May 12, 2024

Wild Blueberry and Magnolia Sweet Rolls

Welcome the wild cousin of the cinnamon bun- it’s magnolia sweet rolls, filled with dried magnolia flowers and wild blueberries. These rolls are sweet and warming, sticky and soft, with a bit of a chew. The dough is soft, with an excellent chew. I attribute that chew, along with the moist dough, to the use of whole oats in the rolls. They mostly melt away in the baking process, but give the dough a more complex texture than a simple flour would without adding too much “whole grain” taste to the bake. These sweet rolls feel like a celebration of spring, and would be the perfect breakfast to celebrate Easter, May Day, Mother’s Day, or just a lovely warm weekend. Get your cast iron skillet ready, and let’s go find some magnolia trees.

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Foraging for Magnolias

Magnolias include over a hundred different types of flowering shrubs and trees. They have smooth, brown-grey bark that ages and turns into a scalier bark. The leaves tend to be oval, with a glossy green and waxy appearance. The flowers are the most distinctive part of the magnolia. They bloom in shades of white, pink, and light purple. The ones that I pick are large, pink, and have petals with pointy tips with 9 petals per flower. Since there are different types, you have to make sure you identify your tree to make sure it’s an edible magnolia. They can survive well in most heartiness zones, and flower between March to May.

Magnolia petals are edible- as far as I know there are no other parts of the tree that are. They are amazing pickled, and have almost a pickled ginger like taste and texture. You can add a few petals to a salad for a nice peppery flavor. You can also dry the petals and grind them up and use them as a spice that’s similar to cardamom, which is what we use in this recipe. For more details on identifying magnolias, and making a magnolia spice, please check out our Dried Magnolia Flowers as a Spice post.

Disclaimer- use caution when foraging wild edibles, and always be certain of your identification. While I assume responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided on this site to the best of my ability, I can’t be responsible for the accuracy of your information. Consult multiple websites, books and local experts, and when it doubt, do without.

Mad about Magnolias? Try one of these!

Looking for Sweet Rolls and Breads? Try one of these!

How to Make Magnolia Sweet Rolls

These rolls start by making a yeasted dough, letting it rise, before filling it with a magnolia powder and wild blueberries, rolling, cutting, baking, and glazing.

To start your dough off, you need to make sure your yeast is set aside with some warm water and sugar to activate. It should only take five to ten minutes to wake up- when it’s frothy, you’ll know it’s ready. In the meantime, you can start by combining the flour and salt with plant-based butter. Use a pastry knife to cut the butter into the flour. You don’t want it entirely mixed in- pieces the size of a pea are perfect. Next add the oats, mix, and then add the wet ingredients including the activated yeast. This dough is a fairly sticky one, so you’re going to want to make sure your working surface is clean and floured, and your hands are lightly oiled. The dough comes together quickly, and then all you need to do is set it aside somewhere warm while it rises. If you have an instant pot, a trick I like to do is to put my dough in a bowl inside the instant pot and set it on the yogurt setting. It helps the dough rise about twice as fast as it does on my counter.

Once risen, punch the dough down and roll it out into a large rectangle. Brush first with melted vegan butter, then add a layer of brown sugar and dried magnolia. If you’re really not a forager and somehow still reading this, you could also use 1 tbsp. of cardamom instead of the magnolia powder. Finally add your dried wild blueberries on top of the brown sugar. I really recommend wild blueberries over regular ones- they’re smaller and much more flavorful and sweeter. You can get dried ones like I used here. Roll up the dough into a log, and cut into 12 equal pieces. The easiest way to do that is to cut the log in half, the halves in half, and each quarter into three pieces. Arrange the rolls in a large cast iron skillet, and bake until puffy and brown.

If you like glazed cinnamon-style rolls (and frankly, who doesn’t) allow the rolls to cool before moving to the next step. Make the glaze, which is a simple combination of melted butter, vanilla, powdered sugar, and a little bit of plant-based milk. Pour over the rolls and allow it to set. And that’s it- enjoy! After the first day, your rolls will get less soft but they can be made delicious again with just 30 seconds in the microwave.

Wild Blueberry and Magnolia Sweet Rolls

Prep Time: 2 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours, 35 minutes

Yield: 12 sweet magnolia rolls

Wild Blueberry and Magnolia Sweet Rolls

Ingredients

For the Dough:

1 package instant yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. vegan butter
3/4 cup plant-based milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the Filling:

2 tbsp. vegan butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. magnolia blossom powder
1/2 cup dried wild blueberries

For the Glaze:

1 tbsp. vegan butter, melted
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. plant-based milk

Instructions

Add the yeast and granulated sugar to a small bowl, along with 1/4 cup of warm water. Set aside for the yeast to activate.
In a large bowl, add the flour and salt. Cut the butter into pieces, and add to the dough. Use a pastry knife to integrate the butter, working it into the flour until the pieces are the size of a pea or smaller. Add the oats, and stir to combine.
Next add the activated yeast, along with the vanilla and plant-based milk to the bowl. Use a wooden spoon to stir, and work until a dough is formed. Once you have a dough, flip it out onto a clean and floured work surface, and knead a few times to create a smooth dough. You may want to lightly oil your hands before working with the dough, as it is fairly sticky. Lightly oil a bowl, and place the kneaded dough inside. Cover with a clean kitchen towel, and place somewhere warm to rise. Allow to prove until the dough has grown by fifty percent, which took about an hour and a half for me.
Once the dough is risen, preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Make sure the vegan butter is melted for the filling, and combine the brown sugar and magnolia in a bowl and whisk together. Locate a 10 inch cast iron skillet, and set aside.
Start on the assembly. Punch down the dough, and flip out onto a clean and floured surface. Use a rolling pin to work the dough into a large rectangle, roughly 10 inches deep by 20 inches wide. Brush the rectangle with vegan butter, leaving about an inch at along the back edge uncoated. Cover the vegan butter with your brown sugar mixture, and then top that by sprinkling on your dried blueberries.
Roll the dough up by taking the long edge nearest to you and gently turning it up on itself. A bench scraper can sometimes help here. Continue, working along the length of the dough, until all of it has been incorporated into a spiral. Lightly pinch or press the final edge to seal the roll. Use a sharp serrated knife or unflavored dental floss to cut the roll into 12 even pieces. Arrange them in the skillet so they are gently touching (please note if you are using something other than a cast iron skillet, you may need to grease it ahead of time and cooking times might vary). Place the rolls into the preheated oven, and cook for about 35 minutes until they have puffed up nicely and turned a golden-brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Once they are fairly cool, you can flip them out of the pan onto a plate, if desired, and glaze. To make the glaze, combine the melted butter with the plant-based milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Whisk to combine. Pour the glaze over the rolls, and for a less sticky bun allow it to cool and harden before eating.

Notes

For the tastiest results and softer rolls, I recommend heating up your magnolia rolls after the first day. 30 seconds in the microwave should be just about perfect.

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