Diana's Hawaiian Bread Rolls

I cannot believe all of the 5-star ratings on this recipe--it's SO BAD! I'm sorry, I rarely ever give anything below a 3, but these are just *that* bad ... I followed the recipe, except that I didn't have molasses, so I used more honey ... they were absolutely beautiful when they came out of the oven, and they smelled heavenly ... we couldn't wait to sit down to them! But, OMG, when you bit into them ... all we could taste was lemon extract ... We both think these would have been yummy without that extract, so I am going to try them again without it ... thanks for the recipe, but, I'm sorry ... this was just bad. **I made the recipe w/o the lemon extract, and the rolls were GREAT ... I used honey in place of the molasses, as I did before, and I used 2 T. white sugar/3 T. dark brown sugar ... I also got to looking over the reviews, and I noticed that almost all of the 5-star reviews had left the lemon extract out for one reason or another ... I HIGHLY recommend you do the same! :)**

I have tried MANY, MANY bread machine recipes but this one cannot be supplanted as my favorite, by far! Every time I make it I get requests for the recipe. When I'm feeling lazy, instead of making the rolls I just put my bread machine on the basic bread cycle and let the machine do all the work--the loaf comes out perfect every time!

Foolproof recipe for great sweet dinner rolls. The only modification I made are omitting the lemon extract because seems like it is too overpowering, and substitute the tablespoon of molasses with honey (total 2 Tbl honey instead) since I don't have molasses on hand. I also make 20 rolls instead of 12, and they are all pretty good size still. I've used this recipe three times already. Would recommend this easy and great recipe to anybody!

I made this without a bread machine and it was quite easy and worked well.

This recipe won the hearts (and stomachs) of my family. They absolutely went crazy over these rolls. Delicious! I substituted a few ingredients, such as: almond extract for the lemon extract, 2 Tbsp. of honey instead of molasses, and 2 Tbsp of butter instead of butter flavored shortening.

These rolls are absolutely wonderful! They are very simple to make, and as one reviewer said, they even freeze well. The best way to do this is to roll up your 18 pieces or so of dough (only making 12 made them very dense and the middles never seemed to get done while the outside was too done), place them on a baking sheet in the freezer for 1-2 hours. Then place in a freezer bag and place back into the freezer until you need them. I use 2 tsp of vanilla and no lemon extract, and I use 2 tblsp honey and no molasses. Thank you for this recipe!!

Amazingly delicious. Soft, doughy, yummy. Be sure not to overcook or they'll be dry! AND be sure to add an extra half cup of flour to the mix. Also, it makes more like 2 dozen rolls.

This was a great recipe! I loved it. My whole family loved it. My best friend wanted the recipe, and my boyfriend wanted me to make more. I used almond extract instead of lemon, 2 tbsp. honey instead of the molasses, regular shortening instead of butter flavored, and an extra half cup of flour. I also make 24 rolls instead of 12 and they came out a really good size. If you only made 12, they would be pretty big, but a good size if you wanted to make sandwiches. 24 makes a nicely sized dinner rolls.

These are wonderful!! I took the advice of a few other reviews and subed honey for the molasses,(my kids HATE molasses), and used almond extract instead of lemon. Although I think I will try the lemon next time. I did find the dough a bit sticky but nothing unworkable. It was worth the dough stuck on my hands for sure! I made 18 good sized rolls and glazed them before baking with 1 egg yolk and a bit of heavy cream - it makes them very shiny and pretty. These were a huge hit will all the family, especially my 4 kids. They told their daddy to stop eating the rolls so they could have some for their sandwiches at school the next day....I put a few aside and let my husband eat to his content. Thank you so very much!!

Wow! These were SO good. I will make these again (and again...and again....). I followed what other reviewers did and substituted honey for the molasses and almond extract for the lemon.

This recipe was really awful all the way around. Not even my dog liked them. The dough was sticky and gross and impossible to work with. I added 1/4 cup more flour and it was still impossible. I followed the recipe to the letter and am a pretty good cook. It is not often I make something really bad. This was that bad and SO frustrating to work with. I did muddle through it, I did get them to the oven and I had ugly brownish rolls. Truly nasty, I think this is the worst recipe I have ever made from this site actually. If you want fluffy and sweet rolls for something do yourself a favor, do what I did after I got these disasters out of the oven and took a bite. I went back to my tried and true, the "Tasty Buns" recipe on this same site. I added 1/4 cup more sugar and a little lemon extract (1/8 tsp)and a little vanilla extract (1/2 tsp) and YUMMY white fluffy delicious rolls, better than the store and Soooo easy to work with. "Tasty Buns" recipe, look it up and pass on this horrible recipe.

