Roll Dough Creation

I recently sorted through months -- if not years -- worth of recipes, discarding the ones that didn't sound as good as they originally did and filing the ones I wanted to cook for my family.  One, however, was kept out because I knew it would be perfect for Thanksgiving.

The recipe was from a flyer I'd received from Bridgford, a company that makes frozen bread dough.  I was familiar with Bridgford because I use their Parkerhouse rolls to make better than garlic bread pull apart rolls. This time, though, with just a few easy additions, the rolls are transformed into pumpkins.

The visual design of the rolls was inspired by Holly, food blogger behind Beyond Kimchee, using a homemade roll recipe.  I substituted the roll recipe my family has come to expect for the holidays, but you can use your favorite roll recipe, or save time and start with a package of frozen rolls from the grocery.

Shape the homemade bread dough or thawed rolls into balls.  I normally get 18 cloverleaf rolls from one batch of dough.  I made the balls a little bigger so I only ended up with 15.

Try to keep the balls close to the same size to ensure they bake evenly. Don't fret, though, if the balls aren't the same exact size because pumpkins aren't all the same size either! 

Put the dough balls on a greased cookie sheet, spacing them about 2-inches apart.

Flatten each ball slightly using the palm of your hand.

Using a pair of kitchen shears or a knife, make six cuts around the edge of the dough.

Make a hole in the center of the dough using your pinkie.

Cover the dough and let rise until double in size.  Insert a pecan piece in the hole in the center for the stem.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Whether you make the rolls from scratch or use a package of frozen rolls, these pumpkin shaped rolls are a whimsical and delicious addition to a Thanksgiving meal.

© Margaret's Morsels

A Tribute to Mom

With Mother's Day right around the corner, I've been thinking about my mom and all the wonderful meals she cooked for her family.  I've shared many of her recipes over the years from entrees and side dishes to breakfast, desserts and foods she made only for holidays.

After she died, as I boxed up the contents of her kitchen -- the electric skillet she received as a wedding present; the measuring cups and spoons she taught me to use as a child; the white plastic mixing bowl she bought at a Tupperware party -- it hit me that I would never eat her cooking again.

It's been almost two decades and I still miss my mom and her cooking. Although there have been birthday cakes, there's never been another one of her made from scratch, three layer coconut cakes with a cooked white icing sprinkled with coconut.  While I'd love to have one more piece of her butterscotch pie, the food I miss the most, though, is her homemade rolls.

Growing up, I can't remember an Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas that there wasn't a basket of icebox rolls on the table.  These rolls also showed up on birthdays, when we had company, or when there were leftover mashed potatoes that needed to be used.  Family and friends weren't the only recipients of these rolls.

A few months after we moved, a repairman was working in the house while a batch of these rolls were baking.  He raved so much about how wonderful they smelled, my mother buttered a couple of rolls while they were hot and gave them to him when he left.  He started eating one as he walked out of the house and said he would be glad to come back any time she was making rolls.

Mom always told me the secret to good rolls was not using too much flour when kneading and cutting out the rolls.  For years, she made the rolls with homemade mashed potatoes, but later on substituted instant mashed potatoes without any discernible difference.  I don't have any pictures to share because I've never made these rolls.  It's also why I didn't elaborate on the directions.  The recipe is exactly as it appears on my mom's recipe card.  

Thanks, mom, for all the wonderful memories, delicious dinners and the strawberry covered recipe box filled with the recipes of my childhood that I can cook for and with your grandchildren who never had the opportunity to know you.

Happy Mother's Day from my mother's kitchen to yours!

Icebox Rolls

2/3 cup butter

3/4 cup scalded milk

1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup cold mashed potatoes 
1 (1/4 oz.) pkg. yeast, dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water

4 cups or more all-purpose flour

Melt butter; add to scalded milk.  Add the sugar and salt; let cool to lukewarm.  Add beaten eggs, potatoes, yeast and flour.  You've added almost enough flour when the dough is hard to stir and you have to turn it out on a board and knead it with your hands.  Add flour until the dough will not stick to the board; knead until smooth and elastic.  Put dough into a bowl and let rise until double in bulk.  Roll out and shape rolls.  Place on a greased baking sheet; let rise about 1 hour.  Bake at 400° until nicely brown.

