These sweet rolls are made with Homemade Hawaiian King rolls. Then they are swirled with caramelized pineapple and pineapple curd. These fantastic Hawaiian style pineapple sweet rolls Are just the thing to bring some sunshine to your table.
King's Hawaiian sweet rolls – these rolls taste like that, only better.
This Hawaiian sweet bread recipe is essentially a classic brioche that has a Hawaiian twist by adding pineapple juice, a little bit of ground ginger, and some coconut extract.
King's Hawaiian Rolls are a sweet brioche-style bread. You can find King's Hawaiian bread at most local grocery stores. This bread is sold as a round loaf or in packs of rolls. If you have ever eaten King's Hawaiian rolls, you will know what I mean.
If you haven't ever eaten these delicious rolls, I am so sorry because they are AMAZING!
Good news! Now you can whip up a batch of this sweet roll dough anytime you want.
Ingredients for Hawaiian Sweet Roll Dough
- All-purpose flour:
- Yeast:
- Pineapple juice:
- Buttermilk:
- Butter:
- Eggs:
- Brown Sugar:
- Flavor: dried ginger, vanilla extract, and coconut extract.
How to make Hawaiian Sweet Rolls
- Melt the butter: In a medium saucepan. Once the butter is melted, remove the butter from the heat and add the buttermilk, pineapple juice, brown sugar, and the vanilla and coconut extract.
- Mix dry ingredients: In your mixing bowl, add 3 ¾ cups of the flour, the yeast, salt, and ginger.
- Add the wet ingredients: With the paddle attachment on low, add the melted butter mixture to the mixer. Then add the eggs and the egg yolk one at a time. A sticky dough will form.
- Switch to dough hook: Beat for 7 to 8 minutes. Add the additional ¼ cup of flour if needed. The dough may still be sticky but do not add more than the 4 cups of flour.
- Proof the dough: Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap—proof for about an hour and a half.
PRO-TIP: If it's cooler than Hawaii where you live, you should proof your dough in the oven. Turn your oven to 200℉. Once it's preheated, turn the oven off and place the covered dough inside.
Other ways to bake with this Sweet Dough
- Dinner Rolls: The dough for this recipe can be made by itself and then rolled into 12 to 14 dinner rolls. One of my favorites ways to eat these rolls is this a few slices of deli ham tucked inside. Yum!
- Loaves of Sweet Bread: Form the dough into one round loaf and bake either a cast iron pan or a pie pan.
- Sweet Cinnamon Rolls
What else do you need to make Pineapple Sweet rolls?
Each roll is filled with sweet caramelized pineapple and pineapple curd.
Then, they're baked to a golden-brown deliciousness!
The best part – the whole thing is topped with a tangy-sweet pineapple cream cheese icing.
All the steps for making sweet pineapple rolls
- Make the dough: Then, get it in the pre-warmed oven so that it can start rising.
- Make the caramelized pineapple: Set it aside to cool.
- Make the pineapple curd: Get it in the fridge.
- Assemble your sweet pineapple rolls: Take the risen dough out of the oven and start assembling your sweetrolls.
- Proof the rolls: Once your sweet rolls are put together you'll need to proof them one more time. Cover with plastic wrap. The rolls should double in size before baking.
- Bake the rolls: Preheat the oven to 350℉, Bake for 20 minutes.
- Frosting: Frost with the Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting
Making the Pineapple Curd
There are different methods for making fruit curd. This is an easy double boiler method.
- Add the pineapple juice, eggs, and sugar to a glass or metal bowl.
- Place the bowl over a saucepan filled with about a cup of water.
- Heat and stir continuously until the mixture thickens. (you are looking for a thin pancake batter consistency.)
- Add the butter a little bit at a time, stir the butter in until melted before adding the next portion.
PRO-TIP: If the mixture isn't getting thick add a quater cup of pineapple juice mixed with 2 teaspoons of cornstarch. Continue to heat until the mixture thickens.
Making the Pineapple Caramel
- Drain the juice off of the crushed pineapple, save the juice to use in the pineapple cream cheese frosting.
- Add the crushed pineapple and sugar to a saucepan.
- Heat over medium heat until the caramel starts to turn an amber color.
- Stir occasionally. Your goal is to evaporate off as much liquid as possible and carmelize the sugar. You want this pineapple caramel to be sticky but not too thick.
How to assemble sweet rolls
Roll out the sweet roll dough.
Spread with pineapple caramel.
Spread with pineapple curd.
Roll, and cut.
Place in cast iron pan.
What if you want to bake your sweet rolls the next morning?
- Follow the recipe up to the step where you place them in the pan that you will bake them in and then cover them with plastic.
- Put the sweet rolls in the refrigerator overnight.
