Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing

 

Big, fresh, hot, fluffy, melt in your mouth and feels like a warm hug 🥰 These perfect rolls are packed with brown sugar and cinnamon and topped with cream cheese glaze. I found the easiest recipe from @natashaskitchen check out her website to get your hands on it! ⠀

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I added a little bit of lemon juice to my cream cheese icing for a zing and halved the icing sugar quantity as I didn’t want it to be overly sweet and it worked a charm! I also proofed the rolls in room temperature which takes twice as long but I didn’t want to risk activating the yeast. And trust me, these rolls are worth the effort.

Meat and Cheese Sambousek

 

Sambousek is a popular middle eastern pastry filled with meat or cheese or both. Usually made with mince, herbs, spices and pine nuts it’s either fried or baked. While making sambousek I realised that many cultures have their own version of this pastry. Samosa’s in India, empanadas in South America and curry puffs in Asia. Regardless of which version you make it’s always a crowd pleaser. I used short crust pastry for this recipe. It’s fail proof and delicious.⠀

Serves: 12 sambousek

Ready in: 45 minutes

Difficulty: ★☆☆

Ingredients

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250g lamb or beef mince ⠀
1/2 medium onion, diced ⠀
1/2 cup shredded cheese of choice ⠀
1 tsp harissa spice ⠀
1 tsp paprika ⠀
1 tsp cumin ⠀
1 tsp salt ⠀
1 tsp black pepper ⠀
1 tbsp oil ⠀
Handful of pine nuts ⠀
Handful parsley, chopped ⠀
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3 sheets of short crust pastry, room temp⠀
Oil for deep frying ⠀
Chopped parsley for garnish (optional) ⠀

Method

To make the filling heat oil in a saucepan and add onions. Fry onions until translucent then add mince. Add spices and sauté until liquid has evaporated and mince is cooked. Stir in pine nuts and parsley. Let cool. ⠀
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Using a circle cookie cutter cut out 4 circles per short crust pastry sheet. You should have 12 circles. ⠀
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Divide filling into 12 portions and start to assemble sambousek by placing the pastry circle in your palm and fill with 1 portion of filling and top with 1-2 tsp of cheese. Fold pastry over and close edges either using your hand or with a fork. Repeat with remaining pastry. ⠀
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Heat oil for deep frying and deep fry in batches on medium heat until crispy and golden. Alternatively bake at 180 C until golden. Serve while warm. Enjoy!