Adventures In Sweet Rolls

I have a few surprisingly vivid memories from a time where I was about three years old.  Possibly a little younger, but I think three is about right.  One of these memories is of being left in the tender care of a grandmotherly lady from our family’s church, while my mom went off and did…mom stuff.  I don’t know.  I was three.

The lady’s name was Mrs. Pavlick, and when I describe her as “grandmotherly,” what I mean is that she was wise to all my tricks and didn’t put up with any nonsense.  However, she did occasionally make the mistake of turning her back on me.  The memory I have is of sitting on the linoleum floor of her kitchen, in front of an open cabinet door, with the contents of the cabinet spread out on the floor around me.  I believe I was just being nosy inquisitive, rather than looking for something specific.  But I’d managed to make quite the mess in the few minutes Mrs. Pavlick took her eagle eyes off of me.  When she found me in the kitchen, there was no pretending that someone else had made the mess, as I was sitting in the middle of it with pantry items in my little hands.

As Mrs. Pavlick was putting everything away, she told me in no uncertain terms to “keep your feisty fingers out of other people’s stuff.”  She of course reported this to my mother, when that good lady came to pick me up.  My mother has considered this a gift since that day.  She still laughs whenever the phrase “feisty fingers” comes into conversation.

Mrs. Pavlick also gave our family another gift: a recipe for something she called Lemon Glazed Pinwheels.  It basically takes a couple tubes of crescent rolls, dresses them up with butter, lemon, and sugar, and bakes them in an unusual shape.  In getting ready to write up this recipe for the blog, I of course made it and took some pictures.  But then I thought about some particular challenges of the recipe and decided I could do better.  Also, I needed to come up with a different name, since it would no longer be in a pinwheel shape.  So I’m calling them Lemon Glazed Sweet Rolls.  Perhaps not the most imaginative of names, but it pays homage to the original while describing the update.

The method, followed by the recipe, as usual: you’re going to follow the baking instructions on the tube of crescent rolls, but generally the instructions are to bake at 375° for 9-12 minutes.  Melt your butter in a small dish, and stir in your lemon zest and powdered sugar.  Separate your crescent rolls and lay them out so that you can brush the butter mixture on them.  I like to use a pastry brush for this.  Once all eight of the rolls have been slathered with fancy butter, sprinkle a little sweetened coconut on each, and then roll them up, starting at the wide end.  Bake them until they are golden.  Take them out of the oven, and let them cool a little while you make the glaze.  For eight rolls, I like to use 1/3-1/2 cup of powdered sugar (depending on how much glaze is wanted) and then add lemon juice a little at a time until I like the consistency.  For this post, I even went retro and added a drop of yellow food coloring just for fun.  Then drizzle the rolls with the glaze while they are still warm.

Now, if you’re anything like me, you will want to do a little “quality control” tasting immediately, while the rolls are still warm.  Resist this urge!  The rolls are not the right consistency on the interior until they have cooled.  So remember that good things come to those who wait.

Lemon Glazed Sweet Rolls

Click here for printable PDF of recipe

INGREDIENTS

For the rolls:

2 Tbsp butter

Zest of 1 lemon

1 Tbsp powdered sugar

1 package crescent rolls

Sweetened shredded coconut

For the glaze:

⅓-½ Cup powdered sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

Yellow food coloring (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375°. Line your baking sheet with aluminum foil.

In a small bowl, melt the butter in the microwave (using short bursts on low power); then stir in the lemon zest and the 1 Tbsp of powdered sugar.

Open the tube of crescent rolls and separate them. Lay them out, either on the cookie sheet you are going to bake them on, or else on a floured surface. Use a pastry brush to distribute the melted butter mixture evenly over the eight rolls. Sprinkle with a little sweetened shredded coconut. Then roll them up, starting from the wide end and working toward the point.

Bake the rolls on your foil-covered baking sheet for 9-12 minutes, until they are golden brown. Take them out of the oven and allow them to cool on the sheet while you make the glaze.

To make the glaze, put the ⅓-½ cup of powdered sugar in a small bowl and whisk in the lemon juice a little at a time until it’s a spoonable consistency. Add a drop of yellow food coloring if desired. Drizzle over warm rolls and allow them to cool completely before serving.