Whole Grain Cranberry Vanilla Dinner Rolls with Whipped Vanilla Bean Maple Butter
Take your holiday menu to the next level with these nutty whole grain dinner rolls! They’re full of hearty whole wheat, sunflower seeds, oats, and quinoa, with a hint of sweetness from dried cranberries and rich vanilla. Serve with a fluffy vanilla bean maple butter- your guests will adore!
This is a sponsored post, written by me, and created in partnership with Nielsen Massey Vanillas. All opinions expressed herein are straight from my heart.
It’s Friday morning y’all! Can you believe another week has whizzed by?
It sure went in a hurry for me. I’ve been traveling since Monday. You may have noticed all the tweets I’ve been sending from Chicago. Earlier this week I attended a most incredible blogger retreat, hosted by my besties over at KitchenAid. And now I am living it up at BlogHer Food. It’s been a blast, but you know me, I’m a homebody, and I’m already feeling a little homesick. I’m looking forward to getting home to my boys, and to starting to plan my Thanksgiving menu.
It’ll be here before we know it!
One thing that’s for sure going to be on the table this Thanksgiving is a pan of these amazing homemade dinner rolls. They’re loaded with hearty texture from whole wheat, quinoa, oats, flax, and sunflower seeds, with a soft/chewy texture and a great yeasty flavor. But the best part is the hint of sweetness you get from the dried cranberries and vanilla. There’s just so much going on! And it’s all so home-y and comforting, and it just screams family and holiday.
The only thing that could make these rolls any better is a generous smear of whipped vanilla bean maple butter. I just love the contrast of sweet and salty, and this butter totally brings it. It’s beautifully complex but perfectly balanced. I used Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste, so you see all those gorgeous little black flecks, and it’s just bursting with rich vanilla flavor.
Even though there’s yeast involved, this recipe couldn’t be simpler. You know I am myself a novice bread baker, so I wouldn’t post it here if it was overly complicated. This is basically dump, stir, rest, shape, rise, and bake. Boom.
All the Nielsen-Massey products are stellar! My pantry is stocked with just about every extract in their line, and I use them all. But the vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste are my favorites! You can learn lots more about Nielsen-Massey vanillas here and here. And be sure to keep up with all the Nielsen-Massey happenings by following on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube!
This post contains affiliate sales links.
Whole Grain Cranberry Vanilla Dinner Rolls with Whipped Vanilla Bean Maple Butter
Ingredients
For the Whole Grain Cranberry Vanilla Dinner Rolls
- 2 cups (240 g) whole wheat flour, (you may need as much as 2 1/4 cups)
- 3/4 cup (90.91 g) dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup (33.5 g) sunflower seeds
- 1/4 cup (20.25 g) old fashioned oats
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
- 1/4 ounce (7.09 g) dry active yeast, (1 packet)
- 1/2 cup (122 ml) milk
- 1/4 cup (62.5 ml) water
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup (46.25 g) cooked quinoa
For the Whipped Vanilla Bean Maple Butter
- 6 tablespoons (88.72 g) unsalted butter,, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) kosher salt
Instructions
To Make the Whole Grain Cranberry Vanilla Dinner Rolls:
- Place the 2 cups of flour, cranberries, sunflower seeds, oats, flax, and yeast in a large mixing bowl, and stir to combine.
- Place the milk, water, butter, and maple syrup in a large liquid measure, and warm in the microwave, in 15 second increments, until the butter is mostly melted and the mixture feels very warm, but not hot.
- Add the liquid ingredients into the dry, along with the vanilla and quinoa.
- Stir until the dough forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. (Add additional 1/4 cup flour if the dough seems too sticky.)
- Knead the dough for 6-8 minutes, then allow it to rest (covered), for 10 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 12 equal portions, rolling each into a ball.
- Place in a lightly greased 8-inch pan, and allow to rise (covered) for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F, and bake for 20 minutes or until puffy and golden. Serve with Whipped Vanilla Bean Maple Butter.
To Make the Whipped Vanilla Bean Maple Butter:
- Place the butter, vanilla bean paste, maple syrup, and salt in a small bowl and whip on high speed until pale and fluffy.
- Serve at room temperature.
What could I substitute quinoa with?