Egg Nog Rolls - Experiment #1

I had some eggnog in the fridge approaching it's ""sell by" date and nobody in the house is a big eggnog fan.  

I looked at the ingredients list on the bottle (milk, cream,sugar,corn syrup,skim milk,egg yolks, and a bunch of mysterious flavoring and additives).  It sounded like the stuff somebody might put in sweet rolls or coffee cake.

Rather than throw the eggnog out I decided to try making sweet rolls out of it.

Lacking a recipe, I resorted to experimentation to produce a reasonably nice dough.  My initial attempt turned out too stiff, so I poured some more eggnog into the stand mixer.  I overshot and a dough that was too soft so I weighed in an extra 50 grams of flour.  Finally I got a dough consistency I liked - moist, soft, but workable.  A taste check indicated it was pretty nice, not in need of extra sugar.  I checked the proportions by weighing the final dough and got the following:

500 grams all purpose flour

500 grams eggnog (approximate) [ I used "Southern Comfort" brand eggnog. ]

1.5 teaspoons instant yeast

1.5 teaspoons salt

I hadn't brought the eggnog to room temperature so the dough was cold.  I put the covered mixing bowl in warm water from the kitchen tap to warm up and proof.  Two hours later the dough was well risen.  I formed it into 6 rolls and left them on a sheet pan  with a towel over them until dinner was on the table, then baked them 15 minutes at 450F which turns out to be too hot & long.  They turned out very dark, almost black on the bottom.

Despite being overcooked, the rolls were edible and actually quite tasty except for the singed crust.  They were nice and soft inside with excellent flavor and texture.  My wife and a guest agree on this.

I think that with a little work this would be a very nice recipe.  I'm not sure if it will work with other brands of eggnog or not.  The eggnog I used seemed quite thick and flavorful.  Tentatively what I need to do is work out a better baking time and temperature.  My wife thinks it would make a nice braided loaf.  I think it might benefit from adding some raisins and maybe a sugar glaze on top.

I have some eggnog left.  I'll try again tomorrow or the next day.