Starting this month, the Recipe Swap will be posting on the first Monday of the month, instead of the first Sunday as we did in the past. Which in turn means a clash with Group A’s Secret Recipe Club’s posting date- which is also the first Monday of the month. So I knew I had a problem. Either I did two posts in one day or see if there was something from my assigned blog that I could fit with the Recipe Swap’s chosen recipe. And the latter is what I chose. Mainly because I am lazy, but also because a lot was happening. And also because of a little mailing error I got to know of the Recipe swap recipe quite late. Not that that made a difference because I’m such a procrastinator, but I am also a Capricorn and I love to shift blame from myself wherever I can. 🙂

For SRC, my secret blog was Fake Ginger. I have seen other SRC members having her as their assigned blog for past reveals and always coming up with great recipes from her repertoire. SO I was very excited to have Amanda’s blog for this month. And I somehow found a recipe that fit in the Recipe swap framework, and also something I knew I would really like.

The swap recipe for August was a lemon sponge pie. After going through Amanda’s collection of recipes, I thought her lemon rolls would do justice to everything- the swap, SRC and my stomach. Unfortunately the latter did not happen. Not because of the recipe- they were great but because of the unfortunate incident that happened the day I decided to bake these rolls.

Now, I had set baking these rolls for Thursday. Thursday I also decided to make some lamb seekh kebab kathi rolls. V was supposed to come early that day for lunch, so I had almost everything ready and also the dough for the rolls was kneaded and left for its first rise. Things looked good. I had a good exercise week going on, which had left me pretty sore, but I was happy about that. So like I said things looked good and then….they turned for the worse. I put the kebabs in the oven with the broiler setting on and somewhere during the time they were cooking the foil that I had put the kebab sticks on caught fire! Its never happened to me before and the moment I saw it burning, I switched off the broiler. But I guess I was too late. The flames didn’t stop and the whole kitchen was in smoke. I tried opening the oven door, but the flames tried escaping everywhere and had to shut it. Fortunately we had a fire extinguisher in the house. After struggling with it a bit, trying to figure out how to use it, I managed to control the fire with the extinguisher. The kebabs of course were covered with the foam from the fire extinguisher and the whole kitchen was filled with so much smoke that I couldn’t see or breathe and had to run outside. The whole incident really shook me. I have been cooking for 2.5 years now and this was the first time something like this had happened. V got home 20 minutes later with no idea of the fire. The moment he stepped in he was like “ooh the kebabs smell so good” and I just greeted him with tears and told him the whole story. I had managed to make the paranthas before the whole incident, so I did have something to give V for lunch. I managed to eat a little too, though I had lost my appetite. Once V left I spent the next two hours cleaning the kitchen and the oven. The dough of course rose more than twice its size, but I couldn’t help it. Once clean, I shaped the rolls and let them rise.

I was scared to turn the oven on again, I was afraid of it blowing up on me. Call it paranoia. But I baked. I baked the rolls and made the frosting. And took the pictures. I was exhausted. Once frosted and ready, and photographed I took a bite of the rolls, but couldn’t eat more. I guess the combination of smoke, the whole shock of the incident, the crying, the sheer exhaustion of working the whole day, all of it gave me a headache. And when I get stress headaches, I get them bad. As soon as V entered the house after work, I had to rush to the bathroom and puked my heart out. And after that I did not stop. After the sixth time, and with nothing left to vomit out, I couldn’t take it. A trip to the urgent care and two IVs in, I was much better. But my stomach is still recovering, and I have been on a khichdi diet since then.

So, unfortunately I didn’t taste these rolls but I did send them to V’s office and V’s feedback was that they were devoured pretty quickly and one of his colleagues specially came to tell him how much she liked them. And while I was sitting on the bathroom floor hurling my heart out for the fourth (or fifth) time, V came in with a smile to tell me how tasty they are! SO I guess, these were pretty good.

Thanks Amanda for the recipe! Hopefully I will get to try them the next time I bake these!

