This was the first thing I made in my Aruban kitchen this trip that I turned on the oven for and they were absolutely worth it.
The smell of bread in the oven, cinnamon and sugar, butter and jelly, made our little Caribbean house smell like a bakery and was worth heating the joint up for.
If you do it my way, this is a 15-minute recipe from start to finish, including baking time and the dishes.
There’s no dishwasher here (other than yours truly) so those need to be kept to a minimum, too.
I used white dinner rolls as a major shortcut. Of course, you’re free to make your own bread dough, make and bake rolls, and then use said rolls for this recipe. But clearly I wouldn’t do that on vacation or probably ever.
It’s enough that I cook three squares a day, and I don’t mind, but bread-making from scratch isn’t ever happening in an un-airconditioned kitchen.
They’re a snap to make. Just beat a couple eggs, make a cinnamon-sugar mixture, poke holes in a half dozen dinner rolls with your fingers and dredge them through the egg and cinnamon-sugar, fill with jelly, add a couple pats of butter to the pan and bake. Done.
While baking, the butter and cinnamon-sugar creates this little glaze at the bottom of the pan that’s finger-lickin’ good.
And did I mention how much I love jelly? There’s nothing worse than a skimpy-on-the-jelly jelly roll and I made sure these were no where near skimpy.
When I walked into the home office with the tray of these where Scott was working, he exclaimed, Ohmygawdbabe what did you make?!
He told me he only wanted one because he was going to be getting into a swimsuit in a few minutes and he took his one little roll from the tray.
Apparently men think about jelly rolls and how that may impact their own jelly roll prior to getting into swimsuits.
Then as he was walking out the door 10 minutes later with Skylar to take her to the pool, he said, “Hey babe, do you think you could wrap up a few of those rolls for Skylar and I because they’re amazing.”
I assure you this is the best ever use of white dinner rolls and no one will suspect that you didn’t make elaborate pastries from scratch.
Don’t you just want to tear into all that jelly? I did.
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Strawberry Jelly Rolls
Makes 6 rolls – double the recipe and bake in a 9-by-13-inch pan if preferred (use 3 eggs rather than 4, if doubling)
2 large eggs, beaten
1/3 cup granulated sugar + 2 tablespoons for sprinkling
2 teaspoons cinnamon
6 small white dinner rolls
12 tablespoons+ strawberry jelly or jam (about 2 tablespoons per roll)
1/4 cup butter, diced into about 6 cubes (half of one stick)
Preheat oven to 375F, line a 9-by-9-inch pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
In a small bowl, lightly beat two eggs with a fork; set aside. In another small bowl, combine 1/3 cup sugar, cinnamon, and stir to combine; set aside.
With your thumb or finger, gently break the top surface of one roll, going about 1-inch deep and 1-inch wide. Don’t actually remove any bread, don’t “core” it; just open it up. Dip the bread in the egg, allowing some egg to enter the hollowed out part; let it soak into the interior. Dip and dredge the roll through the cinnamon-sugar mixture and place in prepared pan. Repeat with the other 5 rolls. Rolls will be nearly touching or touching each other in the pan depending on size; stagger them if necessary to avoid touching too much so they crisp up on the edges.
After all the rolls have been dipped into the egg, coated cinnamon-and-sugared, and in the pan, spoon about 2 tablespoons of jelly into the hole of each roll; be generous (use your favorite jelly such as raspberry, blueberry, lemon, or cherry). Add a final dusting of about 2 tablespoons granulated sugar over the tops of the rolls, distributed evenly. Place cubed butter pieces in the bottom of the pan in open spaces; it’s okay if it touches rolls since it will melt and ultimately touch them.
Bake for 9 to 10 minutes, or until rolls are golden. Butter will have melted and combined with excess cinnamon-sugar mixture and it will be bubbling and have thickened. Allow to cool and serve immediately, taking care not to miss any of the buttery cinnamon-sugar sauce on the bottom of the pan. Rolls are best fresh, but will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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Related Recipes:
Cinnamon Sugar Crust Cream Cheese and Jelly Danish Squares – uses one of my favorite shortcuts
Cinnamon Bun Pie – an easy shortcut makes these some of my favorite cinnamon rolls
Caramel Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars (GF with Vegan adaptation) – I will always love PB & J in any form
Cranberry & Orange Ginger Mango Chutney – jelly-like and so good
Hot Pepper Jelly (vegan, GF)
Stovetop Hot Pepper Jelly (vegan, GF)
Do you like jelly?
I love condiments, sauces, chutneys, dips and spreads of all types and jelly is no exception; sweet or savory. And all of it applied in abundance; the more, the merrier.
If you have any good shortcut-containing recipes, or any great recipes that use jelly, feel free to link them up.
