Currant Rolls from scratch

Currant Rolls cut diagonally

Well its election time in Trinidad, so you know what that means; lots of noisy rallies and politicians promising all sorta things. Well let me make you a promise, you will not be disappointed with this currants roll recipe. The pastry is very simple to make and it is has just the right combination of currants and sugar. It tastes sooo good, you’ll never realize you’re eating something with whole-wheat in it!

I was a little worried at first since I did ‘ratch’ the recipe having never made it before. But when two of the three currant roll logs disappeared without a trace within four hours of being out of the oven I knew I was on to something. Enjoy

Cuisine: Trinidadian

Type: Dessert 

Time: 1hr 40mins
Serves: 15

Skill: Easy

Kid Participation: Some

Ingredients
¾ c            wholewheat flour
2 ¼ c         white flour
150g          butter and shortening (approx 9tb) cold
¼tsp          salt
1c              or more ice cold water

1 c             currants
½ c            sugar
¼ tsp         cinnamon
2tb             butter (soft for brushing) or more
                  Sugar for sprinkling (optional)


Procedure

1.    Put the wholewheat flour, white flour and salt in a large enough bowl and combine.
2.    Make sure your 150g of butter and shortening is very cold so that you can cut it into small cubes with a knife or a pastry blender.  If after you have reduced all the butter and shortening to cubes it starts to melt, place it back in the fridge or freezer to cool and becomes solid again before continuing.
3.    Try to separate the cubes of butter/shortening when you take it out the fridge and cut it into the flour until the mixture resembles peas.

4.    Pour in some of the cold water and mix adding more water until the mixture is moistened. Form the above mixture into a ball by kneading gently for a minute. Put this ball into the fridge and refrigerate for 30 mins.
5.    While the dough is in the fridge mix the currants together with the sugar and cinnamon.
6.    Divide the cold dough into three equal portions and make each portion into a ball.

7.    Roll out a ball of dough into a 30cm × 25cm rectangle and approx 3mm thick.  
8.    Brush the top of the dough with butter and sprinkle a third of the currant sugar mixture evenly leaving a 1” border.
9.    Start at the shorter end of the dough and start rolling tightly. When you finish rolling the dough into a log pinch the ends closed.

10.    Repeat steps 7-9 with the remaining dough.
11.    Grease a cookie sheet and place the logs side by side. Bake at 350° for 45-60mins. 
12.    Brush with butter and sprinkle with sugar when cool. Cut diagonally to serve.