These are awsome! I am always trying out new bread/roll recipes and this one is near the top of my list. I used 2 Tbls. honey instead of 1 plus the molasses because my family is not a big fan of molasses. Great!!

This is an excellent Hawaiian bread recipe with some tweaking. I omitted the molasses and used 2 TBSP honey, real butter instead of shortening, and used a splash of lemon juice instead of the extract. I've also made it without any lemon or vanilla and honestly it doesn't need either one. I make a 9x13 pan full of rolls instead of the huge dozen originally called for. The honey keeps the rolls moist for a long time. I'm going ahead and giving this recipe 5 stars based on the changes.

I have been looking for a recipe for Hawaiian Rolls.....THIS IS NOT IT! These were nasty! I made 12 rolls and one got eaten; the others were thrown away..guess I'll keep looking!

Thank you!! Awesome rolls! I made them for Thanksgiving and pulled them out of the oven freshly baked just in time to serve with my turkey!! Everyone just loved them!! In fact I made another batch the next day to eat the leftovers with!!

I included this recipe in the planning of our neighborhood "Gourmet Club." The lady who prepared this break said it was "sticky" to work with, but the taste was great! Worth making!

These rolls were amazing. AMAZING. I don't use dried milk powder, so I used warm milk instead of the water & skipped the molasses in favor of 2 T honey. I used real butter also. I try not to use chemicals when I cook. It was hard not to eat the entire pan of rolls when they came out.

This doesn't really taste like King's Hawaiian bread, but it was good. It's not as sweet as I normally like it but still good. Definitely leave out the lemon extract as other reviewers suggested, and you'll probably need an extra 1/2 cup of flour to mix with the dough. Then you'll need about another extra 1/2 cup while forming the rolls. This dough is VERY sticky! Also these rolls dry out quickly if you overbake, so I'd recommend baking at 325F for ~15 minutes depending on your oven.

We LOVE these rolls! As others stated, I substituted either more vanilla or almond extract for the lemon. I sub'ed honey for the molassis & I sub'ed softened butter for the butter flavored shortening. I also use 5 cups of flour. I've done these w/ all-purpose flour & they worked out great! I have made these so many times for ourselves and I took some to my parents house last weekend & they loved them so much they want me to make them for next Thanksgiving! While doing too many things at one time I started some a little while ago and accidently hit basic bread instead of dough. After the 1 hr. 20 m. I took some dough out and formed rolls & I'm going to let the other make a loaf. Hopefully it will work out. I'm so absentminded!

WONDERFUL RECIPE-I made this recipe EXACTLY like the recipe says. I was looking for a Hawaiian bread recipe for my daughters bridal shower as we had a Hawaiian theme. I tried a few recipes from this site and this is by far the BEST recipe that I tried. The rolls were WONDERFUL-now I make these whenever I cook a ham-I have even added this to my holiday menu. I read some of the reviews today and will be trying almond extract to see what that tastes like. Thanks Diana for a absolutely wonderful recipe.

Yes Diana, you have perfected this recipe. These rolls are delicious! You can't eat just one. I made 22 rolls from one batch and they were still a good size. They disappeared from work quickly today. I added almond flavoring instead of lemon. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I'll definitely make it again and again.

I have made these rolls so many times, I have lost count! I make the following substitutions: almond for the lemon, 2 T instead of 1 T of honey, 1/3 c brown sugar for the 5 T white sugar, marjarine for the butter flavored sortening and 1 T yeast instead of 2 t. My machine usually doesn't use that much flour, so I help it mix with a rubber spatula. My son eats 6 out of the 12 rolls for breakfast regularly! Everyone loves these rolls. Thanks.

This was an enjoyable find. I also added a teaspoon of pineapple flavoring. I used buttermilk instead of water. This made 3 smaller loaves and was nice and tender and had lots of flavor. My company said this was wonderful and even better than the boughten Hawaiian bread.

Outstanding!I have used this recipe many times and everytime it turns out great! I took the advice of others and omitted the lemon/almond extracts. I also used 2T honey instead of molasses & 5c. of flour. I have made them different sizes and have also frozen the dough for future use(I like the rolls this way best). I also made loaves out of this recipe and french toast too! It is so versatile, sweet, and yummy! My family gets so excited when I tell them we are having this bread/rolls with dinner!Thanks Diana for sharing this wonderful recipe!!!!!

I am soooo sorry.. I had high hopes for this recipe. The only thing I substituted was the honey for molasses, everything else was the same. I have never tried Hawaiian bread before so I can't compare it, all I know is that these were way too sweet to be a dinner roll and 3 out of the 4 kids who tried it didn't even finish the first bite. Everyone threw out their rolls and went without.

