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Huckleberries are the key to the wonderful purple color of the icing and the decadent berries all through the dough. Huckleberries are native to the northwest surrounding Glacier National Park and are prevalent up in Troy, Montana in June and July, and this recipe requires a whopping 2 cups of these valuable wild-growing berries packed with phytonutrients.

And now for...

Ingredients

For the icing:

1 package full fat cream cheese, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons whole milk

For the filling:

5 tablespoons melted butter

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoons of cinnamon

For the dough:

1/2 stick melted butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 TSP)

2 cups huckleberries

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup water

1 whole egg

3 1/2 cups flour

Remember - when using frozen huckleberries in a baking recipe... leave the huckleberries frozen.  Also, throw a tablespoon or two of flour in the bowl with the frozen berries and let them get good a coated with the moisture absorbing flour before throwing them in a mix.

Mixing frozen huckleberries with flour seals up the berries and their juice into little pockets of glorious wonder. It helps keep their moisture in the little pockets of berries and not flooding out to the whole recipe (and subsequently turning it purple).

Huckleberries  have a very high sugar content. This means that when you thaw them or mix them with sugar, they start to get syrupy almost immediately. This is wonderful when making a topping but turns your baking timeline into a mad sprint to get the product into the oven.

Remember to double bag any fresh or frozen huckleberries for storage. Huckleberries laugh at our idea of disposable plastic and will promptly come through a bag layer. Trust me. I learned this the hard way and turned a freezer (and the refrigerator below it) purple once. Double bag. No exceptions.

Here we go!

Preheat the oven to 350.

Use a bit of room temperature butter or shortening and grease a large casserole dish - or use giant muffin pans for a single serving size cinnamon roll.

Use a stand mixer, or if you just need a bicep and shoulder work out, grab a big bowl and wooden spoon... (I love my Kitchen Aid.) Combine the active dry yeast and the sugar. Combine the milk and water and heat in the microwave for about a minute or so. The mix should be very warm but not so hot that you kill the poor yeast. Stir it in with the yeast and sugar, and let it sit about 5 minutes until nice and foamy.

Grease a large bowl and set aside. (This is for the dough to rise in.)

Chuck in a room temperature egg and melted butter and mix.

Mix in the flour a cup or so at a time. It should pull away from the bowl and be a bit tacky. Use more or less flour to get a beautiful soft dough. Lob it on the counter with a bit of extra flour and start kneading. Get it nice and elastic - about 10 minutes - and shape it into a ball. Pop it in the greased bowl and flip it so both sides are coated. This seals the moisture in the dough while it rises and ensures you do not have to try to wrestle it out of the bowl later like fighting an angry glue-covered octopus. Cover the bowl and let it rise until doubled in size (40ish minutes).

Here comes the tricky part!

Punch down dough and lob it on a nice work surface (flour the surface!) Pat it out to make a rectangle that is wider than it is tall (facing you) and is about 1/4 inch thick. Baste the melted butter over the surface, and mix the brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon together. I am a believer that this should be a generous portion of sweet goodness here. I also have a gym in my house for a reason. Use your discretion here. Spread this sugar mixture over the dough evenly and then follow that with our flour rolled frozen huckleberries. Leave about the last inch of that rectangle free of huckleberries or you'll be chasing them all over your kitchen, because your next step is to roll this rectangle towards you - jelly roll style.

The trick to this is keeping everything in the roll and leaving it seam side down while you cut (gently) this jelly roll into slices of the desired thickness for your pan. (I suggest at least 1 and 1/2 inches).

Quickly now - the huckleberries are melting and purple is spreading everywhere on your counter. Pop them cut side up into a pan or in muffin cups.

Sigh with relief when they are in the oven for 35-45 minutes - or until the dough is golden brown and fully cooked. Now go find the lost berries and make sure your countertops are not permanently purple.



For the icing on the buns!

Save some juice!

Search out that bowl or bag and see if there is a teaspoon or two of purple juice left over. Mix this with the cream cheese, powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Frost the rolls evenly while still warm and serve immediately. These are so good overlooking our riverfront bed and breakfast here in Troy, Montana.