- Remove the rolls from the refrigerator in the morning and let them rise for about an hour. You can use the pre-warmed oven for this step.
PRO-TIP: My method for doing the morning rise to remove my sweet rolls from the fridge and then place the pan on a baking sheet. I set it on top of my oven whilie I am preheating the oven to the baking temperature of 350℉. I find that the heat from the oven is just enough to help the dough warm and rise perfectly. The rolls should be doubled in size before you bake them.
My daughter's response to these sweet rolls:
"Mom, these are your soul in bun form." Yeah, pretty much!
More of my Hawaiian Recipes
Pineapple Sweet Rolls
Ingredients
Hawaiian Sweet Rolls
- 1 stick Melted butter
- ¾ cup Pineapple juice
- ½ cup Brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup Buttermilk
- 1 tsp Coconut extract
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 4 cups All-purpose flour
- 2 ¼ tsp Instant yeast 1 packet
- ¼ tsp Ground ginger
- ½ tsp Salt
- 2 Eggs
- 1 Egg yolk
- 1 Egg yolk for washing
Pineapple Curd
- ½ cup Pineapple juice
- ½ cup Granulated sugar
- 4 Egg yolks
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 4 tbsp Unsalted butter, cold cut into pieces
Pineapple Caramel
- 1 can Crushed Pineapple drained, liquid reserved
- ½ cup Sugar
Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces Cream cheese softened
- 4 tbsp Unsalted butter softnened
- Reserved pineapple juice 6 - 7 tbsp
- 2 cups Powdered sugar
Topping
- 4 tbsp Unsalted butter cubed
- ⅓ cup Brown sugar
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 200 ℉.
Hawaiian Sweet Rolls
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan, allow to cool before adding buttermilk, pineapple juice, brown sugar, vanilla and coconut extract.
- Combine 3 ¾ cups of flour, yeast, salt and ground ginger in your mixing bowl.
- Using the paddle attachment, turn the mixing speed on low and slowly pour in the mixture. Continue mixing while adding the 2 eggs and egg yolk. A sticky dough will begin to form.
- Switch to the hook attachment and knead the dough for 7-8 minutes, adding ¼ cup more of flour if necessary. Do note that this is a very sticky dough, so don't add any more than 4 cups of flour total!
- Once the dough has been kneaded, form into a ball and place in a large metal or glass bowl that has been lightly greased. Cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap, turn OFF your oven, place inside and allow to rise for about 1 to 1 ½ hours or until doubled in size. I use this trick all the time to speed up the rising time.
- While the dough is rising make the pineapple curd, pineapple caramel and the pineapple cream cheese frosting.
Pineapple Curd
- Add the pineapple juice, sugar, and egg yolks to the double boiler.
- In a large stainless steel bowl or any heatproof bowl, combine the egg yolks, juice, sugar, and salt. Whisk until well combined.
- Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens. It should be consistency of regular yogurt. This can take up to 10 minutes depending on the temperature of the simmering water.
- Remove from heat. If necessary, strain the curd through a fine mesh sieve to remove bits of egg that may have scrambled.
- Stir in the butter, a little bit at a time, until it is fully melted and mixed in.
- Cover the curd with plastic wrap. Make sure the plastic wrap is touching the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until cold. The curd will thicken as it cools.
- The curd will keep for up to 10 days stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Pineapple Caramel
- Add drained pineapple and sugar to a saucepan.
- Bring to a boil and watch carefully.
- Sugar will start to melt and then turn and light amber color.
- Stir occasionally as mixture thickens and turns to a deep golden color.
Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting
- Place the cream cheese in a mixing bowl. Beat until soft.
- Add sugar, continue to beat.
- Add pineapple juice a few tablespoons at a time.
Assembly and Baking
- Heat oven to 200 ℉.
- Once the dough has doubled, remove and gently press dough into a rectangle.
- Spread the rolled out dough with pineapple caramel and pineapple curd. Roll and seal.
- Using dental floss cut the roll into 12 equally sized rolls.
- Place the rolls into a greased cast-iron skillet. I grease mine with coconut oil.
- Generously butter the tops and sides of each roll. Place a clean kitchen towel over top.
- Turn OFF your oven and place the covered rolls inside to rise until doubled in size.
- Remove the rolls from the oven from the oven.
- Increase the temperature to 350℉
- Return the risen rolls to the preheated oven, Bake for 20 minutes.
- Let cool slightly and add the cream cheese frosting.
- Remove from the oven. Another option is to skip brushing them with the egg wash and bake them, then brush them with melted butter once out of the oven.
- Alternatively, you can add a glaze made from powdered sugar and pineapple juice to the sweet rolls. (See notes for amounts)
What a great version of sweet rolls with pineapple and cream cheese frosting! So darn good!