Roasted Strawberry Cheesecake Rolls

In case you missed the announcement it’s strawberry week here on deepfriedhoney.com! I’ve been wanting to make these Roasted Strawberry Cheesecake Rolls for so long, ever since I saw the Roasted Strawberry Cream Cheese Rolls on King Arthur Baking’s website. I can’t leave well enough alone so of course I played around with their recipe and created something new. The final flavors are very similar but with a few distinct improvements (in my humble opinion).

In King Arthur’s recipe, you only roll up roasted strawberries in the dough, using cream cheese in the dough and in the glaze. In my recipe, you spread a very thin layer of sweetened cream cheese over the dough before you spread on the strawberries. I also use more cream cheese in the glaze and use strawberry syrup instead of milk or cream for it. The strawberry syrup develops as the berries are roasting, don’t worry. I also omitted the orange zest and cinnamon, because I just don’t like those flavors with strawberry.

Roasted Strawberry Cheesecake Rolls Ingredients

Feel free to jump to the full recipe, but here are useful notes about the ingredients you will need to make this Roasted Strawberry Cheesecake Rolls recipe:

• Strawberries, strawberry syrup: It’s strawberry season in North Carolina and I’m awash with them! I definitely recommend using fresh berries for this recipe if you have access to good ones. If not, frozen berries that are thawed and very well drained before roasting will work beautifully.
• Granulated sugar, powdered sugar, fine sea salt: We only need powdered – also known as confectioners’ sugar – for the glaze. We’re using granulated for all other aspects, and of course, we need salt for the dough. If you use kosher salt you’ll need to use more, and if you use table salt the same amount or a little less.
• Agar-agar powder: For thickening the strawberries. King Arthur calls for Clearjel and I didn’t have any. Agar agar powder is a vegan gelatin substitute that I keep on hand for thickening desserts that I want to keep vegan or vegetarian for my mostly plant-based kiddo. Gelatin would work fine if you have that. Make sure you use unflavored gelatin. Only berries and cream flavors allowed in these Roasted Strawberry Cheesecake Rolls.
• Cream cheese: For the Cheesecake filling, the dough, and the glaze. You’ll need two blocks of it, one split in half. I’m a full-fat Philadelphia girl, but you use what you like.
• Vanilla extract, clear vanilla extract, vanilla bean paste: If you only have regular vanilla extract on hand that’s just fine. Omit the paste and substitute it for the clear vanilla extract in the glaze. If you don’t have regular vanilla extract though don’t you dare make this recipe until you’ve picked some up. I will know and I will find you!!
• All-purpose flour, whole milk, instant yeast, egg, unsalted butter: You’ll need all of these for the dough. Self-rising flour or salted butter would work fine, and if you’re sensitive to lactose feel free to substitute the milk for an equal amount of your favorite plant-based one.

How to Make Roasted Strawberry Cheesecake Rolls

Full instructions are included in the recipe below, but here is a basic overview of what you’ll need to do, along with some important tidbits to help you make the most of this Roasted Strawberry Cheesecake Rolls recipe:

• Mise en Place. Preheat the oven to 400°F and grease a large, oven-safe dish for the berries. Pull out all the equipment and measure out all the ingredients you’re going to need. Also, read the entire recipe so you’re familiar with the process and steps. There’s an order to this one you’ll need to follow.
• Roast the strawberries. Add the prepared strawberries to the dish and sprinkle two tablespoons of sugar over the top. Place them in the oven and bake for 30-45 minutes, until the berries are soft and shrunken, and floating in their own juices. Turn off the oven.
• Make ready for rolls. Use a fork or spoon to mash the berries into chunks, similar to what you’d see in strawberry jam. After this is done stir in one-half cup of sugar, then use a spoon to transfer 1/4 C of the liquid the berries have released to another dish and set it aside (we’ll be using it for our glaze).  Stir in the agar agar powder, then set the berries mixture aside to cool. 
• Prepare the dough. Add the milk, cream cheese, and butter to a microwaveable bowl or measuring cup and zap it for 90 seconds, or just until the milk is lukewarm and the butter is melting. Pur the mixture into the bowl of your stand mixer, then add in the sugar, egg, yeast, salt, and flour. Use the paddle attachment to mix everything into sticky, shaggy dough, which should only take a minute or two on low speed. When the dry and wet have come together scrape down the sides of the bowl and switch to the dough hook attachment. Knead on low or medium-low speed until a soft, bouncy dough ball has formed and is hugging the dough hook. The sides of the bowl should be mostly if not entirely clean, but it may cling a bit to the very bottom. Poke it with your finger: the dough should spring back pretty quickly.
• Let it do its thing. Lightly oil a large bowl with vegetable oil – I like to apply it with a paper towel to make sure it’s as thin of a layer as possible – and transfer the dough ball to it. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let rise for an hour, until it has almost doubled in size. While the dough is rising, we’ll make the cheesecake filling for our Roasted Strawberry Cheesecake Rolls.
• Make the Cheesecake filling. Add to a small mixing bowl add all of the ingredients listed under the Cheesecake Filling: the cream cheese, the vanilla, and the sugar. Use a small whisk or hand mixer to beat them together until there are no lumps. Give the strawberry filling a stir during the rise time as well. If it’s still very loose and liquidy, pour the berries into a fine mesh sieve and let the excess liquid pour off into a small bowl. We don’t want too much liquid in the berries, or the rolls will be soggy and it’ll be hard to roll and slice them. 
• Shape the dough. Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly oiled counter (the same vegetable oil on a paper towel trick works here, too) and use a rolling pin to roll it out into a 16″ x 12″ rectangle. Spread the cheesecake filling all over the dough, leaving about 1/2″ of bare dough along one long edge. Repeat with the strawberry filling, taking care to keep that one edge naked. 
• Now, roll it up! Roll it up as tightly as you can without damaging it – the dough is delicate and the filling is hefty so it will tear if you’re rough – making sure to start with the long edge that is covered with our filling. After you’ve rolled the entire length of dough up, pinch the seam together to seal the log together. Transfer the log very carefully to a large baking sheet and place it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to make things easier to slice. It’s OK if you have to curl up or fold the log to fit into the baking sheet, just don’t break or tear it. 
• Slice and rise the Roasted Strawberry Cheesecake Rolls. Use a serrated bread knife or unflavored dental floss to slice the log into 12-14 pieces. Try to keep them as evenly sized as possible. After you’ve sliced them all, put the rolls into a greased 9″ x 13″ pan. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise while you preheat the oven again to 350°F. It should take about an hour for the rolls to rise again. They won’t get much bigger, but they will appear noticeably puffy. 
• Bake and make the glaze. Bake the rolls uncovered on the middle oven rack until done inside and golden brown on top, around 28 to 30 minutes, then remove them and make the glaze while they cool down. Beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar together with a small whisk or hand mixer until completely smooth. Add the vanilla and strawberry syrup and beat together until there are no more streaks. Use a spoon to drizzle the glaze over the rolls, or just pour it over them. Dassit! They’ll keep in the fridge for like three days if they last that long. 

Obligatory Pinterest Graphics –

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