Hungarian Sweet Rolls

A couple of weeks ago I wanted to make something sweet on a Sunday out of my "America's Best Lost Recipes" cookbook I got from Christmas. Unfortunately most of the lost recipes contain Molasses.. that's why they were lost :-). I found one with ingredients I had on hand and decided to try it out. These sweet rolls worked so well I decided to make them again for Melissa and Valerie when we had out biannual get together (sad, I wish I lived closer. But Valarie has friends and family here so she doesn't feel the loss). Melissa asked me to put the recipe up since Dan liked them so much.

Be forewarned. This recipe takes THREE sticks of butter. Three! That's why they taste so good. And you roll out the dough in POWDERED SUGAR! There is no way you can go wrong there. Why didn't I think of that before? All this time I coulda been rolling cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, pizza.... OK, so maybe it would just work with cinnamon rolls.

Anyway. As I'm sure u all know, the way to a good flaky pastry is a good mix of butter and flour. Since I don't have a food processor, the cookbook suggested this method for getting a good mix.

Grated frozen butter.
Do you know how long it takes to grate THREE sticks of frozen butter?

I need a food processor. Hi Mom and Dad.. are you reading this? Rich friends? Loving family?

Perhaps I'll get one after the holidays.

Grating works, it just takes a lot of elbow grease.
Then the butter gets soft from your warm hands, but only the outside. So you turn and turn and turn but the inside stays frozen.

Three years later you have a nice dough which you refrigerate.

Here are the rolls waiting to be cooked. You have to put it on baking paper cuz the meringue center is pretty sticky. Lucky for me my coworker Marcia doesn't bake so when her neighbors house went into foreclosure, I got a whole roll of baking paper. One of the few perks of the present economy. The first time I made this I halved the recipe (one of the few times I remembered to do so). It calls for 3 eggs. As Heidi asked before, how do you halve eggs? I put 2 yolks in the dough and made two egg whites worth of meringue. Then I tried to put all the meringue in the center of the rolls. Got kinda messy. This second time I had just the right amount and it didn't spill out.

Believe me, they look much better in person.

I had 24 rolls. 9 for me, 8 for Melissa, and 5 for Valerie. If that doesn't add up to 24, we aren't counting the 2 used for tasting.

Hungarian Sweet Rolls
DOUGH
4 c. all-purpose flour
1 package yeast (~2 t.)
1/2 t. salt
24 T. (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-in. pieces and chilled (if you have a food processor)
3 large egg yolks (save whites for filling)
1 c. sour cream
1 t. vanilla extract

FILLING
3 large egg whites
1 c. granulated sugar
1/4 t. vanilla extract
1/2 c. walnuts, chopped fine (I never used this cuz I didn't have any... and I'm kinda glad)
Confectioners' sugar for rolling out dough (ah.. so fun)

1. Pulse flour, yeast and salt into food processor until blended. Add the butter and pulse until the flour is pale yellow and resembles coarse cornmeal. (Or grate frozen butter if you are unfortunate enough not to have a food processor. Someday).
2. Beat the egg yolks, sour cream, and vanilla in a bowl. Stir the yolk mixture into the flour mixture to form a sticky dough. Divide the dough into two pieces, wrap tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 2 hrs and up to 24 hours.
3. Heat oven to 400 degrees (I had to turn my little toaster oven up as high as it would go to get the dumb things to brown. I think it doesn't get as hot as an oven). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Beat the egg whites until frothy. Increase the speed to medium and gradually add the sugar until incorporated. Add the vanilla, increase the speed to high and beat until whites hold soft peaks (I made my meringue stiffer the second time (not quite stiff peaks) and it seemed to hold its shape better). Using a rubber spatula, fold in the walnuts (if you want to take the time, otherwise don't bother).
4. Heavily (and I mean HEAVILY) sprinkle a work surface with confectioners sugar. The dough is pretty sticky and needs alot of sugar. Roll out one piece into a 16 in. circle about 1/8 in. thick. Spread half the filling over the dough. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 12 equal wedges. Starting at the wider end of each wedge, gently roll up the dough ended with the pointed end on the bottom (I'm still perfecting the rolling with filling... I still haven't gotten it quite right). Place them 2 in. apart. Bake until the tops are golden brown ad puffed, 15-18 minutes. Serve warm.

These are best straight out of the oven. And FYI, you can't put a couple in the fridge to cook later cuz its taken you ALL DAY to cook them by 3's and 4's in ur toaster oven. The meringue gets all melty.

PS. I'm getting busy and with the new arrangements at work I won't be blogging much. (big sigh) Goodbye dear blogging friends and family! (sweaty eyes) I still love you even if I don't comment 2 hrs after you post anymore. (sniff) And I'll probably only be posting at the most weekly. It was bound to happen as interest waned.. I just wanted to decide by myself when that happened! Excuse me, I need a tissue.