Pani Popo (Samoan Coconut Rolls)

Step 1

Coat a 9x13 glass baking dish with cooking spray and arrange rolls evenly to thaw (if doing homemade rolls, roll dough into golf-ball size balls and arrange the same way).

Step 2

Cover with plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray (to keep dough from sticking to the plastic wrap). Allow to rise until doubled in size. This can take 4-5 hours.  If you need the rolls to thaw quicker, follow the quick-rise instructions on the frozen roll packaging.

Step 3

Pre-heat oven to 350-degrees. In a small saucepan, combine coconut milk and sugar over medium heat and whisk until sugar is dissolved and sauce has thickened (about 5 minutes). If you want a thinner sauce, you can just whisk the sugar and coconut milk together in a bowl without heating.

Step 4

Pour about 2/3 of the coconut mixture over the rolls and bake for 20-30 minutes (or according to package/dough recipe instructions) or until golden brown and dough is baked through.

Step 5

Remove from oven and pour remaining coconut mixture evenly over the top of the rolls.

Step 6

The rolls should be sticky and gooey on the bottom (read notes above). Can be served upside down or right-side up.