Cream Cheese & Cherry Sweet Rolls

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Good Cook, as part of the Good Cook Kitchen Experts program. All opinions are honest and 100% my own.

What to do when life gives you cherries? Make Cream Cheese & Cherry Sweet Rolls of course! The inspiration for these sweet treats were those delicious cream cheese breakfast pastries. You know, the kind that will give you one awesome bite of cream cheese, right in the center? Oh yeah, those are my favorite. However, I didn't feel like using puff pastry - I wanted to make something from scratch and not have it take all day. So, my mind started drifting around to other breakfast goodies I've made and the Leftover Pumpkin Pie Cinnamon Rolls popped in my head. Throw in some leftover cherries and before I knew it these Cream Cheese & Cherry Sweet Rolls were created. Then devoured.

Before we get to how to make those delicious sweet rolls - I must share with you an awesomely amazing sweepstakes that is going on right now. Last week I mentioned The Build Your Kitchen Drawer Sweepstakes being hosted by Good Cook. There are numerous ways to win and a wide assortment of prizes to be won. My favorite part of the whole promotion is that you have a chance to win 15 items that YOU pick out from Good Cook's website {each eligible item will be clearly marked with a "ADD ME"icon}. Also, with every drawer you build you have a chance at winning an instant prize!

Part of being a Good Cook Kitchen Expert and promoting this sweepstakes, Good Cook was gracious enough to let me build my own kitchen drawer! Check out what I selected...

Fun stuff, huh? I named my drawer Chop, Cook & Clip. Let me tell you why...

My picks were
1. Nonstick Paring Knife, 4" - I needed new knives for cooking in a bad way, these 6 knives are now my new bestfriends in the kitchen. :)
2. Nonstick Utility Knife
3. Nonstick Santoku Knife, 5"
4. Nonstick Sandwich Knife, 5"
5. Nonstick Chef's Knife, 5"
6. Santoku Knife, 7"
7. Prep Bowls, 5pc Set - I've wanted prep bowls for daaaaaays!
8. Deluxe Melamine Lasagne Server 12" - maybe I can neatly serve lasagna now?
9. Long Tongs, 12" - these will be perfect for the grill!
10. Large Nylon Turner - no more broken over-easy eggs!
11. Bag Clip - I use these for everything.
12. Medium Bag Clip, 2pk - Seriously, everything.
13. Egg Slicer & Chopper - It's all about the egg salad sandwiches around our house!
14. Collapsible Funnel A funnel that fits in a drawer? Love it!
15. Berry Colander - Cutest funnel, ever.

You must go and check out all of the items that are eligible for this great giveaway. Also, make sure to check out Good Cook's facebook page where they will be giving away goodies from June 2nd to June 7th. Plus, since Good Cook is so excited about this promotion they will be taking 25% off all selected items for the duration of the sweepstakes. Totally worth checking out!!

Ok, now let's get back to those delicious Cream Cheese & Cherry Sweet Rolls. :) I was able to use a few of my new tools for this recipe, so I had to take some pictures to show them in action!

The Berry Colander? It's one of my new favorite things. Especially full of cherries!

The prep bowls are so handy, they even have measurement lines in them to help the prep.

The nonstick paring knife was perfect for cutting dough, so sharp and definitely no sticking was going on.

My new chip clips are stinkin' cute and don't take up much room in our kitchen drawer.

The lasagna server worked great for this dish, can't wait to use it on some ooey-gooey lasagna!

The collapsible funnel is a must-have! It worked great, cleaned easy and stored without hassle.

I had too much fun using my new kitchen drawer tools!! Make sure to go check out the Build a Kitchen Drawer sweepstakes, there are so many chances to win - so get started building your dream kitchen drawer!



Cream Cheese & Cherry Sweet Rolls
(PRINTABLE RECIPE)
yields about 10 rolls
Ingredients
Dough:
¼ ounce instant yeast
½ cup warm water
½ cup scalded milk
¼ cup sugar
⅓ cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
Filling:
1 tablespoon warm water
2 teaspoons cornstarch
8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
10 oz fresh pitted cherries
3 tablespoons sugar
Icing:
4 tablespoons butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 to 6 tablespoons hot water

Directions
1. Mix together water and yeast. Set aside.
2. Mix milk, sugar, butter, salt and egg until smooth. Mix in yeast mixture. Mix in flour in 2 batches, starting with 2 cups. When mixture is fully combined, knead on floured surface for 5 minutes.
3. Place in grease bowl, covered, until has doubled in size - about 1 hour.
4. While the dough rises, make the cherry filling. Whisk together water and cornstarch, set aside. Over low-medium heat, cook cherries and sugar together for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Place in food processor and process until cherries are in small pieces. Return to saucepan, add water/cornstarch mixture and bring to boil, let boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
4. Roll dough out in large rectangle, about ½” thick. Using spatula, spread cream cheese on top of dough. Then spread cherry mixture over cream cheese.
5. With fingertips on the shorter end of the rectangle, start rolling up the dough. Make sure to keep it even, but not too tight. Cut into 1” pieces - I used a paring knife that worked beautifully.
6. Butter a pan (I used a Bonny 11x7 Biscuit/Brownie Pan that baked 6 rolls perfectly!) and then sprinkle it with sugar. Place rolls in pan - just close to touching each other. Let rise for another 45 minutes.
7. Heat oven to 350 and bake rolls for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
8. While rolls are baking, mix together butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and hot water. Spoon (pour or squirt) over your Cream Cheese & Cherry Sweet Rolls
9. Devour. Try to share. ;)
{adapted from Paula Deen’s Cinnamon Rolls}

Make sure to check out what other Good Cook Kitchen Experts have been cooking!!

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