The winner of the Bella Bars Giveaway is Laura (Tutti Dolci)
Have a great week!
My boyfriend and I have limited time together, because we live a distance apart, but I love to surprise him with something awesome for breakfast when we wake up on our Sunday mornings together.
We’ve been doing bacon, eggs, and waffles very often lately. I’ll probably include the bacon still (because that’s his favorite food on the planet), but a tray of these would be AMAZING, and he LOVES strawberry, so I see this in my very near future. So excited. Love how easy they are too.
I’ve officially fallen in love with, pinned from, printed from and bookmarked your website. I’m sure there will be many recipes made!! Love it. So much.
Greetings ! If there is wait uch a place as “Taste Heaven” these Strawberry Rolls would be at the top of the menu. Firstly I made your dinner roll recipe then waited patiently for the rolls to cool so that I could proceed. Man O Man was the wait worth it. I made these rolls exactly as stated. HEAVENLY is the only word I can come up with. Viewers please don’t hesitate to make these rolls. Don’t just drool. Race to the kitchen and get a batch going. They are to die for !!
Bravo ! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe with us. It is going into my recipe archives for life !
Recipe archives for life is such a high compliment! Glad you love them that much and thanks for the glowing compliments and praise! Thanks, Georgy!
Oh, nummy nummy nummy. I followed the link from your post on PB and Jelly muffins from the Time to Sparkle Link Party. These look so good and way easy!
Thanks for clicking over – I appreciate it!
“Ohmygawdbabe what did you make?!”, is right! What a nifty trick/tip! And, your hubs sounds like such a sweetheart. Don’t blame you one bit for getting a little of your “Sandra Lee” on with baking in tropical Aruba! xo
You are a genius! My husband thought we needed a little something extra to go with our comfort food supper casserole. I had impulsively bought a dozen water rolls yesterday just because they looked so good. I was thinking I’d heat a few and set out the last of a large jar of strawberry jam. I followed somebody’s link to your website while I was waiting for the casserole to bake and found your recipe for strawberry jelly rolls. I had them ready to go in the oven when the casserole came out. They were spectacular and the ease of preparation was so welcome. I’m already thinking of variations — slightly drained, no added sugar cherry pie filling instead of the jelly or jam. I might even replace the sugar with Splenda, but that might clump up. I’ll just have to see. Thanks for the recipe, and I look forward to trying more of your foods.
If you want a super easy roll recipe – these
http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2012/12/nutella-cinnamon-rolls-with-vanilla-glaze.html
The nutella could be replaced with anything (anything you just listed) or the dinner rolls could be made with anything you suggested. The thing about the Nutella rolls is no added sugar is used, either. Splenda in baking – I have never tried so I don’t know how it behaves under heat. I would say…just use a little less sugar and skip the Splenda overall if you’re concerned about sugar.
Thanks for coming back with a full report & glad they were a hit!
Wow, this is amazing! You totally took dinner rolls to a whole different level! I think I might make some homemade lemon curd and use that in place of the jam, although the use of strawberry jam is great too. I’ll just have to make both of them then!
And I’ve had people make them and write in and tell me they used all kinds of jam and everyone’s been happy and yes…sooooooo easy!
A super idea Averie, especially fast and delicious! What a great way to use leftover rolls!
Oh boy!!! These are incredible looking and so easy to throw together in a hurry!!! My mouth is watering at the thought of cinnamon and sugar and jelly!! mmmmm!!!
Thanks, Jocelyn – and so easy for busy mama’s like us!
Oh my gosh Averie, these are amazing! We aren’t huge jelly fans here, but I could totally see myself using Nutella. :) Pinned!
My wheels were already turning in that direction – great minds think alike :)
Thanks for the pin!
I have an insane urge to bake and devour an entire pan of these solo. BEAUTIFUL Averie!
I am not really a fan of jelly unless it is made savoury in some way … like hot pepper jelly ;-) I also like a sweet jelly mixed with a chipotle pepper and then put over brie cheese or cream cheese and baked.
sweet jelly mixed with a chipotle pepper and then put over brie cheese or cream cheese and baked <--- that's a perfect holiday appetizer (or any time of the year, really!)
Oh my god I cannot wait until the morning so I can make these, GORGEOUS
These are seriously brilliant! I would have never imagined that they were just from bread rolls.
That’s the point…no one would imagine :) Perfect for busy mamas!
Perfect & easy, just like vacation should be!!
