Recipe: Butterscotch Sweet Rolls

6/22/2010

This recipe makes 3 pans of sweet rolls. Mother always said, “Make one to keep, one to freeze and one to give away.” So choose a favorite neighbor, and share today's baking.

Do you have three deep cake pans? Or two cake pans and a 9-inch tight springform pan? The sauce gets bubbly as it bakes, and the depth of the pans will save you having to clean the oven. In a pinch, you can also use Rhodes frozen sweet roll dough and save lots of time.

For the sweet dough:

1/4 cup warm, but not hot, water

2 packages dry yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

3/4 cup whole milk, at room temperature

1/2 cup (1 stick) melted, and slightly cooled, unsalted butter

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs, slightly beaten

4 1/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the board

For the butterscotch topping:

1/2 cup Karo brand dark corn syrup

2 tablespoons water

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 packages (6 ounces each) OR 1 package (11 ounces) butterscotch bits

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

For the filling:

3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar

To make the dough: Begin by rinsing a large bowl with warm water and dry. Add the water to the bowl, and sprinkle yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar over the surface. Allow to sit for 5 minutes for the yeast to proof.

Add milk, melted butter, 1/3 cup sugar, and salt to the yeast mixture in the bowl. Add the beaten eggs. Stir in only 2 cups of flour. Using a hand-held electric beater, beat on medium speed for 4 minutes. (The dough is too soft to hand-knead, so the beaters do the work for you.) Clean off the beaters.

Stir in the remaining 2 1/3 cups of flour with a wooden spoon, and work it in to make a soft, sticky dough. Scrape sides of bowl, and place in a warm place to rise until double in bulk, an hour or more.

While the dough is rising, make the topping. In a pan, combine corn syrup, water, and butter. Bring to a boil, stirring, then add the butterscotch bits and remove from the heat, stirring as they melt. Divide the mixture into three 9-inch cake pans. Scatter the pecans over the topping, and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Punch down the dough and transfer to a well-floured surface, turning and flopping the dough in the flour to keep it from sticking. Divide dough into thirds. Roll each third into a rectangle about 10-by-12-inches. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle each piece with 1/3 of the brown sugar. Roll each rectangle of soft dough jellyroll-fashion into a long “snake.” Cut into 12 even slices.

Place the slices on the prepared topping in the pans, placing 3 slices in the center, the others around the sides. Let rise in a warm place until double in bulk. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. While the rolls bake, get out three racks. Take the rolls from the oven and allow them to rest for 2 minutes. Then turn the pans upside down on a rack set over wax paper (to catch any drips) to cool. Immediately scrape any topping from the pans onto the rolls.

Yield: 3 dozen rolls