Filled with homemade almond filling and topped with a gorgeous cherry glaze, you need these Almond Rolls with Cherry Glaze at your next brunch! Or...anytime, really. :D
In a small saucepan, combine sour cream, butter, salt, and ¼ cup sugar. Warm mixture over medium-low heat just until the butter melts. Remove from the heat, and set aside to cool to 110°F-115°F, about 10 minutes.
In a small bowl, combine the warm water, yeast, and 1 teaspoon sugar. Set aside until foamy, about 5 minutes.
Combine sour cream mixture, yeast mixture, and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the dough hook attachment on medium-low speed, gradually add the flour and almond flour until a soft dough forms. The dough will be sticky.
Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Try to add as little flour as possible while kneading.
Place the dough in a greased bowl, turning the dough over to grease the top. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough overnight (8-24 hours).
After refrigerating, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll into a 20"x16" rectangle. Introduce as little additional flour as possible. Alternatively, you can roll the dough out on a nonstick pastry mat (see note),
For Filling:
Place almonds (see note) and 1 cup of the powdered sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the almonds are ground as finely as possible. Add the remaining powdered sugar and pulse to incorporate.
Add egg whites, butter, and almond extract paste (see note) and process well to combine. Use as soon as possible after processing. The filling will set a bit and be harder to spread the longer it sits.
Assembly/Baking:
Spread the almond filling evenly over the dough. Roll the dough up from a long edge. Trim rough ends, if necessary, and discard.
Using a thin, serrated knife, cut the roll into 14 equal pieces. The filling is quite sticky! I found that I got cleaner cuts when I used a clean, wet blade. If you clean the blade between cuts and dip the knife in a drinking glass filled with water before cutting (letting excess water drip off), you'll have better success.
Place the cut pieces on baking sheets lined with parchment (see note). Cover the pans and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Tuck the ends of the sweet rolls underneath so the rolls maintain their round shape while baking. Bake sweet rolls 15-18 minutes, or until just golden.
For Glaze:
Combine cherry juice (see note) and sifted powdered sugar in a small bowl, and mix until smooth. Pour the glaze over the sweet rolls and serve immediately. (I suggest not glazing the sweet rolls until you're planning to serve them.)Enjoy!
Notes
Note on almond flour: love the additional kick of almond flavor from almond flour! Notes on almonds: I used blanched almonds for the filling so that they'd be easier to process, with the added bonus that the filling would be a little lighter than the dough so you could see those swirrrrrls a bit better. If you can't find blanched almonds (I couldn't!), then you can blanch them yourself! Bring a pot of water to a boil, (carefully!) add the almonds for about one minute, then drain and cool. The almond skins will pop right off!Note on almond extract paste: The extract paste gives the filling an extra kick of almond flavor, which I love! If you prefer, you can substitute with an equal measure of almond extract.Note on cherry juice: You're going to want to use the best cherry juice you can find so that the cherry flavor shines through! I didn't want to buy cherry juice just for this recipe, so I used the juice of fresh cherries. Just warm about 2 ounces of fresh cherries on the stove until they break down and release their juice, then press the cherries in a fine-mesh strainer to get as much juice out as possible.Note on pastry mat: Rolling the dough out on a pastry mat keeps the dough from sticking to your counter (and it won’t stick to the pastry mat!) without introducing additional flour to the dough. Note on parchment: The filling is quite sticky, so I lined my baking sheets with a nonstick parchment to ensure no sticking and easier cleanup!