Plum Rolls Recipe (Zwetschgenschnecken)

The theme for our latest dinner club was German food. I wanted to make an authentic German dessert. Of course, my first thought was German chocolate cake. But I thought it would be too expected and wanted to find something else. I headed over to Allrecipes.com to find something tasty. I’m not sure how authentic these are, but they sure tasted great.

I’ve actually never had plums before so I didn’t know what to expect. I would say that if a peach and a cherry had a baby, it would be a plum.

The dough for the plum rolls is a cream cheese based dough (similar to the dough used here), which I’m a big fan of! I actually made the rolls at my house but baked them at the dinner club. We always watch a movie, so the rolls baked while we were watching the movie and then I served them hot with ice cream on top. Everyone ate these right up! The almonds add a great flavor and texture combination

German Plum Rolls (Zwetschgenschnecken) – from Allrecipes.com
1 cup chopped almonds
1 1/3 cups cream cheese - I used Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese
1/2 cup milk – I used soymilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 pinch salt
5/8 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup baking powder
7/8 cup plum butter - you can find this near the preserves at your grocery store
1 3/4 pounds plums, pitted and diced
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 10-inch springform pan.

Place a skillet over medium-high heat. Toast the almonds in the hot skillet until they turn brown; set aside to cool.

Combine the cream cheese, milk, oil, salt, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Mix in the flour and baking powder; knead together until smooth. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, and roll the dough into a 20-inch square. Spread the plum butter, plums, and toasted almonds over the dough. Roll the dough up tightly like a jelly roll. Cut into 12 even slices. Arrange rolls in prepared pan. Brush butter over top of the rolls.

Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, 40 to 55 minutes.