Trinidad Currants Roll
27.3.18
| Recipe by Renz
Just imagine sitting eating a flaky party stuffed with sweetened currants.
Flakes everywhere. Nothing like a good old Trinidad currants roll. The perfect
afternoon snack.
I am so happy to finally be able to share this all-time favorite Caribbean dessert with you. This currant-based dessert is a labor of love, or more so patience.
If you are new to this treat. It literally is a flaky crust that we roll spiced up currants into. Then bake it till golden brown. The flakier, the better.
It is a total roll of messy goodness!! And we don't want it any other way.
Currants roll is one of the major treats sold at your bakeries along with jelly buns, coconut tart, sweet bread and hops bread.
I had to do a little conversion to share this recipe with you guys.
I have some family with a bakery and they make this in obviously large batches. Which I obviously did not need to make.
When she gave me what she uses, they were not only large were also imperial measurements.
So there I was trying to convert and re-measure and running back to my computer to research.
After all that frustration, I decided I had to have something close by in my kitchen, and I made a pretty conversion chart to print and save.
And I am sharing this chart with you.
Now back to the goodies.
Equipment
Food processor
Baking tray
Cooling rack
Making flaky pastry calls for patience, something I don't really have much of.
Flay pastry requires patience and the fridge.
But it's worth it for that messy, falling everywhere crust.
So let's discuss this flaky pastry making.
A lot of people shy away from making flaky pastry. It can be a failure project. I've been there a few times.
There is nothing wrong with buying pre-made pastry crust at all. These tips relate to both bought and homemade flaky pastry.
1. Take your time
Patience is key here. The pastry needs to "relax" during the process. The rest periods help to get the butter to set so that it stays firm. We also want the dough to not be too stiff so that we can easily roll it out.
2. Make sure your surface is cold.
Your butter is nice and cold and firm so that it doesn't escape out the pastry edges when we are rolling it out. So a cold surface would help to make sure the temperature of the butter stays low while we work with
3. Get your layers even
So that we can an even rise of our pastry roll, we want to make sure that we roll the pastry to as close as the same size as possible whenever we roll it out. It is also the same for when we are folding it.
4. Easy on the flour
I love to add "a little flour" when rolling out to help with turning the pastry. But this is added flour to the dough. A good thing to do is dust off any excess flour you see on there.
5. Oven Temperature is nice and hot
You want to make sure your oven is preheated before putting in your item. Not just now heating up but has reached the required temperature.
And then those currants. You can also easily use raisins instead.
And what is so good about this dough recipe is that you can also use it to make coconut rolls and cheese rolls.
But currants roll is definitely my favorite.
These can be given that "just baked" feeling by throwing it back into the oven/toaster oven to get it warmed up and nice again.
It can also be stored in the freezer after baking, taken out and brought to room temperature then put into the oven to toast.
Nice and warm.
Thanks so much for stopping by and reading my posts. It is much appreciated. Please, if you can like, share, yum and/or pin this, especially if you enjoyed it.
I am so happy to finally be able to share this all-time favorite Caribbean dessert with you. This currant-based dessert is a labor of love, or more so patience.
If you are new to this treat. It literally is a flaky crust that we roll spiced up currants into. Then bake it till golden brown. The flakier, the better.
It is a total roll of messy goodness!! And we don't want it any other way.
Currants roll is one of the major treats sold at your bakeries along with jelly buns, coconut tart, sweet bread and hops bread.
I had to do a little conversion to share this recipe with you guys.
I have some family with a bakery and they make this in obviously large batches. Which I obviously did not need to make.
When she gave me what she uses, they were not only large were also imperial measurements.
So there I was trying to convert and re-measure and running back to my computer to research.
After all that frustration, I decided I had to have something close by in my kitchen, and I made a pretty conversion chart to print and save.
And I am sharing this chart with you.
![]() |
Once you subscribe, you’ll be directed to my printables page where you can download the printable to your computer. |
Now back to the goodies.
Ingredients for Trinidad currant rolls
I like that currants roll ingredients are pretty basic kitchen staples:
- margarine
- brown sugar
- cinnamon
- eggs
- currants/raisins
- water
- salt
- vegetable shortening
- flour
Food processor
Baking tray
Cooling rack
Preparation
Making flaky pastry calls for patience, something I don't really have much of.
