This Peanut Butter and Jelly Rolls recipe may involve a bit of a mess to make, but it's SO worth it. A super fun variation on cinnamon rolls!
No worries, it’s all good, I’ve just been out enjoying my newfound mobility, doing a lot of hiking, etc. I post all of our adventures over on 2 Nerds in a Truck, if you’re interested!
Anyway.
Finally getting around to posting this recipe, even though it’s July and I’d planned to do it late last winter. Ah well, it’s winter for half the planet, right?
For the rest of us, there’s always Pinterest and bookmarking to set a recipe aside until we even *want* to bake again!
I wanted to bake something for my husband’s breakfasts, but wanted to do something NEW. I’d tossed around a few ideas in terms of basic format - quick bread, scones, etc - and he settled on “bastardized cinnamon rolls”.
After a quick Q & A - “Sweet or savoury?”, “Fruity or chocolatey?” “Nuts or no?”, these peanut butter jelly rolls ended up as the natural response to his set of replies.
They’re made with a peanut butter yeast dough, and filled with peanut butter and jelly.
We decided to go a bit extra with it, and keep the peanut butter and jelly separated, for a cooler look. No worries, this only takes an extra minute or two of effort!
The result is a super soft, tasty bun with a great filling. I was initially going to do a glaze, but he thought they were perfect as they were.
Anyway, let’s get to it!
Ingredients
This recipe uses SUPER simple ingredients - most or all are pantry staples. If you’re missing an ingredient, you’ll have no trouble finding it in any grocery store!
A few notes for you:
All-Purpose Flour
This recipe was designed using All Purpose Flour, but Bread Flour would also work..
I don’t recommend swapping it out for cake flour, as you really want the high gluten content of all-purpose or bread flour, to support the dough structure.
If you want to use some whole wheat flour, you can swap out about ⅓ of the flour for whole wheat flour. Any more than that, and you’ll run into texture and/or moisture level issues.
Peanut Butter
You’ll want to use a smooth, creamy peanut butter in this dough recipe.
Chunky will not only give the dough a weird texture (and it would be unpleasant to knead by hand, I’d imagine), it’ll mess with the moisture level of the dough.
Can’t have peanut butter? Feel free to use a different nut butter, or a sunflower butter if needed.
Anyway, that said... you CAN use chunky peanut butter in the filling. You may need a little more than the ½ cup called for, though, as chunky won’t spread as far.
Jelly
We usually make this with grape jelly, as that’s what we both think of when we’re talking about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
That said, strawberry jam / strawberry preserves, or raspberry jam / raspberry preserves would also be great.
Also, when we have some on hand?
Blackcurrant Jelly. SO good!
Everything Else
Rounding out this recipe, you will need:
Granulated Sugar
Active Dry Yeast
Pure Vanilla Extract
Salt
... Like I said, super simple ingredients. I don’t have anything to add, as far as these last few go!
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How to Make Peanut Butter and Jelly Rolls
The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, here is the pictorial walk through:
Make the Peanut Butter Dough
Stir yeast and 1 tablespoon of the sugar into warm water, allow to stand for 10 minutes – it should get very bubbly.
Pour in yeast mixture, ½ cup of the peanut butter, and vanilla extract, stir to combine.
Dump dough out onto a floured surface, knead until soft and elastic, 5-10 minutes. (OR: mix it in a stand mixer with a dough hook for 5 minutes or so!)
Once dough is fully kneaded, place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise in a warm spot for one hour, or until doubled in size.
Assembly
Generously grease a 9 x 13″ baking pan with pan spray, line with parchment paper. Set aside.
Once dough has doubled in size, roll out on a floured work surface. Aim to make it a large rectangular shape, say 20 x 12″ or so.
Spread the grape jelly on the larger piece, leaving a 1″ border around the edge.
Note: You can *slightly* heat the peanut butter to make it easier to spread, but you don’t want it to be liquid!
Be careful to roll up and over, to avoid just pushing the filling and second piece of dough across the jelly.
Carefully place each roll into the pan, spacing them evenly.
While waiting for the buns to rise, heat oven to 350F.
Before and after the final rise.
Serve warm.
Leftovers
Once cooled to room temperature, rolls can be wrapped in plastic wrap or transferred to an airtight container.
Will keep for a few days at room temperature, or a week or so in the fridge.
More Breakfast and Brunch Recipes
Looking for more ideas to jazz up your breakfast experience! Here are a few more breakfast recipes for you:
Ambrosia Belgian Waffles
Apple Cinnamon Buns
Bacon Wrapped Breakfast Meatloaf
Baking Powder Biscuits
Biscuits & Gravy - MY way!
Blueberry Banana Bread
Breakfast Bagel Strata
Breakfast Pizza
Chai Cinnamon Rolls
Deluxe Pizza Strata
Easy Banana Bread
Easy Cheese Souffle
Fig, Honey, and Goat Cheese Strudel
Ham and Swiss Breakfast Pizza
Ham, Swiss, and Kale Strata
How to Make Peameal and Back Bacon
Keto Smoked Salmon Pizza
Maple Walnut Spiced Pumpkin Buns
Peanut Butter Banana Bread
Smoked Gouda and Chive Scones
Rosemary Peach Balsamic Scones
Strawberry Orange Rolls
The BEST Hash Browns/ Skillet Potatoes
Looking for even quicker options? Check out my Muffin Recipes, too! There are also some fantastic Bagel Recipes on this blog...
Peanut Butter and Jelly Rolls
Equipment
- 9 x 13 cake pan
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups warm – NOT hot! - water
- 4 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar divided
- 3 ½ cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Smooth Peanut Butter divided
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Pan Spray
- ⅔ cup Grape Jelly
Instructions
Peanut Butter Dough
- Stir yeast and 1 tablespoon of the sugar into warm water, allow to stand for 10 minutes – it should get very bubbly.
- In a large mixing bowl - or in the bowl of an electric mixer - combine the flour, remaining sugar, and salt.
- Pour in yeast mixture, ½ cup of the peanut butter, and vanilla extract, stir to combine.
- Dump dough out onto a floured surface, knead until soft and elastic, 5-10 minutes. (OR: mix it in a stand mixer with a dough hook for 5 minutes or so!)
- Once dough is fully kneaded, place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise in a warm spot for one hour, or until doubled in size.
Assembly
- Generously grease a 9 x 13″ baking pan with pan spray, line with parchment paper.
- Once dough has doubled in size, roll out on a floured work surface. Aim to make it a large rectangular shape, say 20 x 12″ or so.
- Cutting from long end to long end, slice the rectangle into 2 pieces, with one being about twice the size of the other. (See post for photos!)
- Spread the grape jelly on the larger piece, leaving a 1″ border around the edge.
- Center the second piece of dough over the jelly, carefully and gently spread the remaining peanut butter over the dough, leaving a 1" border on the top and bottom (outer) edges.
- You can slightly heat the remaining peanut butter to make it easier to spread, but you don’t want it completely liquid.
- Starting with one short side of the dough, tightly roll the dough up into a large log. Be careful to roll up and over, to avoid just pushing the filling and second piece of dough across the jelly.
- Using a very sharp knife, slice the roll into 12 equal pieces.
- Carefully place each roll into the pan, spacing them evenly. Cover pan with plastic wrap, allow to rise one more time – about 20 minutes.
- While waiting for the buns to rise, heat oven to 350F.
- Once final rise is over, pop the pan in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown and perfect.
- Serve warm.
Notes
Nutrition
Thanks for Reading!... and hey, if you love the recipe, please consider leaving a star rating and comment! |
Marie Porter
We love making these peanut butter and jelly rolls, and would love to hear what you think!