These rolls are fantastic! I had to make some minor changes, due to the ingredients I had on hand. I used 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of honey and they turned out great. I made 24 dinner rolls and my husband ate 4 of them and wanted more! Thanks for this great recipe, it is a keeper!!

I can't say enough about this recipe. It is fantastic. The only change I made was to substitute almond extract for the lemon. I've made them as dinner rolls and as sandwich rolls for pulled pork. There are never any left.

These were AWESOME! For those familiar, they taste just like Portuguese rolls, with more of a Parker House density to them. I was "practicing" them for a luau-themed kids' party I'm having soon, and plan to use them as rolls for Hawaiian pulled pork (Kalua pork) sandwiches. My only problem is gonna be that nobody will believe I made these from scratch...they look sooooo good! My two kids could not stop snitching these right off the baking sheet, and one even asked if she could have another one as her dessert. Thank you, Diana, for what I'm sure will be one of the hits of my party!

This was my first time EVER to make bread. I just bought a bread maker and wanted some rolls to make for Easter. I figured I should practice before then. These were so easy! I substituted honey for the molasses and almond extract for the lemon, like others recommended. I didn't even have a problem with it being too sticky. I generously floured my counter and put the dough sticky-side (from the bottom of the pan)down. Then I cut it into pieces using a plastic spatula. I didn't even have to do much shaping. I hope it wasn't beginners luck!

I have made these dozens of times and am always asked for the recipe. I took the advice of others and use all honey, substitute almond extract for the lemon, and up the flour to 5 cups. I also prefer raw sugar to white. But the dough is easy to work with and so tasty.

This recipe was so close to the original bread taste, that my family couldn't tell the difference. Great Job!!

This recipe was great and really good for a beginner in breadmaking. However, with it being a recipe for a bread machine - a beginner might not know what to do with the ingredients. I didn't know how long to let it rise for since I made mine by hand. I did the 40 minutes in the pan but they didn't rise at all! I had to put them in the oven at 150 for 25 minutes so they would get big before baking. I used butter instead of shortening, milk instead of dry milk and only did 3 tbs of (brown) sugar instead of the 5 and they were perfect! Have made them twice so far with zero disappointment!

yummy! These came out perfect. I wasnt paying attention when it came to forming the rolls and I cut the dough into 24 pieces instead of 12. I thought the size was fine. They would be huge if you only made 12. I will make these again.

These rolls were tasty. I also used honey instead of molasses, and almond extract instead of lemon. They came out very dense and chewy

These are very good rolls- I didn't have the molasses so substituted brown sugar for the white sugar. I also made them smaller-made 24 dinner rolls- they are tender, tasty and have a soft crust with golden color.

Very good recipe, I could have done with a little less lemon extract but most people who ate them thought they were divine.

Half way through making this I discovered that I was out of lemon extract, so I used fresh lemon juice instead. The rolls came out beautifully. They looked great, smelled great, and tasted fabulous. The bread had a perfect texture. Will definitely make these again! Thanks for sharing a great, and easy to make, recipe.

These didn't taste quite like the hawaiian rolls I get at the store, but they are amazingly good! The store bought ones are just a tad sweeter. Nonetheless, my family loved them! I made them into 12 rolls, and they were great for sandwiches. I did omit the lemon extract - all the reviews scared me! Fabulous recipe!

These were fun to make, but like some of the other reviewers remarked, the lemon extract was far too strong. It's all we could taste or smell. I would substitute it out.

Made these for Easter dinner in my Kitchen Aid Mixer, worked well, I to sub'd more honey for the molasses, and mine took a bit more flour. Made all the rolls I needed for dinner then made larger, flatter, "sandwich" rolls for the leftover ham YUMMY

when we have a family get to I have to make Hawaiian rolls they are so good I have to make more so they can take some home.

I love Sweet things especially pinneapple and honey and this is one of the best roll recipes I've found!!!

These were absolutely delicious!!!! I made them for my family at our Christmas dinner and they were a big hit! I couldn't quit snacking on them either. Thanks for a great recipe!

I can not believe there was one comment that actually said it was good but the truth is it just tastes like your eating lemon extract that is on a bagel!

These rolls are wonderful! The taste is so light and lemony. I have been searching for a lemony yeast roll to compliment seafood dishes, and this will fit the bill perfectly. They are so delcious, even without any butter on them. I used margarine instead of the butter flavor shortening and they came out great. Excellent. I will make these again.

These bread rolls were fantastic!! I used whole wheat flour and decreased the flour by a quarter cup. I made the dough by hand and it didn't get sticky at all.

