Raspberry Twists with Cream Cheese Frosting

Move over cinnamon rolls, there’s a new sweet bun in town! About 6 years ago we were living in Blackfoot, ID and the Downtown Bread Co. there made these delicious raspberry twists. They were super popular and you had to get there early before they sold out. We’ve since moved, but the raspberry twists lives on! Raspberry Twists may not look like cinnamon rolls, but they use the same dough.

First, let’s make the dough. I use my favorite roll recipe–it’s my go to for dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, and raspberry twists. You can find the entire recipe at the bottom of this post. Add the water, yeast and sugar and let sit until the yeast gets all bubbly. I’m mixing it in a Bosch mixer with the dough hook.

Then added the Crisco, flour and salt. We recently partnered as affiliates with Bosch, and let me tell you, my other mixer doesn’t hold a candle to how this baby handles dough. It’s a powerhouse. And I love the tight fit of the splash guard.

Add flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the mixer, but is still a little on the sticky side. Once it was all mixed up, I simply place the top lid on and let the dough raise until it had doubled in size.

Some people are afraid of yeast doughs, but I love to make them and think they are very forgiving.

A couple tricks:

Use warm water. Too hot will kill the yeast and too cold and it won’t work.

Wait to add the yeast until you have added some flour. Salt will kill the yeast too.

When you see your yeast begin to bubble you know it is active and will do it’s job.

This helper kid likes to snitch dough (while keeping his eyes on the TV). I’m pretty sure it’s the only reason he so willingly volunteers to help.

Place a ball of dough (this is about 1/3 of the batch) onto a floured surface.

And roll out, just like you would a cinnamon roll.

Using a pizza cutter, go ahead and square the dough up. Toss the extra pieces back into the bowl to be rolled out with the next set.

Here’s where things start to differ, spread raspberry filling on the top of the dough. I’ve tried raspberry jam before, but really like the thickness and consistency of the filling. You can find it by the pie fillings in the baking aisle.

Then fold the dough over.

Cut into 1-1 1/2″ strips.

And twist and place on a cookie sheet and cover with a dish towel and let raise for 30 minutes. I like to use either a Sil-Pat liner or parchment paper to line my pans to help make clean up quicker. Repeat the roll, fill, cut and twist with the rest of the dough as well.

Bake at 350• for 20 minutes and expect to get a lot of complaints of starving children as they smell these baking. When they come out of the oven and are cooling you can whip up the frosting.

Again in the Bosch, but using the whisks, add 1 pkg cream cheese and 1 cube of butter. Mix this and then add vanilla, 1-1 1/2 lbs of powdered sugar and a little milk to get the right consistency.

Scoop the frosting into a zip-lock bag and snip off a corner with scissors and squeeze onto the cooled twists.

Raspberry Twist Recipe

2 c. warm water
1/2 c. sugar
2 Tbs. yeast
1/2 c. shortening
1 tsp. salt
5-6 c. flour