WOW, these look amazing!! I almost didn’t even open the email because my husband’s allergic to strawberries, but I thought, “what the heck, I love looking at Averie’s pics!” Then when I saw the rolls, I started thinking, “well, I could make these for a party, or I could even sub a different filling.” But it wasn’t until I found your suggested alternatives that the light bulb moment truly happened: my husband loves lemon! I’ll definitely try these out some time and will use a lemon curd or lemon jam filling! Thanks. :)
yes any filling at all – and use any day-old biscuits, bread, etc you have – super easy and no one will know massive shortcuts involved!
I super love that!
My husband’s reaction to the food I make is always worth any difficulties I may experience in the kitchen. Yesterday I was making pancakes for the blog and he hovered nearby waiting for me to yell “ugly pancake!!!” so he could gleefully run in and scoop it up. These rolls would get a similar reaction!
I would have loved to have a jelly roll for breakfast now. You captured it so beautifully!
thanks and your images are always gorgeous!
woah… these look amazing and oh so decadent!
Oh gosh, I was convinced you had made the entire recipe (including dough) from scratch until I saw the rolls! This totally seems like one of those recipes you could wow crowds with, while laughing on the inside since you whipped ’em up in just a few minutes. ;) Love them, Averie!
yes you could, 100% and no one, at all, would guess…I guarantee it!
very creative, A! These jelly rolls look incredible!
No dishwasher, huh? Wonder what that’s like. ;)
I hear you about using as few utensils and bowls as possible. I just had a BBQ and as I was washing the plates and forks, and grill utensils, and spoons and bowls and wine glasses….all I could think was that I wished I didn’t feel eco-guilt about using disposable stuff.
I was going to make a dessert for the party too, but what stopped me was the dishes. Not the bowl to mix the pudding in, but each individual bowl that people would eat out of. I hate dishes.
i never make individual type desserts for parties if I can help it…big pan of bars, please :)
These look so good! I have a bad habit of snatching up day old bread when I see it at the store and tossing it into the freezer. I think I’ve found a new use for some of it!
I do the same thing with on-sale/ripe bananas – stash in a baggie in the freezer for smoothies!
Yum! These are like strawberry french toast rolls. Love it. Hope you are enjoying every second of your time away.
We are…and thank you :)
See, these seem like a healthified version of a jelly-donut to me, which means I can eat twice as many. Gorgeous!
Baked not fried, so that counts, right? :)
hehehe, do I love jelly? good question! Even though I don’t like sweets, I do like raspberry jelly/jam. After reading about your love with hot pepper jelly, I made one myself and loved it too! Here is one of the jam/jelly creations: Chilli-quince jam (http://www.picnicatmarina.com/2012/04/all-jammed-up.html) – scroll down to see it. :)
These look amazing and are so easy! I just love it! I have some homemade wheat rolls in the freezer, do you think wheat will be ok to use? I’d love to try these!!
yes wheat will be just fine – I knew someone would ask about that. The reason I said white was I was specifically trying to recreate what I grew up on, which was a jelly-filled donut, of sorts, and there was nothing wheat about those :) But another reader made them already with buttermilk biscuits with great success. LMK how it goes!
These look amazing!
Too bad I don’t eat egg :(
well use anything you’d use in your repertoire then to get the cinn-sugar coating to adhere, perhaps a flax egg? whatever it is, it’s just there to get the coating to stick, battering them
Dessert in 15 minutes?! Yes please!! Definitely buying extra rolls next trip to the grocery store :)
ah! I had leftover rolls from yesterday’s party and I totally tossed them. Had I seen this deliciousness…they would have stayed around! Great idea
well now you never have to toss rolls, ever again!
Mm. LOVE jelly and I absolutely, positively LOVE condiments. Sauces, dips, spreads, jams, jellies… all so very good! Though I’m partial to guac, salsa, and mustard. Amazing! These rolls remind me of jelly doughnuts–loving them!
they’re an open-faced jelly donut! Or what we called Jelly Rolls growing up in the midwest.
Such a creative and tasty (not to mention decadent use) of white dinner rolls! LOVE :)
Thanks my friend :)
ohh ok I didn’t know they were rolls
that’s a great idea for using stuff up, right?
I would have to do this with a touch of cream cheese.
I can’t get enough cream cheese with my raspberry jam
And if I would have had any cream cheese, I definitely! would have included that…mmm, good!
I never would have guessed you started with pre made dinner rolls for this recipe!! What a great short cut (love those). They look so delicious in the photos and remind me of a jelly filled donut! I tried something that officially makes me a bona fide chocolate fiend (as if there were EVER any doubts). Roasted cauliflower dusted with paprika, garlic salt, and cocoa powder! There is only a teaspoon of cocoa and paprika sprinkled all over but it’s really good (husband approved too)!
