Lemon Rolls

In a mixing bowl, stir together 1/4 of the flour with the yeast and sugar. Add the water, butter, cream, vanilla, and lemon zest. Mix until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until smooth. Add the salt and the remaining flour 1 cup at a time, mixing with a dough hook until smooth and stretchy, about 5 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

Prepare the filling: In a small bowl, combine the butter, vanilla, and half of the lemon zest. In another small bowl, combine the sugar with the remaining lemon zest. Set both bowls aside.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a large rectangle shape about 18×24 inches. Brush the lemon butter on top, and then sprinkle on the lemon sugar.

At this point, you can decide whether you want to roll up the dough in traditional cinnamon roll style, or stack and whack to make 3 pull-apart lemon loaves.

Traditional rolls: Roll up the rectangle of dough starting with a long side. Cut into 24 rolls and place on 2 greased cookie sheets.

Lemon loaves: Cut the rectangle of dough into 6 long strips, each 18×4 inches. Make 2 stacks of 3 strips each. Cut each stack into slices that are roughly 3×4 inches, and stack the pieces with cut edges up (like putting books in a bookshelf) into 3 greased standard size loaf or foil pans.

Cover with a tea towel and let the dough rise at room temperature for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake rolls for 20-25 minutes, or bake loaves for 30-35 minutes. You may want to loosely cover the loaves with foil while baking so they do not get too brown.

In a bowl, beat together the cream cheese, icing sugar, cream, and lemon juice until smooth. Drizzle over warm rolls or loaves.

Recipe adapted from Pull-Apart Lemon Coffee Cake by Reader’s Digest.