Cinnamon Rolls and their friends :)

Everyone loves cinnamon rolls. But how about some new fillings in those doughs? Today we made the good old fashioned cinnamon rolls and two other variations: 

I made a half a batch of this dough recipe and it was still enough for 4 pans of rolls. 

Quark and Chocolate: 

 Mix some quark (biezpiens) aka farmer's cheese or curd cheese, with sugar and a little sour cream if it is very dry. Spread and sprinkle with mini chocolate chips. Roll, cut, let rise and bake. YUMMY! 

Pizza Rolls:

Roll dough, spread with a light coating of tomato sauce. Sprinkle with pizza spices (oregeno, basil), top with a good amount of grated cheese and some chopped meat (I used pepperoni sausage). Roll, and slice. Let rise and bake. A great appetizer or snack for kids. 

Other variations: 

caramelized milk and chopped nuts

quark and berries

vanilla pudding, topped with glaze and coconut

 

Latvian Piragi. Bacon Rolls

Growing up I ate these and we all loved them and knew they were something special from the old country, Latvia. Not until I first came to Latvia did I taste a real Latvian pirag with spekis. Spekis is a  smoked pork fat, something like bacon, and gives such a wonderful taste and aroma. These are an essential at any holiday occasion here in Latvia. You can buy them at the bakeries, or if traditions are strong make yourself at home, like we did for Easter!

Try these and make sure to eat them warm!

Ingredients: 

Prepared Yeast dough

At least 600 g. spekis or ham, or bacon. (When I make these in the USA, I use 1 pkg. bacon finely chopped and ham as well as ham. Do no throw the bacon fat away!)

1 chopped onion

Pepper

1 egg- beaten and mixed with a little water. 


Method:

 1. Choose meet. This is what the meat I used looked like. It is thoroughly cooked and read to chop. If you use bacon  you will need to cook it. Do no over cook it. It does not need to be crispy. Add chopped ham and onion.

 2. Mix all meat together, and add onion. Cook just until onion is tender.

 3. Roll a section of the dough very thin, and put a teaspoon of meat mixture near edge.

 4. Fold over and seal.

 5. Cut with a cup. By using a cup and folding you save time and it helps make them all uniform in size. If you don't like using this method  you can of course make little balls and roll or pat them out as we used to as kids. I much prefer the method Aunt Baiba taught me of rolling them out like this as it is much easier and faster.

 6. Place on prepared baking sheet. Brush with egg wash

 7. Let rise and bake until golden. YUMMY

NOTE: My grandma always would brush them with water and sugar mixture when they came out o the oven to make them shiny. Aunt Baiba didn't mention this so I skip it. It does make them sweeter if you desire that.

If you have left over dough you can make it into cinnamon rolls, or poppy seeds rolls.

Warm left over ones before serving- they are always tastier warm.

Yeast Dough- Aunt Baiba's Recipe

Everyone has their favorite yeast dough recipe. One you turn to in any situation, one for rolls and sweet breads, etc.

Wanting to get a recipe as near to my husband's mother's as I could find I turned to her sister. Aunt Baiba, she is a good Latvian housewife. We get farm eggs from her weekly and I knew her recipe would be authentic both for Latvian apple bread, and Latvian Piragi.

Her recipe is shown as closely here as possible- since of course she does it all on impulse.

Ingredients: 

1 liter fresh milk (if you can find it, if not normal milk will work)
200 g. butter
3 pkg. fresh yeast or 3 T. dry yeast
3 egg yolks or whole eggs
3 T. sugar
Flour
Oil

Method:

1. Melt butter in a large pot, this is where you will mix and let the dough rise.
2. Add milk and heat until just warm enough to add safely add yeast. 
3. Add yeast, eggs, sugar and stir well. 
4. Begin stirring in flour until you have a soft dough. 
5. If the dough is too sticky add some oil, and a bit more flour. 
6. She does not knead the dough, she only stirs it with a spoon and tests the stickiness. She says not to add too much flour or the dough will be stiff.
7. Keep adding a bit of flour and oil until you have a nice, soft, yet not too sticky dough. 
8. Let rise.
9. Use form piragi, or apple bread or any other sweet bread you desire to make.

NOTE: I always use this dough now when I make  piragi, and it is light, and fluffy and never too sticky if done this way. Go by your feelings when deciding if it is right as far as stickiness. 

Yeast Dough Recipes

Yeast Dough- Aunt Baiba's Recipe

Latvian Piragi- Bacon Rolls