It is time to bake for Bread bakers and our lovely host Julie at Hostess At Heart picked a very apt theme for this time of the year. Mother’s day is less than a week away (FYI: it’s May 9th) and she asked us to bake a Mother’s day or May flowers inspired bread. So I made this Apricot Sweet Rolls to celebrate Mother’s Day. My first idea was to look flower shaped breads but I wasn’t in a mood to make elaborate shapes with my bread. Then I started thinking what kind of a bread my mom would like. My mom has a very big sweet tooth (that she passed on to my sister and I — that is another story to tell) and so the regular not-so-sweet breads will not appeal to her. She prefers pastries over crusty breads, which left me with sweet enriched breads.
I found the recipe for orange sweet rolls on King Arthur flour and they looked too good not to try. I subbed orange marmalade in the recipe with apricot preserves and the rolls turned out sweet, flaky and delicious. I also subbed a cup of all purpose flour with wholewheat flour — but that didn’t affect the texture of the rolls that much.
My mom is visiting us from India, so I served them warm with the orange icing. I have to say these rolls are addictive — the orange icing on top makes them extra special. My mom asked for another roll after eating the first — that means it really good 🙂
Happy Mother’s Day to all of you. I’m soooo excited to celebrate it with my mom this year. It’s been more than 15 years since I moved out of home and this is the first time in all these years that she’s with us for Mother’s day. I am so looking forward to it.
Don’t forget to check what our creative bakers came up with this month:
- Almond Rose Bread by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
- Apricot Sweet Rolls by Cook’s Hideout
- Banana and Chocolate Chip Flower Cake by Sneha’s Recipe
- Beetroot Cinnamon Rolls by Herbivore Cucina
- Blueberry Muffin Cups with Warm Lemon Sauce by A Salad For All Seasons
- Cherry Almond Kugelhopf by Hostess At Heart
- Cheesy Pizza Roses by Food Lust People Love
- Flower Bread with Savoury Onion Filling by Sara’s Tasty Buds
- Lemon Poppyseed Muffins by A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Orange Marmalade Rolls by Ambrosia
- Peynirli Cicek Pogaca/ Turkish Cheese Flower Bread by Gayathri’s Cook Spot
- Pogaca -Turkish Breakfast Bread by Mayuri’s Jikoni
- Pumpkin Lavender Coconut Biscuits by The Schizo Chef
- Sfoof by Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Sunflower Crumb Muffins by Baking Sense
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page.
We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.
If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to [email protected]

Apricot Sweet Rolls
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup Wholewheat flour
- 2½ tsp Instant Yeast
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup Lukewarm Water
- 6 tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
- ¼ cup Dry MIlk
- ¼ cup Potato flour
For the Filling:
- ¼ cup Apricot Preserves
For the Icing:
- ½ cup Confectioners Sugar
- 1~2 tbsp Fresh squeezed Orange juice
- ½ tsp Fiori di Sicilia
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients for the dough in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of the stand mixer. Mix and knead until a smooth, soft, pliable dough forms. Cover and set the dough aside for 1~1½ hours or until it gets very puffy.
- Lightly grease 2 8" round cake pans.
- Gently deflate the dough and roll it out into a 16"x12" rectangle. Spread the apricot jam on the dough leaving a 1" border around the edges.
- Roll the dough along the long side into a tight log. Pinch the seams well.
- Using a serrated knife, slice the log into 16 slices. Arrange the 8 slices in each of the cake pans. Cover the pans and let them rise for 45minutes~1hour or until the rolls are very puffy and start to crowd in the pan.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake the rolls for 23~25 minutes or until the edges and the top start to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven.
- Loosen the edges with a knife and turn them over onto a wire rack.
- To serve right away, whisk confectioners sugar, orange juice and Fiori di Sicilia in a small bowl to form a spreadable icing. Spread the icing on the hot rolls and enjoy!!
- To serve later, let the rolls cool completely, then wrap in plastic wrap and store at room temperature for 3 days. When ready to serve, warm the rolls in a preheated 350°F oven and bake for 10~15 minutes, until they are nicely warmed. Spread with icing and enjoy!!
Namita
Hello Pavani, we baked almost similar bread 🙂 I used orange marmalade in my rolls. I loved the use of apricot preserve in your rolls. They look delicious. Your mom would definitely love them. Have a nice time with your mom.
Wendy
I prefer orange over apricot as well. Enjoy your visit with your Mom.
Karen
Mom tested, mom approved! These sound delicious and your shaping is flawless!
Mimi
Absolutely gorgeous! And a nice change from the basic cinnamon variety!
[email protected]
Oh these rolls look beautiful. Your photos are soooo inviting! I can’t wait to try this recipe! Hope you have a wonderful Mother’s Day! 🙂
Eileen
It’s so nice that your mom was able to taste your mother’s day treat in person. I love that you made the sweet rolls with apricot. It’s one of my favorite fruits. Enjoy the visit with mom!
Mayuri Patel
Lovely tempting rolls. Glad your mum loved them. Enjoy your time with your mum as these moments are precious.
Julie
These rolls are a beautiful tribute to your mother and it’s wonderful that she is there to celebrate Mother’s Day with you this year. I would love these rolls too. I have a bit of a sweet tooth too.
Huma Kalim
Beautiful tribute to your mother with these delicious rolls
Mina Joshi
These rolls look delicious . I love the way you make the dough.
Sujata Roy
Rolls looks awesome. Loved it. Bookmarking it.
Nayna
These apricot rolls look delicious and and I love the shape of them.They would be great to tear and share.
Mayuri Patel
Pavani, these rolls look so delicious and tempting. Its must be so nice to have your mum over to celebrate Mother’s Day. Treasure all those precious moments. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe for the Mother’s Day collection.
Chef Mireille
these shaped rolls look gorgeous
[email protected]
The breads look so wonderful!! I just adore how you made them so even!! 🙂
sharanya
Apricot preserve sounds delicious…….Hope your mom liked these rolls………
sneha datar
Delicious Rolls and look so amazing, I am sure my your mom liked these rolls.