These sweet rolls are a lifesaver or consolation for my late Christmas dinner. Let me explain how this happened… You know we Germans celebrate Christmas Eve with a nice dinner before Santa arrives and then we unwrap our gifts. This year I was craving for a crispy duck like my mum used to cook. And of course this was a last minute decision and I was totally unprepared. Christmas eve morning I got up early, soaked some dried plums in brandy, for stuffing the duck later and headed to the grocery store. I had to fight for a parking space and a shopping card but came out empty handed. No ducks at this market but without a plan B, I couldn’t give up on this duck. So I tried the next hypermarket and then a grocery store without success. I already started to get concerned. Did you just call me stubborn? ) On a parking lot of another supermarket I did an emergency brainstorming and started to call the grocery stores nearby to save some time and gas. I can tell you, having an accent and talking to stressed out supermarket staff on the phone, isn’t funny at all. Finally a nice lady promised me a duck but I had to drive 15 minutes to this shop to discover, that this bird was frozen. On another day of the year I would probably freak out, throw myself dramatically on the ground, scream and stamp my feed. But not that day, Santa was watching me! This day everyone has to be nice, even me.

So I did all tricks to defrost the bird but dinner was going to be very late… and meanwhile I made this emergency sweet rolls to save us from starving. The batter comes together very quick, baking time is quite short and what I love about them most is how versatile these rolls are. Think of them like 3/4 scone and 1/4 muffin. You can add any flavor you want, some cinnamon, orange zest or ground ginger, you get the idea. I added some of the drunken plums that were supposed to end up in my duck and they came out great. For breakfast I recommend to leave out the booze, but you know that, don’t you?

sweet rolls

makes 11-12 rolls

200 g / 7.1 ounce Greek stained yoghurt
90 g / 6 tablespoon melted butter
4 tablespoon vegetable oil
150 ml / 2/3 cup milk
100 g / 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
400 g / 3 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoon baking powder (aluminum free)
1 teaspoon baking soda
100 g / 3.5 ounces raisins, chocolate chunks, dried cranberries or whatever you can think of…

Preheat your oven to 180 C / 360 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Put everything in a medium bowl and mix shortly just until well combined. If you use a handheld mixer you need the kneading hooks but for a stand mixer are flat beater just fine.
Form the rolls: roll up the dough into one big log, cut into 10 to 12 pieces and form balls. You might need to dust your knife and hands with flour.
Or use a ice cream scoop to form balls.
Set them the prepared baking sheet, leaving about 2.5 cm / 1 inch of space between each roll. Bake 20 minutes.

NOTE: Switch half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour for healthier rolls which also keeps you longer full.