© Margaret's Morsels

Thanksgiving Traditions

When it comes to cooking, I'm a creature of habit.  When I find culinary combinations that work well, I tend to stick with them.  For instance, I always serve Marinated Baked Chicken with Mushroom Rice Casserole

and Baked Ziti with salad and garlic bread.

This habit comes in handy at Thanksgiving, especially when the fourth Thursday in November falls early like it does this year.  My Thanksgiving menu will be reminiscent of years past which, in reality, is almost identical to what my mother served every year at Thanksgiving.

There will be slices of roast turkey on a colorful turkey serving platter and a big bowl of Cornbread Dressing.  To save time, I bake the frozen biscuits and packaged cornbread mix the day before.  The recipe makes a lot -- 8 to 12 servings -- so if there's any left, you can freeze it and use it later.

A lot of people serve mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving, but my mother always served Potato Salad and so do I.  In fact, it's the only Thanksgiving recipe I use that came from my mother.  This tasty side dish can be made one or two days ahead of time.  You can substitute a 24 ounce package of Ore-Ida Steam 'n Mash cut Russet potatoes and avoid peeling, dicing and cooking the potatoes.

If you prefer sweet potatoes, I've got two recipes to share.  Sweet Potato Souffle, a fancy name for sweet potato casserole, can be made with three pounds of sweet potatoes or a package of Ore-Ida Steam 'n Mash cut sweet potatoes.  It can be made a day or two ahead of time and reheated in the oven or microwave.  If you leave it in the dish you baked it in, no one will even know it was made ahead of time.

Quick and Easy Candied Sweet Potatoes are a nice alternative to the traditional casserole.  You don't have to peel potatoes because this recipe uses canned sweet potatoes.  Unlike the sweet potato souffle that can be made ahead of time, this is best made right before serving.  It only takes a few minutes and is cooked on the stove top, which is helpful when the oven is already being used.

If you're a cranberry lover like me, I've got three tasty recipes that share some of the same ingredients, but with completely different textures.  The first one, Cranberry Orange Relish, is a sweet-tart combination made with fresh cranberries, apple, orange, pineapple and sugar.  It can be made up to two weeks ahead of time and stored in the freezer.

Southern Cranberry Salad is a congealed salad that combines whole berry cranberry sauce, mandarin oranges and pineapple with cherry gelatin. It can be made a couple of days ahead of time.

Cranberry Orange Casserole also uses whole berry cranberry sauce and mandarin oranges, but not pineapple.  The sauce and oranges are combined with lemon juice and sugar and baked in the oven.  Unlike the other two cranberry recipes that can be made ahead of time and served cold, this one is best served hot from the oven.  The recipe can easily be doubled or tripled.

My mother made homemade rolls from scratch, but I use a bread machine to make One Hour Buttermilk Rolls, which means they take longer than an hour to make.  If you don't have a bread machine, the recipe includes directions for making the rolls by hand.  The rolls can be made a month ahead of time, stored in the freezer and reheated in the oven or microwave.

To quench everyone's thirst, I serve Fruit Tea.  This sweet tea is combined with pineapple juice, lemon juice and, the secret ingredient, ginger ale.  It's best made the day it's served.

I'll be posting some new Thanksgiving recipes next week, including a dessert that combines two traditional Thanksgiving flavors.

© Margaret's Morsels

                                                     

Easter Menu: Part 2

This is the second of a three part series with recipes from my Easter menu.

Several readers emailed and asked if I was ever going to share the recipe for the rolls pictured above.  Since Easter is less than a week away -- and I make these rolls for every holiday -- this seemed like the perfect time.


My mother was a wonderful baker.  She made homemade bread, biscuits and rolls from scratch.  Unfortunately, I didn't inherit that gene.  However, thanks to my mom, I'm able to make rolls, but not the way she did.


In 1999, my mother gave me a bread machine for Christmas.  Thanks to this thoughtful gift, I'm able to put a basket of homemade rolls on the table every holiday and special occasion, just like my mother used to do.

One advantage of using a bread machine is the device does all the work. Once the ingredients are added and the machine turned on, the mixing, kneading, rising and, if you're making a loaf of bread, baking are all done for you.


