Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary

Recipes, travel & adventure from the wild and remote Shetland Islands

Rum & Raisin Cinnamon Rolls

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because even raisins love a generous nip of dark rum

cinnamon rolls

When I first started delving into the wonderful world of baking, around the age of 12, one of the first recipes I ever made was a basic cinnamon roll. It had a baking powder-raised scone base topped with plenty of butter, cinnamon sugar and raisins.

Every time I made it I set the fire alarm off. Every… single… time!

The oven temperature must have been too high, or I left them in too long, but whatever I did I followed those recipe instructions to the letter every time, and every time the front and back doors of the house would have to be opened and kitchen cloths used to waft the smoke away from the fire alarm.

It became a thing – someone would wait, poised, near the fire alarm to blow the smoke away from it every time I made cinnamon rolls.
The cinnamon rolls would have burnt raisins and burnt filling, and they were really dry and chewy, but I didn’t care – I thought they were lovely and I had made them myself.

cinnamon rolls

Fast forward a few decades and I’d completely gone off the notion of burnt cinnamon rolls. I’d tried a few recipes over the years, and although most would turn out reasonably ok, any raisins peeking out of the top of the filling would get burnt during cooking. Blergh.

The solution? Give them raisins a good hefty dose of rum!

This recipe is adapted from a Cinnamon Sweet Roll recipe from the Robin Hood Baking Festival 2002 Quick & Easy Baking Recipes leaflet my Canadian grandparents sent me in a care package some years ago.

rum and raisin cinnamon rolls

The rum soaked raisins add a lovely, juicy flavour to the yeasty, soft sweet rolls smothered in cinnamon sugar. Be warned – they are very moreish and incredibly delicious while they are warm – you don’t even really need the icing drizzle (if you can even wait until they cool enough to put it on!)

If you don’t fancy adding booze to your bakes (although keep in mind baking them will evaporate the alcohol) you could always substitute it with apple juice.

cinnamon rolls recipe
Rum & Raisin Cinnamon Rolls
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Rum soaked raisins and a sugar glaze make these cinnamon rolls irresistible!
Rum & Raisin Cinnamon Rolls
Print Recipe
Rum soaked raisins and a sugar glaze make these cinnamon rolls irresistible!
Servings Prep Time Cook Time Passive Time
12rolls 20minutes 20minutes 2.5hours
Servings Prep Time
12rolls 20minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
20minutes 2.5hours
Ingredients
Servings: rolls
Units:
Ingredients
Servings: rolls
Units:
Instructions
  1. The lazy way: Place the yeast, bread flour, butter, granulated sugar, salt, milk and egg in your bread machine, select the regular dough cycle and allow it to run through.
  2. The elbow grease way: Place flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre. Melt the butter and add with the milk and egg and stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Turn out onto a floured board and knead for ten minutes. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place to double in size, about an hour and a half.
  3. Meanwhile, soak the raisins in the rum, stirring occasionally to make sure they all get their little dose of alcohol. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.
  4. When the dough has risen, punch it down and roll out on a floured surface to a half inch thick rectangle approximately 15 inches by 12 inches.
  5. Brush with the melted butter, sprinkle evenly with the cinnamon sugar and top with the rum soaked raisins.
  6. Roll up tightly starting at the short side and slice into 12 even sized pieces.
  7. Place rolls, cut side up, on a greased baking tray (or use a silicone baking mat), cover, and leave to rise for 30-40 minutes.
  8. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 180 C/ 350 F.
  9. I tend to poke any raisins peeking out back into the layers with a cocktail or kebab stick to stop them burning. Bake the cinnamon rolls for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
  10. To make the icing, sift the icing sugar and stir in enough water to make a not-too-runny consistency, but runny enough to drizzle over the rolls.
  11. Store in an airtight container - will keep fresh for a few days. Reheat in the microwave for 30 seconds to refresh. Leftovers freeze well.
Recipe Notes

Variation: replace the raisins with dried apple, the rum with brandy, and the water in the icing with maple syrup to make Apple Brandy Cinnamon Rolls with a Maple Glaze

 

blogging linkies

Linking up with Recipe of the Week by A Mummy Too, Treat Petite by Cakeyboi and The Baking Explorer, Baking with Spirit by Cake of the Week and Four Seasons Food – Autumn, by Eat Your Veg and Delicieux.

OTHER RECIPES YOU MIGHT LIKE
Quick Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls by Veggie Desserts
Stollen Breakfast Buns by Supergolden Bakes
Rum & Raisin Muffins by I’d Much Rather Bake Than…

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Comments

  2. I think I’m going to have to do these rum soaked raisin rolls!! I love them anyway, but have never done my own.

    Reply

  7. A Gorgeous recipe! They look absolutely perfect and I’m loving your rum soaking tip for unburnt raisins. Thanks so much for linking up to September’s Four Seasons Food ‘Getting Fruity’ challenge, and my apologies for taking until now to read, and drool over, your post.

    Reply

  8. I seriously need to make these! Cinnamon rolls are one of my faves – have never had one with rum in though! Yum!!!!

    Reply

  10. I made these yesterday just to try them before Christmas and they were gone in 10 minutes ! My dad especially liked them!

    Reply

  16. Yum, you have baked these to perfection. I absolutely loved the sound of the rum and raisins, dare I say it but I have a bottle of rum that I usually soak my Christmas cake fruit in. I can’t wait to try your recipe, especially as I have all the right ingredients ( I love it when that happens). By the way, you have the photographed cinnamon rolls absolutely beautifully.
    Julie’s Family Kitchen recently posted…Apple and Blackberry CrumbleMy Profile

    Reply

  19. MMM, so yummy, these raisin cinnamom rolls looks so good. That part with the fire alarmwas very funny 🙂

    Reply

  23. I’ve only tried to make cinnamon rolls once, and it was rather disastrous as they got burnt in my new oven. These do look pretty good, though, so I might have to give it another go.

    Thanks for entering Baking With Spirit – could you do me a favour and email the link over to me (cakeoftheweek@hotmail.co.uk) so that I remember where to find the post? I’m on holiday at the moment and I don’t want to miss this off the round up!

    Reply

    • Thank you! 🙂 I’ve been playing with my new camera – only just recently moving from Auto to Manual, so I’m having a lot of fun with my food these days 🙂

      Reply

    • Oh dear! I was thinking about that as I recalled setting the fire alarm off – I was always so worried about fire for some reason, as a child, and I am very thankful that we at least HAD a fire alarm!

      Reply

  39. you can actually make these in a bread machine? love cinnamon buns, but with rum and raison in too! my mums having this recipe!

    Reply

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