I grew up eating King’s Hawaiian dinner rolls. Mostly, I remember finding them in my lunch sack at elementary school, split and stuffed with slices of ham and Swiss or Havarti. I never told my mom, but I often tossed out the meat and greasy cheese and just ate the bread. Apparently, I haven’t changed much, still preferring carbs over protein and dairy.
It’s been years since I’ve had a taste of King’s Hawaiian, but as soon as I bit into one of these sweet, tender rolls, I was eager to get a second opinion. “You have to try one of these,” I said to my husband, the only person around. “It’s just like King’s Hawaiian.”
“What?” he replied, a blank stare on his face. I immediately pulled up an image of the familiar orange packaging on my phone. Nothing. Apparently, when you’re from New Jersey, “you don’t eat that kind of thing.” I would have to revel in the likeness alone.
Similar to the original, these rolls are pillowy, moist and literally melt in your mouth. But what sets them apart is a generous amount of pineapple kneaded right into the dough. Look closely. Can you see it? The flecks of fruit almost glow.
While I’ve been known to eat these sweet Hawaiian rolls straight from the oven, they also make a mean sandwich. And I’m not talking about a plain old ham and cheese – no offense, Mom. Use them for sweet and salty BLTs. Or fill them and grill them for toasty panini.
Recipe adapted from Yammie’s Noshery.
- ⅓ cup milk
- 2½ teaspoons active dry yeast
- ½ cup light brown sugar, divided
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 8 oz. can crushed pineapple, with juice
- 3½-4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water
- melted butter (optional)
- In a large bowl, heat milk until warm - about 30 seconds in the microwave should do. Add the yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar. Whisk together until thoroughly combined and let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes.
- Add the remaining sugar, olive oil, butter, eggs, pineapple, 3 cups flour and salt to the milk mixture and stir to combine. Continue adding flour, ¼ cup at a time, until dough comes together to form a shaggy ball; it should be tacky but not sticky. Then knead the dough by hand (or with a dough hook attachment) until it’s smooth and elastic - this will take about 10 minutes (or less if using a stand mixer). Shape dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let it rise until doubled in size, 1-2 hours.
- After the dough has risen, punch it down and divide into 12 equal pieces. Gently shape each piece into a ball and arrange evenly in a buttered 9"x13" baking pan. Cover rolls with a clean kitchen towel and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- About 15 minutes before dough has finished rising, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Brush tops of risen rolls with egg wash. Bake for 25 minutes or until tops of rolls are golden brown.
- Remove rolls from the oven and brush with melted butter, if using.
Can I leave the crush pineapple out from this recipe?? Also, what do you do with the juice that’s in the can??
Hi May – I suppose you could leave the crushed pineapple out and just use 2/3 cup of pineapple juice. If you decide to keep the pineapple in, include the juice that’s in the can.
Never would have thought to make my own dinner rolls before.. this is such a good recipe and idea! Love that you used pineapple as well, I just have to try out the recipe!
The sweet Hawaiian rolls are actually based on Portuguese Sweet Bread. My grandmothers, from the Azores, made loaves of sweet bread for every holiday. We loved them. Evea