Bread machines have a variety of settings, such as basic, French, sweet and whole wheat to name a few.  You can also adjust the color of the loaf from light to medium to dark.  I hate to admit I've never used any of those settings.  In fact, I've never used my bread machine to make a loaf of bread.  The only setting I ever use is the dough/pasta setting.


The dough/pasta setting mixes and kneads the roll ingredients and allows them to rise in a draft free environment.  Once the dough is ready, all I have to do is shape the rolls, let them rise again and bake them in the oven.


Although the rolls I make are called One Hour Buttermilk Rolls, it definitely takes longer than an hour to make them in a bread machine.  I don't mind, though, since this gives me time to do other things.


If you want to make these rolls in a bread machine, make sure to follow the directions for your particular model.  Most machines require the ingredients to be placed in the pan in a certain order.  Sometimes the ingredients also need to be at room temperature.  If you're not sure, check the user's guide.


If you don't have a bread machine or want to make the rolls in less time, I'm also including the directions that came with the recipe.  I've never made the rolls this way, but a friend did and she said they came out perfect.


Regardless of the method used, there's two important things to keep in mind concerning the ingredients.  First, as the name implies, the recipe uses buttermilk.  I don't recommend substituting regular milk because buttermilk makes baked goods tender.


Second, the recipe calls for all-purpose flour.  I recommend substituting bread flour.  Bread flour, which can also be used in a bread machine, is made from hard wheat making it ideal for baked yeast goods such as rolls.

Here are some tips that may come in handy, especially if you're using a bread machine.


Once the dough/pasta cycle is done, let the dough stay in the machine an additional 30 minutes.  The dough will continue to rise which makes the baked rolls extremely tender.

The dough at the end of the dough/pasta cycle.

Thirty minutes after the dough/pasta cycle is over.

After you remove the dough from the bread machine, knead it a couple of times on an unfloured bread board.  You can make the rolls into any shape, but I make them into cloverleaf rolls.

To make cloverleaf rolls, divide the dough into 18 equal pieces; divide each piece into 3 pieces.  Roll each piece into a ball.  Put three balls in each greased muffin cup.  The rolls are prettier when I roll the dough on the bread board with the palm of my hand instead of rolling it between my palms.

Shaped and ready to rise.

Once the rolls have been shaped, cover the pans with a clean towel and put them in a warm place free from drafts.  I put the pans on top of the dryer.  If the rolls don't rise enough, I turn the dryer on to help speed up the process.  Once the rolls have doubled in bulk, put them in the oven and bake them for 15 to 18 minutes.

The dough after it's risen and ready to be baked.

The recipe only makes 18 rolls so, if I'm cooking for a crowd, I make two batches.  I make one the day before, the other the day of the dinner.  You can serve the first batch at room temperature, but they're better reheated. To reheat the rolls, put them on a cookie sheet.  Cover the pan with foil -- you don't want the tops to get any browner -- and put them in a 350° oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until heated through.

There's nothing like the smell -- and taste -- of freshly baked bread.  The rolls may be the last thing to come out of the oven,  but they're the first thing to disappear off the table.  

One Hour Buttermilk Rolls

18 Servings

2 (1/4 oz.) pkg. active dry yeast

1/4 cup very warm water (115° to 120°)

1 1/2 cups buttermilk (at room temperature)

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

3 Tbsp. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I use bread flour)

BREAD MACHINE DIRECTIONS:  Put the ingredients in the pan in the order and temperature listed by the manufacturer.    Close the lid and turn the machine on the dough/pasta cycle.  When done, let the rolls rise in the machine an additional 30 minutes.  

Remove dough and knead a couple of times on an unfloured bread board. Shape rolls into the desired shape and place in greased muffin cups. Cover with a towel and put in a warm draft free place to rise until doubled in bulk.  Bake at 400° for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden.

TO MAKE WITHOUT A BREAD MACHINE:  In a bowl, stir yeast into warm water until dissolved.  Stir in next 5 ingredients until combined (mixture will be lumpy).  Stir in flour, 1 cup at a time, until soft dough forms.  

