T-2 days until I am officially unemployed for 2 months! Scary! Anyone have a guide to leading the life of a pensioner?
In my hospital, tradition calls for junior doctors to spoil their co-workers with a sweet breakfast sometime around their last day of work. Another compulsory “cake baking” moment in the life of a junior doctor, respectively surgeon in training, is after being allowed to operate something for the first time. There is an unwritten rule stating one has to bring a cake after each new surgical achievement. Sneaky, sneaky surgeons. Now, instead of always bringing cake, I figured I could be creative and bring rolls. Who doesn’t like rolls? My personal favorite – cinnamon rolls – would be a tad too intense for my Swiss colleagues to digest at 8 am. So I decided to stay on the safe side and made these hazelnut rolls – NOM. Secret ingredient: a hint of cinnamon, obvs.

Nussschnecken – Hazelnut Rolls

makes about 15

You’ll need

For the dough
50g butter, melted
1 egg
100ml milk
20g fresh yeast
300g flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
For the filling
2 apples (I always use Braeburn), grated
1 lemon, zest and juice
200g hazelnuts, finely ground
6 tbsp milk
6 tbsp sugar
4 tsp cinnamon
For the glaze
icing sugar
water
lemon juice

1. To make your dough combine the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix. Create a mould in the middle.
2. In a second small bowl whisk the egg, milk and lukewarm butter. Add the fresh yeast and stir until dissolved. Pour this egg-milk-yeast mixture into the mould of bowl nr 1. and bring everything together to make a smooth dough. Knead until bubbles form. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place to rise. In about 1 hour the dough should double in size.
3. For your filling combine all the ingredients and mix thoroughly.
4. Once your dough has just about doubled in size, dust a surface with flour and roll the dough into a rectangular shape of about 3mm thickness.
5. Evenly spread your filling onto your rectangle, leaving one edge of about 1cm free. If you don’t like your rolls to be overfilled don’t worry about not using all of the filling. Personally, I feel the filling makes the rolls but that’s my weird taste :-).
6. Starting at one end, tightly roll up the dough and situate seam side down. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1.5-2cm sections and place onto a baking parchment lined baking tray.
7. Place your tray into the middle of your cold oven and turn it on the 215°C fan. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until golden.
8. Meanwhile make a glaze out of icing sugar, lemon juice and water – adjust the taste and consistency to your liking.
9. Once the rolls are done, pop them onto a cooling rack and brush with the glaze while still hot. Let them cool completely before serving.

Rating: 9.5/10

I love hazelnut rolls and these are just as good as from a local Swiss bakery. They could be a bit bigger, but hey, the small size makes one feel less bad about indulging in two or three at a time ;-).