Sweet Yeast Rolls are my childhood memory. They were very popular and you could buy them in bakeries, cake shops but even in groceries. I loved them as what could be better for a child than a light yeast bun with a sweet cottage cheese or custard centre?
Over time I obviously have had different favourite pastries but I always have had a weak spot for them. So no wonder I finally had to make these sweet yeast rolls myself.
And this could not have happened without one person 🙂
It was my Grandmother who taught me how to correctly and successfully prepare yeast dough. But only recently I found out how she had learnt that skill.
My Grandmother comes from times when girls were involved in the kitchen helping their mothers and grandmothers from an early age on.
But those were also tough times (my Grandma was born after World War I) when food was precious and limited. So nobody thought or certainly had the ingredients, to cook sophisticated dishes.
My Grandmother got married as a very young woman. By that time she could already cook very well simple, but tasty meals all the other women in her area were preparing too.
Sometime later she moved to a new place with her husband and small children. And there she realised she didn’t know at all how to bake popular in that area yeast cakes.
Luckily she had a neighbour who was very good at making them.
So one day when my Grandma met her, she casually led their conversation into the cake subject. She asked what the neighbour did for her yeast cakes always turned out so beautiful and fluffy.
The flattered lady explained in detail her steps of yeast cake preparation, including all the essential tips.
My grandma, being too embarrassed to admit she had never baked a yeast cake before, responded only: “Oh, this is exactly how I prepare my cakes”.
And she quickly went back home and put this newly gained knowledge into practice!
I am so grateful my Grandma tricked this lady to reveal her secrets. Thanks to it she became the master of yeast cakes. And she also passed this knowledge onto me.
After I learnt how to prepare my grandmother’s famous Yeast Cake with Plums and Crumble Topping , I knew I had to approach the Sweet Yeast Rolls.
I decided to make them with cottage cheese filling and with icing on top. I also opted for making them as twirls instead of buns with a filling in the centre.
Why? Because I remember from my childhood the one problem I had with buns. The majority of bites I had were either yeast cake only or filling only.
But when you make these Sweet Yeast Rolls into twirls, each bite you have, you get both: the fluffy yeast part and the sweet cheese filling 😉