Flay pastry requires patience and the fridge.
But it's worth it for that messy, falling everywhere crust.
So let's discuss this flaky pastry making.
Tips for making flaky pastry
A lot of people shy away from making flaky pastry. It can be a failure project. I've been there a few times.
There is nothing wrong with buying pre-made pastry crust at all. These tips relate to both bought and homemade flaky pastry.
1. Take your time
Patience is key here. The pastry needs to "relax" during the process. The rest periods help to get the butter to set so that it stays firm. We also want the dough to not be too stiff so that we can easily roll it out.
2. Make sure your surface is cold.
Your butter is nice and cold and firm so that it doesn't escape out the pastry edges when we are rolling it out. So a cold surface would help to make sure the temperature of the butter stays low while we work with
3. Get your layers even
So that we can an even rise of our pastry roll, we want to make sure that we roll the pastry to as close as the same size as possible whenever we roll it out. It is also the same for when we are folding it.
4. Easy on the flour
I love to add "a little flour" when rolling out to help with turning the pastry. But this is added flour to the dough. A good thing to do is dust off any excess flour you see on there.
5. Oven Temperature is nice and hot
You want to make sure your oven is preheated before putting in your item. Not just now heating up but has reached the required temperature.
And then those currants. You can also easily use raisins instead.
And what is so good about this dough recipe is that you can also use it to make coconut rolls and cheese rolls.
But currants roll is definitely my favorite.
These can be given that "just baked" feeling by throwing it back into the oven/toaster oven to get it warmed up and nice again.
It can also be stored in the freezer after baking, taken out and brought to room temperature then put into the oven to toast.
Nice and warm.
Catch some more snacks/desserts:
Don't forget to get your free
Kitchen Conversion Chart.
Thanks so much for stopping by and reading my posts. It is much appreciated. Please, if you can like, share, yum and/or pin this, especially if you enjoyed it.
Yield: 4 Logs

Trinidad Currants Roll
This currants roll is a flaky pastry crust, filled with an abundance of
currants. A popular snack in Trinidad and Tobago. This dough can also be
filled with cheese or coconut filling
Ingredients:
For Flaky Pastry Dough
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup margarine, cold and cut into cubes
- 3/4 cup shortening, cold and cut into cubes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 cup ice cold water (approximately)
For Currants Filling
- 2 cup currants
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons softened margarine
Instructions:
How to cook Trinidad Currants Roll
For Currants Filling
- Combine sugar with currants and cinnamon
For Flaky Pastry
- Blend together your shortening and margarine. Divide into four parts
- Heat oven to 400 degrees
- Add flour, brown sugar and one part of fat from step one and combine. Cutting into until mixture resembles breadcrumbs
- Add cold water (a little at a time) until mixture holds together.
- Roll out on a lightly floured board into a rectangular shape
- Add another part of fat (step 1) to top 2/3 of the rolled out pastry.
- Fold the top part of pastry 2/3 rds down.
- Fold the bottom part of pastry over top
- Seal edges with the rolling pin
- Turn pastry so that the fold is now lengthwise
- Roll out again to a rectangular shape and repeat steps 5 through 7
- Do this another time (Total roll and fold with fat would be three times)
- Roll out for the fourth time (do not use any fat), fold as above
- Put pastry on a floured sheet and cover and leave refrigerated for 30 to 45 minutes.
- Roll pastry out into a large oblong like shape
- Brush the inside with softened margarine
- Evenly distribute currants mixture over pastry
- Roll up pastry length ways
- Place roll on a baking sheet with roll end at the bottom
- Place some diagonal marks on top of rolled batter (or use a fork to punch some holes)
- Place in oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes
- Remove from oven and brush roll with egg wash
- Return and bake for another 8 minutes or until golden
- Cool and slice diagonally
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Thanks for your recipe, I am definitely going to try it. One thing I observed is I think the oven was lit too early, maybe after step 17 might be better so the oven would not be on while the pastry is being chilled for 30-45 minutes.
ReplyDeleteAhh yes. Thank you for that suggestion. Makes sense rather having it on all the time. I just know I forget to turn on the oven and ready to bake so habit has be turning it on early.
Delete