Poppy Seed, Almond & Lemon Rolls

I've been doing a lot of baking lately, especially breads. Think the cooler weather is making me crave those carbs!  Its awful, because I'm trying to watch what I eat. But then again, life is too short to live without sweet treats.

I recently posted about my experiments with apple cinnamon rolls and I was so happy with the way the bread turned out, that I decided to use the same bread recipe for another roll- Poppy Seed, Almond & Lemon Cinnamon Rolls. Lemon & poppy seeds is such a classic combination, especially in cakes. In fact Donna Hay's Lemon Yogurt Cake is a huge hit at home and I make it quite often, but I add poppy seeds to this. And its yum!

So it was from this fascination with this classic flavor combination that I decided to try out this recipe. They turned out pretty darn good. I made quite a big batch and they were gone in less than two days! In fact they only lasted that long because I rationed them out!

The Recipe

For the bread follow the same recipe I used for the Apple Cinnamon Rolls- you can see the recipe here. 

For the poppy seed filling you will need the following...

1 1/3 cup poppy seeds

1/3 cup almonds

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar 

3 tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp lemon zest

Blitz all the ingredients in a processor until it forms a course, spreadable paste. If the paste is too stiff, add a little more lemon juice. Then follow exactly the same process of rolling out the risen bread dough as in the Apple Cinnamon Rolls, replacing the apple filling with the poppy seed filling. Like this

[All Images- Shalini Pereira]