Prep time: 3 hours

Cook time: 35 mins
Total time: 3 hours 35 mins
Serves: 14-16
Adapted from here

Ingredients
For the lemon roll dough:
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
  • 3/4 cup milk, warmed to about 100F (not too hot, just warm)
  • 1/2 cup (113 gms) unsalted butter, very soft
  • 1/4 cup (50 gms) white sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 4 1/2 cups (600gms) all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 2 lemons, zested
  • 2 eggs

For the lemon filling:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly-ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
  • 2 lemons, zested
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted but cooled

For the lemon cream cheese glaze:

  • 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 lemon, zested

Instructions
  1. In a bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes, till the mixture is frothy.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the yeast-milk mixture with the softened butter, sugar, vanilla, and one cup of the flour. Add in the salt, nutmeg, and lemon zest. Stir in the eggs and enough of the remaining flour to make a soft yet sticky dough.
  3. Switch to the dough hook and knead on low for about 5 minutes, or until the dough is elastic and pliable. (In case you choose to do this by hand, stir together the ingredients in a large bowl, then turn the soft dough out onto a lightly floured counter top. Knead the dough by hand for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the dough is smooth, pliable, and stretchy.)
  4. Spray the top of the dough with vegetable oil, and turn the dough over so it is coated in oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a towel and let the dough rise until nearly doubled, about an hour.
  5. In a small bowl, mix the sugar with the nutmeg and ginger, then work in the lemon zest with the tips of your fingers until the sugar resembles wet, soft sand. Stir in the juice of 1 lemon.
  6. Lightly grease a 13 by 9 baking dish. I used two 9 inch round cake pans. Feel free to experiment.  On a floured surface pat the dough out into a large rectangle 10 by 15 inches, about 1/4 inch thick. Spread evenly with the melted butter, then pour and spread the lemon-sugar mixture over top. Roll the dough up tightly, starting from the top long end. Cut the long dough roll into 12 even rolls (or more depending on how big you want- I got about 16 rolls), and place them, cut side up, in the prepared baking dish.
  7. Cover the rolls with a towel and let them rise for an hour or until puffy and nearly doubled. (You can also refrigerate the rolls at this point. Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap, and place it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. When you are ready to bake the rolls, remove the pan from the fridge, and let them rise for an hour.)
  8. Heat the oven to 350F. Place the risen rolls in the oven and bake for 35 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into a center roll reads 190F.






60 Thoughts on “August SRC & Recipe Swap

  1. Oh my goodness these look fabulous. I’m picturing the tart and sweet combination and I so love lemon – this is amazing! Great SRC pick and your photos are beautiful!

  2. Ginny on 6 August, 2012 at 9:19 am said:

    OH MY GOSH!!!! Bless your heart! What a story! I experienced an oven fire earlier this year, too–my first in 12 years of cooking. So stinkin’ scary. And…strangely…I was working on a yeast roll that day, too!

    These rolls look absolutely incredible. Your photography is breathtaking…so very professional. Love the styling. Moreover—it’s very impressive that you took these photos and only a few hours later were in the urgent care clinic with IVs in your arm.

    I think I need to go make these rolls right now in your honor!

    • Maybe its a yeast roll curse!
      Thank you so much for enjoying my photography! And well I am glad you think it’s impressive- my husband thinks I was crazy to even think about photographing when I was feeling so sick! 🙂

  3. They’re gorgeous!

    What a scary incident though. 🙁 I’m so terrified of fire so I can sympathize with how freaked out you were. I probably would’ve reacted the same way. Here’s hoping for no more issues!

  4. VInita on 6 August, 2012 at 9:47 am said:

    Glad you’re ok and still baking. Pretty scary to read through, even more so to have it happen all around. But the lemon rolls baked well and look scrumptious.

    • Yes it was scary when it happened. I am glad I had the fire extinguisher, else don’t know what I would have done. I am still scared of the oven though. Sometimes because of the mine in our town, you get a sulphur smell in the air, and when last night it happened I thought it was from the oven and got so scared. My husband reassured me it was just sulphur’s rotten egg smell and not a gas leak!

  5. My goodness, so scary and glad that everything in the end was okay. Your lemon rolls…well they look FABU, lemon is a favorite flavor when it comes to sweets, love the pucker of it.

    If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to check out my SRC entry: Chicken Satay Noodle Salad.

    Lisa~~
    Cook Lisa Cook

    • Thanks Lisa! I am glad to nothing major happened. Can’t even imagine what people go through when their whole house catches fire. Its scary to even think about it. Going to check out your recipe now!

  6. Yum! Those look great. We love cinnamon rolls, but have never heard of lemon! Sorry you missed out on trying them.

  7. this SRC/swap combo worked out great! And those buns look delicious!

  8. Oh my goodness, you poor thing! I’m so glad you got the fire out by yourself. I’ve never used a fire extinguisher and I know it must have been incredibly nerve-wracking trying to figure out how to use it while you oven was on fire! Well you did a great job on the rolls despite the chaos that day-they look simply mouth-watering. You should make them again to treat yourself!

  9. Gorgeous photography…makes me want to reach right in!

  10. Wow! That’s quite the story. It’s so horrible you had so much trouble. I hope that you are feeling all better and back to cooking, baking, and eating in no time.

