Banana Nut Twists

For the roll dough:
In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Set aside for a few minutes and allow the yeast to proof.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the granulated sugar, salt, oil and buttermilk and whisk until combined. Stir in the yeast mixture.

Add the baking soda, bananas, food coloring, vanilla, butter extract, banana extract, egg and 2 cups of the bread flour. Beat on medium speed using an electric mixer for 2 minutes.

Add 1 1/2 cups flour and beat on medium speed. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough. I always measure the largest amount of flour asked for in the recipe and hold back what I don’t use in the dough to use for kneading and rolling the bread dough.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead, adding as little flour as possible, until smooth and elastic, about 5-8 minutes. The dough will still be slightly sticky.

Place the dough in a greased bowl, then turn the dough to grease the top. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a linen towel and allow the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. When 2 fingers pressed lightly into the side of the dough leave indentations, the dough has doubled in size.

For the filling, combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and stir until well mixed. Set aside.

Spray 3 baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set them aside.

Punch the dough down, turn it onto a floured surface and roll the dough into a 24×6-inch rectangle. Spritz the dough’s surface lightly with cool water. Sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar mixture evenly over the dough. Fold the dough in half to create a 24×3-inch rectangle. Pinch all the edges to seal.

Cut the rectangle into twenty-four 1″ thick strips. I have a long pizza cutter that does a great job for this. A nice sharp chef’s knife works well too. What I do is place a yard stick next to the dough and use a knife to score each slice through the top layer of dough only. I then use the pizza chopper (or my chef’s knife) to cut straight down through the bottom layer of dough. Don’t drag the knife—that distorts each slice. Cutting straight down with a slight rocking motion gives the dough a nice clean cut.

Twist each strip of dough 3-4 times and place on the prepared baking sheets. Cover each pan lightly with a piece of plastic wrap that has been lightly sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. This makes it easy to lift off the risen rolls and not have the plastic wrap stick to them. Let the rolls rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30-45 minutes.

When the rolls are almost doubled in size, preheat the oven to 350 F.

Uncover each pan of rolls and bake at 350 F for 12-15 minutes or until light golden brown. Immediately upon removing the pan of rolls from the oven, I like to brush each of them with a little melted butter. This gives them a nice shine and keeps the rolls soft. It’s not a necessary step, but it’s the way my grandmother and mother have always done it when they make bread, so I continue their tradition.

Remove the rolls from the pan to wire racks to cool completely.

For the icing, in a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and lemon extract and beat until thoroughly combined and smooth. Add the milk and beat until smooth, adding more milk as necessary to reach the desired spreading consistency.

When the rolls are cooled, spread each one lightly with some of the cream cheese icing and sprinkle each roll with the finely chopped toasted pecans.

Makes 24 rolls.

Store any leftover rolls in the refrigerator. To get that fresh baked taste, microwave any leftover rolls for 5 or so seconds and they’ll be just as soft and delicious as the day you baked them. The rolls can also be frozen. I place the rolls on a baking sheet, cover it with foil and place the pan in the freezer for about 45-60 minutes. When the rolls are almost frozen through, I wrap each one in aluminum foil, place them in a resealable bag and pop them back in the freezer.

Inspired by a recipe from Pillsbury’s Best 1000 Recipes Best of the Bake Off Collection.