make it with one particular nut too.
- Always use yeast that is not expired (or close to expiry). It may not work as desired. The rolls will not be soft and airy if the yeast doesn’t activate properly.
- Leave the dough to proof for the full 2 hrs initially, without disturbing it.
- Roll out the dough as evenly as possible making sure that it is even throughout. If it is not rolled in even thickness then the layers may not form properly.
- Make sure to keep the butter cardamom mixture in room temperature until you spread it on the rolled dough. By any chance if it is slightly watery (because of the heat in the kitchen or otherwise), then leave it in the fridge for a few minutes until it firms up a little.
- These nutty cardamom rolls can be stored for 2 days at room temperature. Beyond that keep the rolls refrigerated and heat it up slightly before serving.
2 Comments
MotherOfNOMS
Hi Chitra, nice to know that you like this recipe. Let me know how you get on!
Chitra naga
I like that cinnamon rolls very and I am planning to try this friday