One Hour Rolls

I got this recipe off a blog of a baker from my very own Bountiful, so of course it's good. I ended up giving the rolls more than the recipe's required rising time, but according to the mastermind, not doing so would have produced just as good of a result.

Carrian's one hour rolls
A Bountiful Kitchen


Ingredients:

1 tablespoon yeast, rounded
1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 1/4 cup milk, scalded
4 tablespoons butter

2 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup warm water
4 cups flour, plus more for kneading and surface

2 tablespoons melted butter, optional

Directions:

1. mix sugar and warm water, set aside to raise
2. beat eggs, mix in sugar and salt
3. in sauce pan on med high heat, scald milk (heat to a fizzy bubble but not to boiling, stirring continually), and add butter. Mix in, stirring continually, let cool.
4. When butter-milk mixture is no longer hot (but can be warm), mix it with egg mixture in large stainless steel mixing bowl, then add yeast mixture, 1/2 c warm water, and 1 cup of flour. Continue to add flour until the right consistency is reached. The right consistency will be a dough that is firm but springy, not sticky to the touch, but not overly floury to the touch (is that a word?). You will still use more flour to knead and roll out dough, so at this point you need to make room for the addition of a little more. Dough should still be moist.
5. Knead in mixer if possible, but then knead on flowery surface, roll out, and cut into 1 inch strips. Form knots.
6. Place knots on pan or baking pans (recipe will definitely make more rolls than will fit on one shallow, large pan), let rise in a warm place (I put stove light on and had oven on). The recipe says that you can just let the rolls rise while the oven is preheating, but I let them rise while i was making some of the rest of dinner, about 30 mins longer. They turned out beautifully. It's all about letting them rise in that warm place.
7. Preheat oven to 400, and when your instincts tell you, or a time crunch tells you, put those babies in the oven for about 15 mins or until they are browned. Mine only took 10.

Roasted Winter Veggies

The pre-roast phase. Anxious veggies... they know somethin's up... and its not gonna be good..

After reading this post from an educated foodie, I learned:

Roasting Vegetables, the basics:
1. Heat and surface area: Try to have all vegetables in one layer in shallow pan; you want as much of their surface area as possible to be exposed to the hot pan and the hot air in the oven.
2. To brown; you want high heat (use the roaster at 425), make the pan close to heat source. That gets em crispy. You also of course need to cook them, which you can do at any temp for a certain amount of time depending on the size of the veggies (smaller pieces cook faster), shape (longer thinner vs cubes), and temp. Making them soft and more soggy would be done at a lower temp when they are not as close to heat source, as in the roaster oven.
3. Enough EVOO to coat, and enough salt and pepper to your liking is all you really need to season. Thyme, oregano, and rosemary are, however, all good additions. Also a little balsamic vinegar sets of the sweetness nicely.


I used:
8-10 red potatoes
4 med. sized sweet potatoes
1 Large zucchini
A red onion would have been delicious, i forgot...

• I chopped em into roughly one in. size pieces, which worked great. The potatoes take slightly longer to cook it seems. They should be cut smaller than the other two.
• I tossed the chopped veggies with approximately 1.5 Tb. EVOO (can you believe it! Only that much... healthy. I am sooo healthy. Could have used about a 1/2 tb more though), dried oregano, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper freely.
• Later, I doused them with balsamic vinaigrette which brought out the sweetness in the veggies and tasted great.
• Preheated to 425. Spread foil onto pan so it wouldn't stick.
• Spread tossed and coated, chopped veggies on shallow large baking pan in almost one layer and cooked on mid rack of oven about 20 mins. They were basically cooked through and soft at that point.
• Then I put them in the roaster for about 15 mins more actually, which didn't really do much, made them somewhat more crispy on outside. Took them out, tossed with the vinegar and more salt, and put them back in another 10 mins. They were then perfectly crispy and sooooo good.

Learned:
1. one layer is good
2 these would have been better with onions
3 in the future, will do roaster for the entire time, but at 400

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ok, believe me when I say these are truly the best Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies in the world. My mom has been making a steady supply of these for years, making sure to keep extras in the freezer to prevent that horrible occasion of their unavailability. Everyone DEPENDS on her to have them around. They are a favorite, not only of our family, but of anyone and everyone who has ever entered our home. MAKE THEM. But make a double batch; the first won't last more than four days, I guarantee it.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (From Betty Crocker)

Preheat oven to 375

Cream together:
1 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c butter, softened
1/2 c shortening
1 c peanut butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

In separate bowl, mix:
1 1/2 t soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 1/2 c flour

1-1 1/2 c choc chips
Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture slowly, then stir in chocolate chips by hand.
Form into circular balls however large you like, flatten slightly on baking sheet, then cook for 8 to 9 mins. I recommend testing 2 or 3 first to see if the time and temp are good for your oven. Enjoy!!