Blueberry Cream Cheese Rolls

In order to make the perfect pastry you need the perfect pastry dough. The tricky part about this dough is that it needs time to chill, infact it needs time to chill twice. I suggest making it the day before you want to try this recipe or just make sure you leave yourself enough time. If you do not have the time to wait for chilling, store bought pastry dough will also do the trick (but in my opinion homemade dough tops any store-bought if you have the option).

Making the Pastry Dough:

In a bowl, combine warm water and fast-acting yeast. Allow the yeast to activate for about 5-10 minutes, or until it becomes frothy.

(Tip: If your yeast mixture does not froth after 15 minutes, you may need to start again by making sure your water was warm enough or that your yeast has not expired)

In a separate bowl, mix warm milk, egg, granulated sugar, and salt until well combined. Add in the yeast mixture and stir until combined.

In a food processor, add your chilled butter and flour and pulse until you acheive a sand-like consistency. Do not over pulse! The butter chunks is what will make your pastry so nice and flaky!

Gradually add the butter-flour mixure to the liquid mixture, mixing until everything comes together to form a consistent dough. Again, do not over mix!

Refrigerate the dough for a minimum of 4 hours (or overnight).

Once the dough has chilled for a minimum of 4 hours, it is time to do the first roll.

On a well floured surface, roll out your dough into a rectangle that is about 3-4mm thick with rolling pin.

Once rolled smooth fold each end towards the middle. Roll out again. Repeat this step three times.

Wrap in cling wrap and return it to the fridge to chill for another hour or two.

In the meantime, prepare the blueberry lemon cream cheese filling.

To make the Cream Cheese Filling:

In a bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth and creamy.

Add egg yolk, vanilla extract, and lemon rind.

Mix until the filling is well combined and smooth.

In a small sauce pan, heat up your blueberries, honey and lemon juice. Cook stiring often, until the blueberries soften and release some juice.

Let this mixture cool.

Add the blueberry mixture to the cream cheese mixture and stir until well combined.

Assembly and Baking:

Once the dough has been chilled and your cream cheese mixture is ready, you can now assemble your rolls.

Roll out your dough one last time and do a final fold and roll.

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).

On a floured surface, roll out the pastry dough into a rectangle of approximately 12x16 inches and 3mm thick.

Spread the cream cheese filling evenly over the rolled-out dough, leaving a small border around the edges.

Sprinkle any extra blueberries over the cream cheese filling if you wish.

Starting from the longer edge, gently roll the dough into a tight-ish log, similar to a cinnamon roll.

This will be a messy stage, but just trust the process and do the best you can.

Using a sharp knife, carefully cut the rolled log into slices, about 1 to 1.5 inches thick. Tip: If you find the dough a little too soft and that it is getting hard to cut or manipulate. Simply put it back in the fridge to chill for 20-30 minutes.

Place the slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving some space between each roll for rising.

Using a pastry brush, brush the top and sides of the pastries with egg wash before placing them in the oven.

**Make the wash by beating together the egg, water, sugar and salt in a small bowl.

Bake the pastry rolls in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until they are golden brown and the filling is set.

Once baked, remove the rolls from the oven and allow them to cool slightly on a wire rack.

Optionally, drizzle with additional toppings for extra flavor (see suggestions in the ingredient section).

Serve the Blueberry Lemon Cream Cheese Pastry Rolls warm and enjoy the delightful combination of flavors.