Swirly Flower Rolls

It is an unseasonably cold morning here in Virginia, and I am severely procrastinating right now.  I should be doing laundry, but this is just so much more fun!  I posted a picture of this rolls on my personal Facebook page last week with the promise of posting the directions, so here they are!

To make these beautiful flower rolls, you will need:

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk (I think I used soymilk)
1 egg
1/3 cup butter, softened (I used Earth Balance vegan butter spread)
1/3 cup sugar (I used Zulka Morena unrefined cane sugar)
1 tsp salt
3-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 package yeast (2-1/4 tsp)
1-2 tbsp melted butter (I used real butter for this part)

Put all ingredients except the melted butter into a bread machine and use the Dough cycle.  If you don't have a bread machine, you can do the mixing/kneading by hand and then let it rise for about an hour.  If you don't know how to knead dough, here's a quick tutorial from Allrecipes.com.

While you're waiting on your dough, go ahead and grease two 12-cup muffin tins.

After the dough has risen (or cycle has finished), divide dough into 2 pieces and roll out one of the pieces in a 15x18" rectangle (or about 1/4 thick).  Brush some of the melted butter over the dough and roll up jelly-roll style.  It doesn't really matter which side you start from.

When you've got a nice log, pinch the seams to seal them and cut your log into 12 equal pieces.  Carefully put one roll in each muffin cup.  Repeat with remaining half of dough. 

Let rise another 15 - 20 minutes or until noticeably puffy.  While you're waiting for the dough to rise again, preheat your oven to 400F/200C.

Once risen, bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, or until golden.  Brush the tops with more melted butter if you like.

For a sweet variation, you could sprinkle the tops with a little cinnamon sugar :)