If you want your house to smell like sweet, home-baked goodness, if you want something swirly and hazelnut-y and cinnamon-y, if you love the taste of rye bread but also cinnamon rolls, if you need an idea of what to eat for breakfast for the rest of your life, folks, make these hazelnut rye rolls.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
This is a brief summary of the recipe. Jump to the recipe to get the full details.
Prep Time
30 minutes
Cook Time
25 minutes
Proof Time
1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time
2 hours 25 minutes
Servings
9 rolls
Difficulty
Intermediate
Calories *
458 kcal per serving
Technique
Mix dough, proof, roll, fill with hazelnuts and cinnamon sugar, slice and bake.
Flavor Profile
Rye dough with a sweet, nutty cinnamon filling and tangy cream cheese glaze.
* Based on nutrition panel
These turnovers were simple to put together and came out perfectly puffed and golden. The filling was sweet but not too sweet, and I loved that I didn’t have to fuss with complicated steps! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Lauren
And even if none of the above applies to you but you are still a fellow carb lover, you should make these hazelnut rye rolls. If nothing else, do it for the glaze: the drippy cream cheese glaze. OK and maybe also the sweet swirly filling. Oh, and the buttery rye roll itself, YES. It’s just the right thing to do.
Table of Contents
There have been a lot of sweet roll recipes in my day, and while each has been delicious in its own right, none can compare to the unique deliciousness of these rolls. I love the combination of toasted hazelnuts and rye flour going on here — it gives the flavor profile a little bit of earthiness and savory flavor that is a perfect complement to the sweetness imparted by the butter, cinnamon, sugar and cream cheese glaze. I made these on a whim, actually — meaning, the idea of hazelnuts and rye flour in a roll came to mind and I was all, “Well that sounds interesting and I will take any excuse to get a hot cross cinnamon roll in my life/belly,” and so it was. Grabbed the Red Star yeast, grabbed the butter, grabbed the flours and the sugar and salt and egg, and I got to work.
A few hours later, warm, fresh-baked roll on a plate in one hand, a mug of hot coffee in the other, and I was ready for full-on swirly sweet roll bliss. And so it was.
Apart from the potential finickiness of the dough (that is to say, you may find that your rye flour absorbs a lot of the liquid in the recipe and so you’ll need to add maybe an extra tablespoon, 1/4 cup, or even 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour as you knead the dough, no bigs!), this recipe could not be simpler to put together. And that’s a good thing, especially when you’re probably planning to make these for breakfast or brunch and so it’s early and you’ve only gulped down one cup of coffee and the sun isn’t even up yet and wait, why am I awake already again? Oh, right. Delicious sweet rolls in my life/belly, that’s why. Honest, it will all be worth it. And you can have an extra cup of coffee — and an extra roll or two, too — to make up for it. It’s the right thing to do.
And now that you know what rye is all about, you can make my bonafide rye bread recipe next!
Hazelnut Rye Rolls
Ingredients
For the dough:
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast, 1 packet
- ½ cup milk, about 100 degrees F
- 2 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 cup rye flour
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 egg
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
For the filling:
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup hazelnuts, coarsely chopped and toasted
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch ground cloves
For the topping/glaze:
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
- 1 to 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, stir sugar and yeast into milk to dissolve. Let stand 10 minutes until foamy.
- Add flours, butter, egg and salt; stir until a dough forms. Use dough hook attachment to knead dough on medium speed 5 minutes, adding more all-purpose flour as needed until dough pulls away from sides of bowl and is smooth, elastic and only slightly sticky; OR, knead dough by hand on a lightly floured surface 10 to 15 minutes, adding more all-purpose flour as needed until dough is smooth, elastic and only slightly sticky.
- Shape dough into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl; turn once to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours until doubled.
- Punch down risen dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to a 15-by-9-inch rectangle.
- Brush dough with 1 tablespoon melted butter. In a small bowl, combine toasted hazelnuts, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon and cloves. Sprinkle mixture over surface of dough, leaving a 1-inch border along edges.
- From the long end, tightly roll up dough into a log. Use a sharp knife to cut dough into 9 equal-sized rolls.
- Grease bottom and sides of an 8-inch square pan with butter or cooking spray. Place rolls, cut-side up, in prepared pan. Cover pan lightly with a towel or plastic wrap and let rolls rise 1 hour until nearly doubled.
- Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Uncover pan and bake rolls 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and drizzle 1 tablespoon melted butter over rolls.
- To make the glaze, beat powdered sugar, cream cheese and milk into a smooth, drippy glaze. Spoon or spread glaze over warm rolls.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!Disclosure: I received compensation from Red Star Yeast for recipe development purposes. All opinions are my own.
Hi,
looks delicious! But I’m wondering what type of rye flour you used for this recipe? Light, medium, dark, or whole?
Thank you!
I used Bob’s Red Mill light rye flour for this recipe!
Noelle — So strange! If you followed the recipe (which it sounds like you did) it should have worked. Sometimes, though, I have breads that just don’t rise right but still end up tasting delicious. So… win win? 😉
Noelle — So glad you liked them! If the yeast doesn’t foam, it’s because the yeast is probably old or “dead.” Did your dough rise at all? If not, that’s probably why. If it did, then… well, that’s a mystery. 🙂 Either way, I’m glad the rolls turned out tasty!
It didn’t rise, no. I read that that may be the case when troubleshooting online (that the yeast might be old or “dead”) – however, I purchased the Red Star Active Yeast packets (expiration date of Oct 2017) yesterday specifically for this recipe…and tried it twice with two separate packets. Does that happen – newly purchased yeast might just be “bad?” Was wondering if it was HOW we mixed it – we added the yeast and 1/3 c sugar to a bowl, then immediately poured in the warm milk…stirring it for a bit until the yeast/sugar clumps dissolved. Again – still delicious, so I’m not complaining ONE BIT about the rolls (I’m sure they’d be even tastier if the dough had risen!), I’m just leveraging your baking expertise while I have you! We’re new to making bread – and you’re right – it may remain a mystery!
Noelle — Hooray! I wouldn’t recommend almond milk because it may alter the taste, but any milk (whole, 2%, 1% or skim) would work. I used 2% for my recipe. Enjoy and happy Easter!
Hi Stephanie! Thanks for the quick response – went with 2%…and currently licking my fingers from my second roll – delicious! I was slightly nervous since our yeast didn’t foam, so basically our dough didn’t rise at all…but it was still really great. We don’t regularly make our own bread, so wasn’t sure how they’d turn out – have you had this happen? Thinking perhaps if it had, they would have been slightly fluffier? We tried two batches of the yeast – first with the milk at 100 as you suggested and then again at 104 after reading a warmer temp might help. Still no foaming. Any tips?
Making these for Easter breakfast tomorrow – can’t wait! Quick question – do you recommend whole milk? Or would skim or almond milk suffice?
Wow! These look so perfect and delicious 🙂 Now I’m determined to veganize them. I just love rye <3
Holy moly I want these!!!!
Such gorgeous rolls!!
This combo is pure GENIUS. Need it in my life/belly STAT!