Lemon Poppy Seed Pinwheels

It’s Sunday morning and the sun is shinning..or attempting to shine.  It seems like we haven’t seen blue sky in weeks, just rain and fog and more rain.  To celebrate the sun,  I felt inspired to make something special for breakfast.  I’ve still got a number of Meyer lemons in my fridge so why not lemon poppy seed something.  I love that combinations of flavors, so I whipped up a batch of poppy seed paste.

Poppy seed paste is really easy to make...you don’t need to buy that stuff in the can.  You take a quarter cup of almonds and grind them in a high speed blender or electric coffee/nut grinder.  Then you combine the ground almonds with a quarter cup of poppy seeds, a quarter cup of honey, a half teaspoon of vanilla, 2 tablespoons of butter substitute, a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of lemon zest.

Put all of these ingredients in a food processor and blend, and you’ve got poppy seed paste.

I started out thinking I would make some scones, so I made a batch of my scone dough, using white whole wheat flour for a more hearty breakfast treat.  I also added the left over lemon zest to the dough  and replaced half of the creamer with lemon juice.   But, as I was rolling the dough out, I changed my mind and decided to make some pinwheels.  Instead of rolling the dough out in a 6” square ( I cut the recipe in half) I made a 6” x 10” rectangle.

Then I spread a 1/4 cup of the poppy seed paste on the dough using an offset spatula and rolled it up.  Then I cut it into six pieces using a cheese knife.  A cheese knife doesn’t stick to the dough like a regular knife.  If you don’t have one, use a regular knife but cut it straight down, don’t saw the dough.

You could top these with a glaze after baking but I think it would make them too sweet and cover up the subtle lemon flavor.  I brushed them with a little melted butter substitute and they were wonderful.

Lemon Poppy Seed Pinwheels

Makes one dozen - Use organic ingredients whenever possible.

For the dough:

4 tablespoons Earth Balance

2 cups white whole wheat flour (or you can use half unbleached white flour)

1/4 cup raw sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup natural non dairy creamer (Silk or Wildwood)

2 small Meyer lemons or one large regular one.

Using a cheese grater, grate the butter substitute on to a plate and put it in your freezer.

Remove the zest from the lemon and juice it.

Take one teaspoon of the zest and set it aside.  

In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and the remaining lemon zest.  

Mix the 1/2 cup non dairy creamer with the lemon juice to make a full cup.  If you don’t have enough lemon juice, add more creamer to make a full cup.

Stir the liquid mixture into the dry mix.

On a floured work surface knead the dough 8 times

You may need to add a little flour so that it doesn’t stick to your hands.

Roll the dough out to a 12 inch square.

Fold the dough in thirds (like a legal paper) and then fold it in thirds in the other direction.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and freeze it for 5 minutes (or refrigerate over night)

Preheat your oven to 400.

Make the poppy seed paste.

Cut the dough in half and roll each half out into a 6” x 10” rectangle.

Spread 1/4 cup of poppy seed paste onto each rectangle.

Roll up the rectangles, starting on the 10” side.

Cut each roll into 6 pieces.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until golden brown

Brush the top with a little Earth Balance.

For the poppy seed paste:

1/4 cup almonds

1/4 cup poppy seeds

1/4 cup honey

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons non hydrogenated butter substitute (Earth Balance)

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 pinch of salt

Grind the almonds until they’re fine.

Put the almonds and the rest of the ingredient in your food processor and process for one minute.