Pineapple Roll

Danny thought I should rest, so he made me a beautiful dinner last evening and brought it on a tray. How sweet is that?
Not the greatest photo, but really delicious.
You can sort-of see the light, fluffy crumb of the roll in this photo.


A simple, impressive dessert that takes well to just about any fruit. I didn't fuss with the photo because I feel like crap. I wasn't even going to post this, but it met such raves from Mr. Eat the Blog that I changed my mind and grabbed one of the rolls to photograph very much as an afterthought.

If you make this with different fruit, adjust the spices accordingly. You could serve this with whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream, or even some sour cream. I served it with fresh pineapple slices because I don't like to share my heavy cream ;)

You Will Need:

2 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons granulated sugar divided into 1 and three tablespoons
1/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup milk (aprox.)
1/4 cup very soft, but not melted butter
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/16 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups fresh pineapple, cut into small pieces and drained (reserve the juice for something else, or just drink it like I did)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease an 9x13 inch pan.

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 tablespoon of the sugar in a bowl. Cut in the shortening until you have fine crumbs. Add the milk slowly, and stop as soon as you have a soft dough that you will still be able to roll. Roll the dough into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Using your fingers, spread the butter over the surface as evenly as you can without gouging big holes in it. I never gouge big holes in my pastry dough...most of the time....usually.

Sprinkle the butter covered dough with the remaining sugar mixed with the spices. Spread the pineapple on and then carefully roll it up. Cut into 1 1/2 inch slices and layer cut-side up in the pan.

Mix together the brown sugar, lemon juice and water and pour over the pastry. At this point it will look strange and watery, but don't worry-it all gets absorbed and the results are fluffy and delicious. Bake thirty to forty minutes. Serve warm.