This was pretty good. I substituted one cup whole wheat flour for some of the bread flour. You'll probably need about 1 c more flour when kneading. I used 2 T of vanilla instead of 1T of lemon extract. If it didn't taste like the Hawaiian bread, it was probably my fault. Made more than 12 rolls, filled my cookie sheet. I baked for 20 minutes and could have probably used up to 5 more minutes. It was done, but they probably would have been brown if I left them in longer.

These are absolutely delicious. My family loves them. I like a tiny bit less lemon, but they're great as is.

These Hawaiian bread rolls are now a favorite at our house. The combination of the unique ingredients provides a refreshing and tasty new recipe for rolls, different than any others!

Excellent rolls! I did adjust the lemon extract to 1/2 teaspoon, added 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, and replaced the molasses with more honey. I also added 1/8 cup more flour because the first batch of dough was sticky - this may depend on the humidity in your house. This is definetly a favorite in our house!

I took the suggestions of other reviewers and left out the lemon and added honey in the place of molasses. Great rolls! I am certain I will make again!

Today, I am making this bread for the 4th time. It has turned into a family specialty for holidays & special occassions, right up there next to my mother's home made pasta sauce.

Not as "fabulous" as others would like you to believe. For the time, effort, and ingredients, I suggest a kinder approach to both yourself and your kitchen; go buy them at the nearest grocer's. The only thing these were good for, was a creative salvage the next day as french toast nuggets. That is the ONLY reason I cannot in good faith give this recipe only one star. My french toast was good.

Huge rolls. The lemon extract was little much for my family. Will reduce the amount and try again.

too much lemon..

This dough came out way to sticky to be able to work with. I had to add a lot more flour so it could be rolled and shaped. In the end the flavor was bland and just strange(pobably the lemon flavoring). These do not taste anything like the hawaiian rolls you get at the supermarket.

Yummy! I made these w/o the lemon extract because I didn't have any and just added more honey. Delicious! I usually buy these rolls at the store but I think these taste better and my kids loved them, too! Thanks for this great recipe.

Technically, the recipe worked but the results were very very doughy.

Very yummy! The dough is pretty sticky so I used some extra flour to keep it from sticking too much. I melted butter & brushed it on the rolls when I pulled them out of the oven. I also took some of the other reviewer's advice & subed the lemon extract for extra vanilla. Turned out great!

This IS a wonderful recipe. I didn't have Lemon Extract, so left that out, and subsituted butter flavored shortening with 2 Tablespoons olive oil. This recipe definitely needs 1 - 1.5 cups (extra) flour.

My boyfriend just got me a bread maker and I made these for him about a month ago. Since then, I have had to make them 8 times. They are the bomb!!!!

These rolls are fantastic! I have a Breville bread machine. They were so easy to make. I didn't have lemon extract and I used real butter instead of shortening.

These rolls were very good. I followed the recipe as stated except that I replaced some of the white flour with one cup of whole wheat flour. I omitted the lemon extract and used honey instead of molasses. I only added 1/2 tsp. of vanilla and I used butter instead of shortening. I made 27 dinner rolls instead of 12. Will definitely be making these again with the modifications.

These rolls were okay. They did not come out as sweet as I had hoped. I did omit the molasses and lemon though. They were also a bit more dense than I typically like. I used them with the kalua pig in slow cooker recipe from this website.

Excellent recipe. Everybody LOVED them. I don't have a bread machine, so I made this the old fashioned way. I also used regular milk instead of dry milk and it was fine.

Pretty good, nothing special.

All of my friends and family really love these rolls. Of all the breads I make, this one is the best so far.

As it stands, this is 4 stars. With a few changes, 5 stars, easily! I cut the water back to 1 1/4 cups, used only vanilla extract, and used 2 Tb of honey and no molasses. Before I put them in the oven, I brushed them with a beaten egg. They come out fantastic every time- they're actually even more delicious the next day! I usually get 18-24 dinner-size rolls from this recipe.

My family love this recipe, even my finicky teenagers. I love them lemony taste, too!

These rolls were yummy but I did not think they were anything spectacular.

These rolls have become our new holiday dinner roll request for the last 3 holiday seasons- and my guess is they won't ever be replaced! The only change (as others have noted) is less lemon. HOORAH!

My family loved them!

these sucked bad, and they got hard as a rock in two days time i wont be making these again

These are great buns. They have a hint of sweetness but are not too sweet.

I cut back on the lemon extract and it still smelled and had a lemon after taste.I was not happy with how this turned out.