  11. Im happy to hear everything is okay and you are feeling better, that had to be very scary. The rolls do look good though, I will have to try this.

    • It was kind of scary but could have been much scarier and I am glad it was just a minor setback, with no obvious damage! Hope you do try them and like them!

  12. These really are mouthwatering! Nice pick!

  13. I really love your photos they are adorable! and thos rolls look fabulous too!

  14. So sad you didn’t get to taste you gorgeous rolls. They look amazing!

  15. WOW, these lemon rolls look fantastic. What a great variation on cinnamon rolls…love it!

    • It is a great change from the regular cinnamon rolls. I love cinnamon rolls but I love lemon- and that one bite I took did taste great!

  16. Ach! I laughed, then I “oh shit” -ed, then I felt really, REALLY stressed for you, then wanted to give you a Rocky high-five in triumph. What a DAY!! Glad you’re recovering, and congrats on the post. The photos are truly stunning.

    • Stressed- that’s the word I was looking for- I was stressed out after the whole incident. But now thankfully I am fully recovered and hopefully next swap time wouldn’t be too lazy and combine the SRC and recipe swap!

  17. Mmm, lemon is like my favorite thing in the world. I think I’d like those even more than cinnamon rolls.

    • Lemon is one of my favorite things too. But then so is cinnamon. It would be a difficult choice between the two for me!

  18. oh shumaila- glad you are doing better now ! the rolls look decadent- bookmarking it !

  19. BEAUTIFUL!!! Such a lovely post and such wonderful photography. I want one right now!

  20. Karen on 6 August, 2012 at 9:32 pm said:

    Shumi, those rolls like absolutely delicious. I want now! Beautiful pics as well.

  21. OMG Shumaila, I have to make these very soon. In fact I’m craving one (or two) now for breakfast.

    Glad to hear you are Ok and escaped injury after your accident. Don’t let it put you off though, you’ll laugh about it very soon I’m sure, x

  22. Shumaila 🙂 you are so damn passionate about your blog !! really admirable 🙂 and yes the pictures look fabulous !! perfect lights and perfect shades 🙂

    • Passionate or crazy- fine line Sulagna! I am amazed that I actually composed the shot and took pictures- I was dead tired and really not feeling too well. I really should have just rested after all that. Either way, thank you 🙂

  23. dassana on 7 August, 2012 at 6:56 am said:

    thats sooooo bad. you really had a good presence of mind to deal with this whole situation.

    kitchen disasters have happened with me too… i had a similar but not the same oven experience. i had kept some papdis in the oven to make them crisp. after 1 minute i could smell something burning.

    the papdis were burning… i don’t have any clue how… i switched off the oven and the whole oven was full with smoke. even the baking tray on which the papdis were kept, that too got burnt on some spots.

    just take care shumi. the rolls are looking so good. in fact i feel like picking one of them straight from the laptop screen.

  24. Oh man, so sorry about your horrible kitchen disaster! Sounds like a total fluke, so hopefully it won’t happen again! Too bad you didn’t get to enjoy these rolls. They look amazing!

  25. Oh no! I assure you everyone has had at least one of these kitchen disaster in their life (and thankfully, it sounds like no permanent harm was done). It’s scary when it happens, but someday you’ll look back on it and laugh yourself silly.
    I’m amazed that you managed to still bake these rolls and shoot such lovely photos, despite everything. Hopefully your next time baking these will be a little less… ummm… eventful. 🙂

    • I am already laughing at myself Isabelle. That was a strong reaction to such a small fire (although it didn’t seem that small when it happened!). I am still kind of wary of the oven, but thankfully not enough to stop me from baking!

  26. Scary! And the rolls look amazing.

  27. Holy mother of all that is lemon, this is beyond gorgeous. I gotta try these. This is incredible.
    Kim Bee recently posted..Burning Down The Kitchen with Tales of an Overtime Cook while making Peach Cream CupsMy Profile

  28. Wow. These look wonderfully scrumptious! Such great shots too. Yum!

  29. What a scary thing to happen! What a shame you didn’t get to taste these wonderful-looking rolls. I hope your headache has passed too!
    Susan recently posted..Grilled Shrimp and Halibut with Herb and Dijon MarinadeMy Profile

  30. Wow what lovely pictures you have! I wanted to dive right through the screen and eat one of these rolls. I would have never thought of adding ginger to a cinnamon roll, and think it sounds like a nice dimension to round out the sweetness!

  31. hi , this looks amazing . i love anything that has lemons in it , but i am out of nutmeg do you it will affect the outcome if i drop it out . or maybe a substitute .
    thanks for sharing . I am glad you r ok 🙂

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