I ended up with this recipe after searching for a nice holiday gift for my friends and the result was well received ;) Actually I did some tests and I migrated from cinnamon rolls to cinnamon, raisins rolls and finally to poppy seeds rolls cookies.

Poppy rolls Poppy rolls

The dough ingredients

  • 2.5 cups flour
  • 1 egg (there are a lot of recipes which use cream cheese instead of the egg but it seemed better this way)
  • 3/4 cup sugar (I mixed normal and confectioners sugar)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 225g butter. This is the equivalent of 1cup softened butter or as I use 200g butter packs it’s 1pack and a bit of another. I did a try with just 1pack and the result was not as good so don’t get cheap on the butter.

Prepare the dough

There are some steps in this process so don’t start late at night. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl then knead the dough for a few minutes. I softened the butter before starting, to ease the process. Cut in 2 then refrigerate covered with a plastic sheet for 30-45minutes. In the mean time prepare the filling.

The filling ingredients

  • 150g of poppy seeds
  • some milk
  • a tbs butter
  • 2 tbs honey
  • rum extract
  • 1 tbs sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
  • 1 egg white beaten until fluffy

Prepare the filling

Mix poppy seeds with just enough milk not to cover them, then on a low flame keep mixing everything for 8 minutes. This will enlarge the seeds as they absorb the milk. Set aside while you beat the egg white (if it’s holiday season there should be plenty left from the mayonnaise). Now there should be no visible milk remaining. Add butter, honey, sugar, cinnamon, egg white and continue mixing on a low flame, to avoid letting the mixture stick, for another 10 mins. 2-3 minutes before the end add the rum extract for additional flavor. Let this filling cool.

Roll the dough

On a floured parchment paper roll each part of the refrigerated dough in a rectangular shape, make sure one end is a bit thinner. Put half of the filling in a equal layer on top. Again, don’t use warm filling as it will be much harder to roll the dough as it will soften. Leave 1-2 cm empty on the thinner end. It will be the end of the roll. Use the parchment paper to roll the dough. Refrigerate again for at least 2h. You can store the rolls for a few days in the fridge.

Cut & bake

Preheat the oven at 190C then slice the rolls with a sharp knife, 4-5mm thick. If it’s too complicated to have them round then you can choose to make them triangular instead :)

Bake in the oven on parchment paper for 9-11 mins. First time you will have to check to make sure they don’t get brown on the cooking side. Cool on an improvised wire rack for 20-30 mins. I was able to cook 16 cookies each time so at least 4-5 baking times should be expected.

Poppy rolls Poppy rolls

Alternative filling

As an alternative filling you can mix sugar, cinnamon and raisins but the result will be less spectacular :)

Comments:

KidWonder -

Looks like a Polish Christmas cake called “Makowiec” (transl. Mak = Poppy seed)