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One of my favorite sweet treats is the cinnamon roll.

I love the buttery layers of dough, especially the soft interior. I haven’t even mentioned the cinnamon yet!

But I thought I could take that same concept and change up the flavor a bit. I never really thought about it until I came across a recipe for Meyer Lemon Sweet Rolls. I tried the recipe and it was a major hit. I also saw one for making strawberry rolls, so I have been waiting for Michigan strawberry season to arrive to try the idea out. Last Saturday night, I got home from work and got to work on preparing these beauties for a potluck the next day.

As for the icing itself, instead of going with a cream cheese one, I decided to make an icing out of powdered sugar, freeze dried strawberries, and water. That produced an amazing vivid red color, that looks so appetizing.

When I made these I thought it would be fun to change up the filling to a blueberry one staying with the strawberry icing for Red, White, and Blue Rolls for the 4th of July.

Let’s dive into the strawberry deliciousness. I used that Meyer Lemon Sweet Roll recipe, but changed up the filling and icing)

For more great strawberry recipes check out how I used 14 1/2 pounds of strawberries that I picked myself.

Strawberry Sweet Rolls (Buns)

Ingredients

For the dough

2 cups very warm water not too warm to burn your hand though
2 tablespoons dry yeast
2/3 cup instant nonfat dry milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup softened butter
1 egg
5 to 5 ½ cups all-purpose flour

For the filing

1 1/2 to 2 cups strawberry jam jam that you made from picking your own strawberries: can't be beat!

For the icing

roughly 1-2 oz
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

Start by combining the warm water and the yeast. Give the yeast about 5 minutes to proof. You should easily be able to smell the yeast.
Add the dry milk, sugar, and salt.
Then add the butter and egg. Fully incorporated.
Then add the flour about a cup at a time until you have a soft dough that isn't too sticky.
Knead the dough either by hand or with a stand mixer.
Cover with a clean towel and allow to rise for about an hour or until doubled in size. Finding the warmest spot in your kitchen to place your dough will give you the quickest results.
Now cut the dough into three equal pieces. I like to do this with a bench or pastry scrapper.
Roll each piece of dough into a rectangle.
Spread the strawberry jam out, leaving some room around the edges. You don't need to go super thick.
Then roll the dough up tightly forming a log. Cut the log into 6 equal pieces. Repeat with the other 2 pieces of dough. I estimate about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of strawberry jam will be needed. I didn't actually measure it out when I made them.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Place the rolls into a baking dish that you have sprayed with a bit of oil.
Allow the rolls about 20-30 minutes to rise before baking them. Bake time is about 15-20 minutes. The edges should turn brown and sound hollow if you tap on them.

To make the icing

In a food processor combine 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar with about 1 oz of freeze dried strawberries. Process to combine.
Then taste it and if you think you need more strawberries add some more. Freeze dried strawberries pack a lot of flavor so you don't need a lot.
Then slowly add a bit of water add a time until you get a spreadable icing. Then immediately spread them onto the rolls.