A perfect dessert that is easy to prepare, easy to bake and easy to eat! What more could you ask for? Wait a minute! It has minimal added sugar, can be made ahead of time, and the rolls are absolutely delicious fresh or even after a few days! I don't think I need to convince you any more to try this recipe.
I used to bake a variety of rolls and small sweet pastries on a regular basis. That's when I had a lot of time and not a lot of eaters. But life goes by and nowadays I bake these little pastries more rarely and save them mainly for festive days. Like the EASTER ONES! These golden orange carrot rolls just call for spring feasting, don't you think?
These carrot rolls are made of slightly sweet crispy shortcrust pastry enriched with finely grated carrots and can be filled with almost anything! I've fallen in love with this dried plum filling. They are quite similar in formula and taste like plum jam, but unlike it, they have several advantages:
- They have a more interesting texture!
- They don't ooze out of the sides and stick to the baking sheet.
- You can make them from dried fruit whenever you like.
- You can sweeten the plum filling as much as you like.
- It's healthier and you only need a few ingredients.
This plum filling smells wonderfully of cinnamon, is sweetened with cane sugar and goes perfectly with the crispy pastry not only in taste but also in color.
Do you love dried fruit as much as I do?
And have you tried my crumble squares with date filling? They are brilliant! And completely sugar-free! A great snack on the go and as a reward (not only) for the kids 🙂
The popularity of the filled pastries is mainly because of the variety of fillings that you can use and also because of their small size, which is just right to accompany your coffee break. Using dried fruit I think is not a very traditional filling option.
But dried plums are just one of the possibilities!
The plums actually pair perfectly with the cinnamon in the filling. But I can imagine a similar goodness from dried apricots, dates and even in combination with cranberries, raisins or whatever you can think of. You don't have to be afraid to use other spices as well. For example, fresh or dried ginger, ground star anise, cardamom, nutmeg or even mixed spice or gingerbread spice!
Why are carrots added to the shortcrust pastry?
Carrots add a subtle sweetness and beautiful color to the dough! In the days when sugar was very expensive and not commonly found in households, carrots were even used to sweeten the dough. It has many advantages in baking. As it contains mainly water, it adds moisture to the dough. It also softens and blends with the dough when baked, so it doesn't add any extra texture and also doesn't react with other ingredients. It's just such a little healthy bonus!
Can I also add sourdough starter to the shortcrust pastry?
Traditionally, sourdoughs are made with just flour, butter, a pinch of salt and water and this makes it the perfect partner for sourdough. If you want to use sourdough starter you have two options.
Without fermentation: You can freely add 1-3 tbsp of wheat sourdough starter to the dough along with the liquid (water, in our case with the egg and carrot) and continue with the recipe. This way, you can partially get rid of the sourdough discard and the dough will have a better flavor.
You can find how I maintain and feed my sourdough starter in this article: How to maintain and feed sourdough starter
With fermentation: You can ferment the dough prepared in this way with the addition of 1-3 tbsp of wheat sourdough starter. It only needs to rest in the refrigerator for about 2-3 days. During this time the flour will have time to ferment and thus become more digestible.
How to make carrot shortcrust pastry rolls with plum filling?
First, we need to make cookies. In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt and baking soda with a whisk. Baking soda is not added to traditional shortcrust pastry, but adding carrots will make the dough more "heavy" so the baking soda will make it a little lighter again. Add the diced butter to the mixture and use your fingers to form a crumb. The butter should be really cold so that even lumps form in the crumb mixture.
Add the whole egg, finely grated carrots to the crumb mixture and work into a dough. It is important to work quickly with the dough so that the butter does not heat up and the result is nice and crispy.
Wrap the dough in cling film or plastic bag and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or overnight. In the meantime, the dough will firm up and the flavors will mellow.
It will also give you time to prepare your plum filling! Finely chop the soft plums by knife or with a food processor. Add the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and lukewarm water and use a spoon, fork or food processor to mix the filling. Ideally, you should have pieces of plums left in the filling for a more interesting texture.
Roll out the chilled dough into a circle about 3 mm high and divide the rolled out dough into 12 equal parts. Place 1 tsp of filling on the wider end of each part, form it into a roll and do the same with all the parts. Place the rolls on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake as soon as possible in a hot oven at 180 °C for about 15 minutes until pink. The rolls are great warm freshly baked or later cool and can be lightly dusted with sugar if you like.
TIPS:
- the rolls will taste even more special if you dust them with icing sugar with added vanilla or cinnamon
- you can also use plum jam, as a filling for the rolls, and if you add a little bit of cornstarch or vanilla pudding, they won't ooze as much while baking
- the rolls will also be delicious with a poppy seed or nut filling , which you can also jazz up with dried fruit! - It will add an interesting texture, make the filling softer and sweeter, so you won't have to add a lot of extra sugar 🙂
- for an even healthier option, you can replace half the flour with whole wheat flour
Recipe
Recipe for 12 rolls
Carrot shortcrust pastry rolls with plum filling
Ingredients:
for dough:
- 200 g spelt semi-coarse flour
- 100 g cold butter, cubed
- 1 egg
- a pinch of baking soda (¼ tsp)
- pinch of salt
- 100 g carrots, finely grated
for filling:
- 100 g prunes, soft
- 2 tbsp of cane sugar
- 0,5 tsp cornstarch
- 0,5 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp lukewarm water
Instructions:
- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt and baking soda with a whisk. Add the diced butter and use your fingers to form a crumb.
- Add the whole egg and grated carrots to the crumble and work into a dough. It is important to work quickly with the dough so that the butter does not heat up and the result is nice and crispy.
- Wrap the dough in cling film or plastic bag and leave it to rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- For the filling, finely chop the soft plums with a knife or a food processor. Add the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and lukewarm water and use a spoon, fork or food processor to mix the filling. Ideally, you should have pieces of plums left in the filling for a more interesting texture.
- Roll out the chilled dough into a circle, it should be about 3 mm thick and divide into 12 equal parts.
- Put 1 tsp of filling on the wider end of each piece. Form it into a roll and do the same with all the parts.
- Place the rolls on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake as soon as possible in a hot oven at 180 °C for approximately 15 minutes until pink.
- The rolls are great warm freshly baked or later cool and can be lightly dusted with sugar if you like.
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