Sweet Scrolls

I made these for the first time last week. They were so good that I've made them three times since then. A combination of a fluffy, melt in the mouth dough, a sweet, delicious centre and then dripping with a gooey, sticky icing. These are exactly my idea of a perfect afternoon tea snack. Just the kind of thing to curl up with at around 3pm with a good book and a hot cuppa.............Ahhhh, bliss.

Sweet Scrolls;

Dough-
1 packet of dry yeast (approx 7 grams)
1 cup of milk (warmed slightly)
4 cups of plain flour
1/4 cup of caster sugar
80 grams of butter (softened)
2 eggs (gently beaten)

Firstly combine the yeast with the warm milk in a small bowl. Leave for around 10 minutes - until the mixture goes all frothy.

Sieve the flour into a large bowl. Add sugar and combine. Make a well in the centre and add the butter, milk/yeast mixture and the eggs. Stir until you have a rough dough. Now, here's the fun part; tip the dough onto a floured surface and gently knead for 10 minutes or so - until you have a lovely smooth dough. I really enjoy this part, the whole process is something I find infinitely soothing.

Now leave your lovely ball of dough to rest and prove for a good hour or so. When you return to it, it should have nearly doubled in size.

Once your dough has expanded roll it out onto a floured surface with your rolling pin. I roll it as thinly as possible and into a rectangular shape.

Now, cut your dough into long rectangular strips.

You can now get really creative with whatever you would like in the middle of these. The first time I made a mixture of butter, golden syrup and chopped almonds. Yesterday it was a combination of cinnamon, brown sugar &butter. Today it was melted chocolate & butter. My personal opinion? The golden syrup/butter/almond version was the best.

Mix whatever combination you like the best (or create your own!) into a bowl and paint each strip with your mixture. I put it on quite sparingly as I don't want it to be overly sweet. Now, roll up each strip of dough into a spiral and then squash it between your hands. Place each little (or big - depends what size you would like these beauties!) roll onto a greased, lined baking tray.

Bake in your oven for approximately 15-20 minutes, but please check them after the first 15. It depends on your oven how quickly these cook, in mine it took 20 minutes.

Ideally they should be a lovely golden brown and should sound hollow when you tap them (like freshly baked bread!)

While they are baking, quickly make an icing to top these with. I used about 25 grams of butter mixed with 1/2 cup of icing sugar and a little warm water. Add as much or as little water as you feel you need but you should end up with a runny icing to drip over your scrolls.

Once your scrolls are cooked and have cooled slightly, drip the icing messily over the top of each one.

Best eaten straight away - with the warmth of the oven still upon them and before the little ones devour them all.