Food For Thought - Amazing Dinner Rolls

As promised, I’m going to give you my sweetie’s recipe for his mom’s amazing rolls. When I told the kids I was planning to post this on the blog I had several nay-sayers! They all thought we should keep this one secret although I have no idea why. I’m all for encouraging people to cook more and if you try this one, I promise you won’t be disappointed. In fact, the kids gobbled them up so quickly we didn't even remember to take any pictures of the finished item!

So on Thanksgiving morning, my sweetie asked us all to write something we were thankful for on small strips of paper. We weren’t sure what he was up to, but pretty much everyone took a minute to honor his wishes (nobody wanted him to be grumpy on a holiday!) and then we folded them all up and put them in a bowl. They sat on the table for most of the day while the meal was prepared. Then when it was finally time to cut the roll dough, my sweetie made one special tray and inside of each of these rolls, he tucked a tiny paper of gratitude. I thought he was crazy! But he promised me he had seen the suggestion somewhere on the internet and he knew it would work.

Hours later as we all gathered around the table, each plate had one special roll placed carefully in the middle. All the rest of the food was on a side table awaiting orders from my sweetie. After a significantly long prayer, we started with one person breaking open their roll and reading the paper inside. Miraculously, most of them were still readable! Then we all guessed who we thought had written that paper. When nearly everyone’s paper had been shared, I looked around expectantly. Mine had not been opened. That’s when my sweetie confessed that there were two extra rolls still in the bowl. He had worried that not everyone had written one, so he had made a couple of extra ones. I asked him to pull them out and read them. I smiled to myself as I watched him crack open the first one. This couldn’t have worked out better if I had planned it!

He unrolled the scrap of paper and began to read, “I’m thankful for the…” Then he actually BLUSHED! It’s been a while since I’ve seen him do that. He started again and then he tossed the paper on the table. “I can’t read this!” he stated and my daughter picked it up. “Awww!” she said and then read, “I’m thankful for the amazing guy I’ve been able to share the last 28 years with.” Then he blushed AGAIN! Yeah, I have that affect on people…anyway, here’s the roll recipe. Hope you love it as much as I do. (You probably already guessed that we have to make four or five batches of this dough to satisfy everyone.)

Mom’s Rolls

1 pkg yeast + 1 tbsp sugar
¼ cup lukewarm water
1/3 cup sugar
¼ cup butter
1 ½ tsp salt
1 cup milk warmed in the microwave for 1 minute
1 egg slightly beaten
3 ½ cups flour

First add the yeast and the tbsp of sugar to the warm water. Set aside. This needs to bubble up for several minutes before it will be ready to add to the rest of the ingredients.

In your mixing bowl, throw in the egg, butter, and warm milk. Beat well. Add the salt, sugar, and yeast mixture. Beat again.

Gradually add flour. Dough will be a bit sticky. Beat with a dough hook or knead by hand for several minutes.

Let rise until doubled in bulk or about an hour. Punch down. Let rest for 10 minutes.

Roll to about ½” thickness on a floured surface. My sweetie likes to cut them with a Tupperware cup, but you can use a round cookie cutter if you prefer.

Dip the circle of dough in melted butter and then fold it in half.

Place on a baking sheet. Let rise for at least another 30 minutes.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. My sweetie rubs the tops with butter again when they come out of the oven. Not the most healthy roll on the planet, but arguably the most tasty! What do you think?