Oh that cauli sounds great! I know people who put a tbsp or two of cocoa powder in chili – I can see with the paprika, same concept. And Mexican Hot Chocolate involves a pinch of cayenne or chili powder in hot cocoa – so there is so much overlap with cocoa and savory and kicked up savory…great idea. And yes, ” remind me of a jelly filled donut!” <-- that was the point :)
Yum, those rolls look like a delicious treat as always!
I do enjoy jelly in moderation. Too much and I find it too sweet, but it’s great in moderation. I also really enjoy spiced jams and chutneys- yum!
I love spiced jams, too!
Oh. My. Goodness! So, I just made these! :-) I used buttermilk biscuits instead of dinner rolls because that’s what I had, but, my boys loved them! I love the heavy on the jam part of the photos…they just look so flippin’ delcious! Thanks for the great recipes, lady! I make so many of yours! :-)
Ok that has to be one of the fastest posts-to making it-to reporting back about it’s that I’ve ever had…but leave it to you, and I love that! Thank you! Glad they were a hit and yes, any little biscuit or roll will do. Glad your boys loved them and you are such a good mama!
I love your description of men and their “jelly rolls.” I also love this quick and easy recipe! I’m a fanatic for anything and everything PB&J, but my favorite two ways of eating it are a) loaded on apple slices (a great snack!), and b) in my smoothies. By the way, I was having a Julie & Julia day yesterday with one of my girlfriends, and your food interactions with Scott reminded me so much of that movie. Absolutely sweet. Thanks for sharing!
Some men pretend they don’t care what they look like, but I actually think men are just as self-conscious (at times) as women are. Male hair restoration clinics for balding exist for a reason :) They care about their hair and things like that, too! Well, my hubs does as least and I love him for it. And glad you like my little story and the recipe!
What a creative little recipe Averie! Simple, quick, and full or cinnamon, butter and JAM! Three of my favorites, of course! I never, ever would’ve thought to combine all three with some egg wash over a pre made dinner roll! Crazy! Jam-filled donuts have always been, and still are, my favorite. I could see these being delicious with apricot or peach jam. LOVE peach + cinnamon together these days. :) SO glad your fan enjoyed them too, I’m not surprised. Easy + quick.. a perfect 1st recipe in Aruba for ya!
I was thinking of you when I made these because of the cinnamon-sugar coating and because we share a love of most flavors and baked goods…and I LOVE peach jam. Honestly, would have used a peach or apricot in these if I didn’t think it would have gotten totally washed out and blurred. I have enough lighting issues down here as it is…lol
The best use of dinner rolls EVER! Love the jelly filling oozing out of them! Scrumptious!
why bother unless it’s oozing, right!
Um, I think I would inhale all of these in one sitting. So much for having to put on a swimsuit! ;)
These look amazing. I love how simple they are, beautiful photos too!
girl the photography down here–every trip I have a new camera, new lens, new (unknowns!) lighting, new skills and it’s always a work in progress…thank you though!
I would like to think Jason would think about how it’d affect his jelly roll…but i really don’t think he would. He’d grab 2 to start with LOL
Jason also runs like 10 miles before breakfast…Scott…not so much. We power walk together and he used to run. Before Skylar. 5+ years ago :)
Going to try these out soon. Especially like the PB&J bars. Is There any special program you use to put words over a photo like strawberry jelly rolls picture?
the PB&J bars are one of my fave recipes- ever! Scott’s, too!
Usually picmonkey for graphics.
Thanks!
Wow, these are just delicious. Beautiful homemade rolls.
I never would have guessed from the pictures that those were made from rolls! Sounds good, almost like a bread pudding with the egg mixture. It reminds me a little bit of the first “recipe” we made in middle school home ec, we used the refrigerated Pillsbury dough rolls that pop out of the can, dip them in melted butter or oil, dip in sugar to coat, and put jam in a thumb hole on top. They bake up puffy and delicious, but so simple!
There’s not enough egg to really make it a bread pudding. It just helps all that glorious cinnamon & sugar stick to the surface of the rolls better and get in all the crevices :)
This is honestly pretty genius and even by looking at the pictures they look like decadent little homemade munchkins. I was ALL about jelly donut holes growing up, only kind I would eat. And I’m all abotu short cuts these days!
They still are pretty decadent little munchkins – no matter how they started out :)
Neat shortcut!! They look made from scratch. Like a naked jelly donut. They sound so good, and I’d totally heat up the house for them too. Agreed about skimpy jelly too… need lots!
It’s like why even bother if it’s skimpy??!!
Man, those look so fantastically gooey! I just got a sweet gift of really nice homemade jam, so I definitely know where that’s going now…
Homemade jam is the best! Mmmm, would be so good in these – or with anything!
Oh my gosh – yum ! I want to try these with cherries ! I love jelly, I just got a guava jelly at a little country market that I can’t wait to try.
Guava jelly sounds like a delicacy!