ROLY-POLY
A traditional South African baked dessert

"Roly-poly" can refer to any one of the following: a plump person; a bug; or a dessert. I use it in the last sense.

My sister asked me a few days ago to make it, and I complied yesterday. She proclaimed the finished product to be the best of its kind she had ever tasted. It might have been an exaggeration, but I was pretty pleased with the end result myself. (The photo is not of the dessert I myself made, but mine looked very favorably comparable.)

I followed my mom's recipe, which she had gotten from the classic South African cookbook, Cook and Enjoy It (an ancient version of the book, but the recipe itself has't changed). Before I made it, I compared the recipe with one I found on the internet. They were exactly the same as far as ingredients go, and virtually the same in terms of measurements, the only difference being the amount of baking powder. The one on the internet calls for 3 teaspoons of baking powder, whereas the one in Cook and Enjoy It calls for 2. I used two.

The ingredients are super-simple - things that you are likely to have in your pantry already. If there is any secret to the success of the dessert, it lies in the quality of the apricot jam. In fact, I (like my mom always did) used apricot preserve, not jam. The cheaper varieties of apricot jam you get in the stores bear little resemblance to good quality apricot jam, and will only detract from the final product. Apricot preserve should be spreadable as is, but if it is really chunky, you could cut the chunks into smaller pieces for better spreadability.

IMPORTANT
The recipe calls for milk - IF NEEDED - to make a firm dough. I didn't need it, so I didn't use any. The last time I made the recipe (about a year ago) I did use milk - all of the stated quantity - and it rendered the dough soft and unworkable, so I had to keep adding flour, which  spoiled the final product.

You don't need a rolling pin to roll out the dough. Any round bottle or large jar will do. If you don't have either, you can simply pat the dough down to the desired thickness with your hands. It shouldn't be too thin as you won't be able to roll it up.

The preserve/jam will inevitably ooze out as you roll up the dough. Just scoop it up and spread over the slices once you've arranged them in the baking dish.

Use a baking dish that is big enough so you won't have to stack the slices on top of one another. You want all the slices to be crispy on top.

I measured out the ingredients for the sauce and got the saucepan (minus the boiling water - I boiled the water in the kettle first) ready BEFORE making the dough. I only made the actual sauce after the slices of rolled up dough were safely installed in the oven dish.

You can enjoy the dessert with cream or custard, or simply as is.

Here is the recipe from Cook and Enjoy It, incorporating a few of my own tweaks. I have changed the order of events to reflect the fact that I prepare the dough first and only then make the sauce. I suggest you read the recipe on the internet, at http://www.africanseer.com/recipes/south-african-recipes/226205-south-african-roly-poly-baked-dessert.html) for comparative purposes; it does supply additional helpful information.

125 ml (1/2 cup) butter or margarine
500 ml (2 cups) all-purpose flour
10 ml (2 teaspoons) baking powder
2 eggs, beaten [I used a small hand whisk to beat the eggs]
milk (about 62 ml = 1/4 cup; ONLY USE IF NEEDED TO MAKE A FIRM DOUGH)
apricot jam [I used apricot preserve, not jam]

Dough:
Sift flour and baking powder together.
Rub butter into flour mixture until well combined.
Add beaten eggs and just enough milk to form a firm dough. It may not be necessary to add any milk at all.

Roll out the dough and spread apricot preserve on top.
Roll up the dough like a Swiss Roll and cut into slices about 2.5 cm thick. Place the slices in a rectangular ovenproof dish.

Sauce:
In a saucepan, mix 375 ml (1 1/2 cups) boiling water with 250 ml (1 cup) sugar and 25 ml (2 tablespoons) butter. Bring it to the boil again while stirring so all the sugar can dissolve.

Pour boiling sauce over slices in oven dish and bake uncovered in a preheated oven at moderate heat (180 degrees Centigrade / 350 degrees Fahrenheit) for 1 hour.

Remove from oven. If not served immediately, DON'T COVER the dish as this will cause condensation, which in turn will soften the baked slices (crispy when coming out of the oven).