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 8 minutes.  Let stand 10 minutes.  Shape rolls into the desired shape and place in greased muffin cups.  Cover with a towel and put in a warm draft free place to rise until doubled in bulk.  Bake at 400° for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden.

© Margaret's Morsels

The Saturday Special

Like most working parents with school age kids, weekday mornings are hectic at our house.  My husband has to be at work at one time, I have to be at work at another and our son has to be at school between the two. This leaves little time for me to prepare a sit down family breakfast during the week.  It's a different story on the weekend.

Several years ago, I started fixing a family breakfast on Saturday mornings.  My son promptly dubbed this meal, "The Saturday Special."  I usually fix bacon, eggs and biscuits.  Sometimes I make waffles, quiche or a breakfast casserole.  Once in a while, though, my family wakes up to the smell of cinnamon rolls.

My favorite cinnamon roll recipe is called Super Simple Cinnamon Rolls. The name may be a tongue twister, but the dish truly is super simple! Instead of making the dough from scratch, the recipe starts with two cans of crescent rolls.  I use Pillsbury Recipe Creations seamless dough sheets instead.  The dough sheets may cost a little more, but this is one time I'll pay extra for the sake of convenience.  If you use crescent rolls, make sure to press the crescent rolls into a rectangle and seal any perforations or holes.

The dough is easier to work with when it's cold so I leave it in the refrigerator while I mix up the filling.  If you're like me and forget to soften the butter, you can put the wrapped butter in the microwave and heat it at 10% power for 10 seconds.  This is long enough to soften the butter without it melting.

Once the filling is mixed up, I open the first can of dough and spread it on a cutting board.  The filling goes on the dough and the second can of dough is placed over the filling.  Most cinnamon roll recipes call for the dough to be rolled jellyroll style, but not this one.  The dough is cut into nine strips instead.  The easiest way to do this is with a pizza wheel.  You can get straighter lines if you roll the wheel away from you when you cut the dough.  If you don't have a pizza wheel, you can use a knife instead.  After you cut the dough into strips, roll each strip into a coil.  The rolls turn out prettier if you tuck in the sides of the dough as you roll it into a coil.

Cut into strips with a pizza wheel.

Ready to be baked.

As soon as the rolls are in the oven, I start preparing the glaze which is also super simple.  It's a powdered sugar glaze, but with a twist.  In addition to powdered sugar and milk, it also has a tablespoon of butter. The addition of the butter gives the glaze a wonderful flavor.

It's a good idea to sift the powdered sugar so there won't be any lumps in the glaze.  When adding the milk, it's best to start with the least amount called for because it's easier to add more than take away too much.  Once the glaze is mixed up, I put it in a pastry bag.  If you don't have a pastry bag, you could use a disposable resealable plastic bag instead.  If you don't want to mess with a bag, you can always apply the glaze with a spoon.

When the rolls come out of the oven, I put the pan on a wire rack and let the rolls cool a few minutes before adding the glaze.  It you add the glaze when the rolls first come out of the oven, it melts.  I like to swirl the glaze around the coils, but you can apply it in any pattern you like.

The aroma of cinnamon rolls will be wafting upstairs tomorrow luring my family into the kitchen.  Once they're up and have eaten breakfast, they can help me with some last minute Thanksgiving preparations.  The Saturday special isn't only for Saturday!

Super Simple Cinnamon Rolls

9 Servings

Filling:

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup butter, softened

Rolls:

2 (8 oz.) cans Pillsbury Recipe Creations seamless dough sheets or crescent rolls

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 Tbsp. butter, softened

2 to 3 Tbsp. milk

Preheat oven to 375°.  In a small bowl, mix all filling ingredients; set aside.

Unroll one can of dough into a large rectangle.  If using crescent rolls, firmly press perforations to seal.  Spread filling over the dough.  Unroll second can of dough into a large rectangle.  If using crescent rolls, firmly press perforations to seal.  Place dough over filling, pressing dough onto filling.  Cut dough into nine 13-inch strips.  Roll from one end to the other, shaping each piece into a coil.  Place in a greased 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and place pan on a wire rack.

In a small bowl, combine all glaze ingredients, adding enough milk to make desired drizzling consistency.  Drizzle over warm rolls.  Serve warm.

© Margaret's Morsels