Sweet Lychee Dinner Rolls

Have you ever heard of a lychee? Well, I haven’t until recently. I’ve heard about lychee martinis and desserts, so I went online to see exactly what a lychee is. At first glance it looks like a little red prickly strawberry that I wouldn’t even think about eating.

Pic Courtesy of: http://thaifood.about.com/od/thaicookingessentials/ss/lycheefruit.htm (D. Schmidt)

Do you see what I mean? I found out it’s what’s on the inside that everybody is raving about. It resembles a peeled grape, the smell is so fragrant, and it is one of the tastiest fruit I’ve ever had.

I bought a can from the store (I bet they taste way better fresh) and tried for weeks to get my husband to taste them with me. Once he saw the picture on the can he was instantly turned off. I finally decided to open the can and have him taste it, without telling him what it was. He liked it!

I wanted to make something entirely different than the lychee cocktails and desserts I’ve seen online, so I made dinner rolls with  lychee. He liked those too! Enjoy!

Ingredients

3 Cups All-Purpose Flour

½ Cup Cake Flour

¼ Cup Sugar

¼ Cup Butter, Softened

1 Teaspoon Salt

1 Package Fast-Acting Dry Yeast

½ Cup Warm Water

½ Cup Warm Milk

¼ Cup Medium Lychee (Peeled, Pitted, Blended)

1 Tsp. Almond Extract

1 Egg

For Glaze

¼ Cup Medium Lychee (Peeled, Pitted, Blended)

½ Cup Powdered Sugar

3 Tbsp. Butter

Directions

In a large bowl, mix flours, sugar, butter, salt, and yeast. Add water, milk, egg, ¼ cup lychee, and extract. Mix for 1 minute, frequently scraping the sides of bowl.

Remove dough from bowl and place on lightly floured surface. Knead dough until it is smooth and springy. Place dough in large greased bowl and coat all sides of dough with grease from the bowl. Loosely cover cowl with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm place for about 45 minutes.

Grease cookie sheet with cooking spray. Remove dough from bowl and pull of a medium size piece. Roll the dough between hands until it is a tube shape. Roll the tube shape into a spiral, pinch the ends to close it, and place onto cookie sheet. Let dough rise for 20 minutes.

In a small microwaveable bowl, heat ¼ cup lychees, powdered sugar, and butter. Heat for 1 minute or until butter is completely melted. Stir mixture until sugar fully dissolves.

Preheat oven to  375°. Put a deep thumbprint into the center of each spiral roll. Using a teaspoon, pour lychee mixture into thumbprint indention.

Cook rolls for 10 minutes. Remove rolls from oven and drizzle more lychee glaze onto each roll. Cook for 2-3 more minutes. Serve rolls warm or at room temperature.