Have never made rolls with my bread machine before and WOW, these were a great first try! The dough came out Perfect! Light, fluffy, not sticky. Super Easy to make. I used 2T honey and no molasses as others suggested, may try less lemon next time. The last time I had Hawaiian bread was my honeymoon 4 1/2 years ago, and while these don't taste exactly like a remember (I seem to recall it being just a bit sweeter) these were absolutely delicious. Serving with Kalua pig in the slow cooker from this site tonight with dinner. YUMMY! I'd say well worth the effort, but there's really so little effort involved!

These turned out very nicely, though not exactly like the Hawaiian bread you buy. The texture was pleasantly dense, and they have a mildly sweet flavor. You may want to brush them with an egg and water mixture before baking for shiny tops.

I have been using this recipe for about a year. It's a hit with my family and friends. I don't care to purchase bread and prepackaged items from the store. I prefer to make things from scratch. I don't keep lemon extract in my pantry, but I always have fresh lemon juice. Fresh lemon juice works great if you don't have lemon extract. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!

This is excellent

The lemon extract gave these rolls a very odd flavor. I did not like them.

Like others I used almond extract instead of the lemon and substituted extra honey for the molasses. Sometimes I use butter instead of shortening.I really like these rolls. The dough is super sticky but totally worth the effort.

These are very good with a nice texture and perfect level of sweetness. The only thing stopping this recipe from a five star rating is the lemon extract. At the very least it should be reduced to 1\4 tsp, but in the future I will omit it completely. Very good recipe other than the lemon.

I can’t believe this only has a 4 star rating! I have been making these rolls for years and they’re the best I’ve ever had. They have that same good yeasty flavor that everyone is looking for in a dinner roll. You won’t be disappointed.

These are the best rolls that I have ever tasted! I have been making these for a few years now and they have become THE dinner roll asked for by my family and friends. I followed the recipe except I substitue almond extract for the lemon.

These were really good but didn't taste like hawaiian bread. They would be fine most of the time but I was really craving the real sweet Hawaian bread

Consider using pineapple extract instead of lemon extract for a more authentic Hawaiian taste.

Leave the lemon extract out completely.

this was my first attempt at bread. I didn't use molasses and didn't use the lemon extract. i upped the butter to 4 tbs, doubled honey and vanilla extract. I made about 18 large rolls without the bread machine. they were close to the Hawaiian sweet rolls we had on my honey moon, but it wasn't all that sweet. next time I may do a dough adding a splash of pineapple juice in the water.

This was great, my kids loved it. My husband described the taste like a big soft marshmellow.

I was expecting a sweet bread like a kings Hawaiian roll. This just tasted like a plain roll. I think this is a good base recipe to start with, but it needs more sugar. As other reviewers said, leave out the lemon extract.

They were decent but my family didn't want me to make these again.

I made these specifically for a recipe that called for purchased Hawaiian sweet rolls and they didn't disappoint. Not having read the reviews, I'm glad I didn't have lemon extract, so didn't add that. The only other changes I made was I used real butter in place of shortening, used about 5 cups of flour, and made them in my Bosch mixer instead of a bread maker. I ate one of the rolls and it was delicious. I made 12 rolls and one loaf of bread in an 8x4 pan.

I didn’t use a bread machine bc I don’t have one. I read the reviews and skipped the lemon extract. I think next time I’ll make it with brown sugar instead of white sugar. I put the yeast and sugar and water in a bowl first then added the rest of the wet ingredients and added the flour and salt last. My 7 yo stirred until it was sticky and then we put out some flour and kneaded it for 3-5 minutes. Then I sprayed it with olive oil and put it in the microwave (after heating a cup of water) to rise. Left it for an hour came home and kneaded into little balls and then baked 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Simple and tasty enough.

My mom love it.

Decent sweet roll. The flour needs to be adjusted depending on climate and preference.

After reading all the reviews I made this. They are really wonderful. I deleted the Lemon and the butter flavoring. They were large enough to use as Ham Buns Next time I would make 24 instead of 12. Used my bread machine and I will do these again and again!! Enjoy Judy

I made these rolls for a pot luck. I did some substitutions using honey instead of molasses, cutting white sugar to 2 Tbls and adding 3 Tbls brown sugar, and I used 2 Tbls butter instead of shortening. I can't see where the lemon extract would add anything to the flavor, so I didn't add it. I see where some reviewers did some changes too. These were very tasty with my additions deletions. I will make them frequently when I need a good roll recipe.

to much lemon, will need to reduce next time

This recipe for the Hawaiian rolls is delicious! I did not add the lemon extract and used real butter extra vanilla and powdered coconut milk. I also glazed the tops with egg and milk before baking.