Sweet Potato Cinnamon Buns with Hazelnuts

Do you remember the baked sweet potato doughnuts I featured a few weeks ago?  They really exceeded my expectations and I couldn’t stop thinking about them, light and airy with the hint of sweet potato taste and nutmeg.

Therefore, I had to transfer this yumminess into another pleasing baked good, cinnamon rolls!  My dream came true in these incredibly delicious cinnamon rolls filled with cinnamon, brown sugar, and hazelnuts. They are the very best when still warm out of the oven with some powdered sugar sprinkled on top!

Even my daughter’s lovely riding instructor Cindy, who admitted to us, that she is a big  cinnamon roll snob, gave them high notes for taste and texture.

Ingredients:

for the dough:

*  12 ounces (340 g) sweet potato, cooked and mashed
*  3 tablespoons unsalted butter
*  1/2 cup (125 ml) milk
*  1 envelope instant dry yeast
*  1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
*  1/2 cup (100 g) light brown sugar
*  1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
*  1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
*  1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly ground
*  1 tablespoon dark rum
*  1 large egg
*  2 large egg yolks
*  3 1/4 cups (390 g) King Arthur Bread flour, more for second kneading and rolling

for the filling:

*  2 tablespoons (30 g)  unsalted butter, melted
*  2/3 cup dark ( 150 g) brown sugar, packed
*  1 tablespoon (15 ml) cinnamon
*  1 cup hazelnuts, chopped

mix the sugar with the cinnamon

For the topping:

*  powdered sugar

Directions:

Prick the skin of two sweet potatoes with a fork and cook them in the microwave until done, about 10-12 minutes. (I used the “boiled potato” setting of my microwave which cooked them automatically.) Half the potatoes and spoon out the flesh. Puree it in a small food processor until it has the consistency of ordinary mashed potatoes. Set aside 12 ounces (1 cup) of sweet potato puree.

Place the butter in a small sauce pan and cook on medium heat until the butter turns brownish. Be very careful not to burn it! Set aside to cool.

Heat the milk (around 105 F, 40 C) in a small sauce pan or in the microwave and add the yeast. Let it sit for about 5 minutes and until foamy.

Attach your kitchen machine with the dough hook and mix together the milk/ yeast mixture, both sugars, salt, vanilla seeds, nutmeg and rum. Now add in the egg, the yolks, the browned butter and the sweet potato puree. Mix until well combined. Now it is time to add all the flour, first on slow speed to mix it all in and then on medium speed to knead the dough. Knead for about 5 to 6 minutes. If the dough is still too wet add more extra flour until the dough forms a ball. Place the dough into an oiled glass bowl, cover with a clean kitchen towel and let it rest and rise for 1 1/2 hours. I used my “rapid proofing” setting of my oven but it didn’t really rise that much. So, don’t worry!

Place the dough on a well floured surface, punch it down, knead in more flour if still to sticky.  Roll dough out into a 12″ x 18″ rectangle. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Starting with the long side, roll dough into a cylinder. Place seam side down on a flat surface and cut crosswise into about 16 slices.

Grease a baking dish (I used an 8 by 8 inches and a 9 by 13 inches) place each piece, spiral side up, into the dish. Let the rolls rise for 1 hour or until almost doubled in volume.

Preheat oven to 400 F and bake the rolls until golden and done for about 30 minutes. Let cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Tagged as: cinnamon, hazelnuts, sweet potatoes, yeast