Easy Orange Rolls

I wanted a touch of sweetness with dinner the other night, and I had Rhodes rolls on hand so I looked online to find an orange rolls recipe using frozen Rhodes rolls. They were delicious! The recipe calls for 12 but I made 15, and I just increased the other ingredients by a little bit.

Jenna's Orange Rolls

12 Rhodes Dinner Rolls, thawed but still cold

1 medium orange rind, grated

1/2 c sugar

1/4 c butter, melted

Citrus Glaze:

1 c powdered sugar

1 T butter, melted

3 T orange juice

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix grated orange rind with sugar. Roll each roll into a 9" rope. Tie in a loose knot. Roll each knot in melted butter and then in rind/sugar mixture. Place on a large sprayed baking sheet. Cover with sprayed plastic wrap and let double in size. Remove wrap. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Remove from pan and place on cooling rack. Brush with citrus glaze while still warm.

Here's a little rolls tip for us warm-weather folks: last week I needed to make 48 rolls for another family and I didn't have time to make them from scratch so I went with Rhodes. But then I realized I was still short on time for them to thaw & rise. Molly, my 9-yr-old, had a great idea, "Mom, why don't you put them outside where it's really warm?" Perfect! I put them on greased (sprayed w/ Pam) sheet pans, and covered them tight with plastic wrap that I'd also sprayed. I set them out in the sun, on a nice flat spot where the dog couldn't reach them, and in just over an hour of being in 100+ degree heat they had thawed and risen and were ready to bake!

recipe credit

Cheesy Bread

I didn't take a picture of this; darn! Next time!

As I teach piano 3 afternoons a week, I am often looking for short-cuts to good dinners. One of my fall-back side dishes is to buy a $1 loaf of French bread from the grocery store across the street. Typically I slice it diagonally into about 1" thick pieces, spread butter on one side, and keeping in "loaf-shape" I wrap it in foil and put it in the oven to warm while finishing the rest of dinner.

Last week though I decided to do something a little different, and it was quite tasty.


Ingredients:

1 loaf of store-bought French bread
1 to 1 1/2 sticks of butter
garlic powder, parsley
1 c grated mozzarella cheese (I actually used Jack since that's what we had; it was good but I think mozzarella would be a little bit better)

Pre-heat your broiler. Slice French bread horizontally, as if you're going to make a giant sandwich, making the halves as even as you can. Place on a cookie sheet with cut-sides up; spread each half with at least half a stick of softened butter. If it's a very large loaf you may need more butter; coat it well! Sprinkle with a little bit of garlic powder and parsley (I just like the parsley on there for color). Put under the broiler for a few minutes, watching it closely, until the butter is melted and the edges of the bread just start to brown.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle cheese on each half; return to the broiler until cheese melts and starts to bubble. To serve, cut into 1" strips/slices.

I did the first step about 20 minutes ahead of time, and then prepared the rest of our dinner. Right before calling everyone to the table I did the cheese part. Another tip: even though I was broiling, I put the sheet pan on a lower rack in my oven: it took longer for the cheese to melt but I wanted the bread to have a chance to heat through. Easy, quick, and delish! Aaron ate 6 pieces of it and enjoyed the re-heated leftovers the next day.

Pumpkin Bread

I used a recipe I hadn't tried before; it was so moist and delicious! I made a few little changes to the recipe I found on allrecipes.com, and here's what I came up with.

1 c butter, room temperature (2 sticks)

3 c sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 eggs

3 c flour

1 tsp salt

1 T baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ground cloves

1 can pumpkin (15 or 16 oz)

semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare two regular loaf pans by spraying with non-stick spray. Cream butter and sugar together. Add vanilla and eggs; beat for a few minutes until creamy and well-combined. Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. Add dry mixture to mixer. Mix on low speed just until combined, then add pumpkin (and chocolate chips if you want them) and continue mixing on low just until combined. Divide batter into two loaf pans (Pam Baking works perfectly for this!) and bake for one hour at 350.

Orange Strawberry Scones

Easy and delicious! And, fancy-looking too. These would also be cute cut into different shapes, like hearts for Valentine's Day.

2 c flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 T orange zest
1/2 tsp salt
6 T butter, cut into 1/2" pieces
3/4 c heavy cream or half and half
1/3 c strawberry jam

Glaze:
1/4 orange juice
2 c powdered sugar


Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, orange zest, and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (You can also do this with a food processor.) Stir in cream until just barely combined.

Flour a smooth work surface and roll out the dough to 1/2" thick. Cut out scones with a biscuit cutter or cookie cutter and put on a Silpat baking mat or parchment paper. Using the back of a small measuring spoon, make a shallow indentation in the center of each scone; then fill with jam.

Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine orange juice and powdered sugar for the glaze. Drizzle over each scone and let set for about 30 minutes before serving.

Blueberry Muffins

From the New Good Housekeeping Cookbook

1 3/4 c flour
2/3 c sugar
1 T baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
6 T butter (3/4 stick)
1 egg
1 tsp grated lemon peel
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c fresh or frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 400. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. With a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs (if the pieces are bigger, like the size of peas, that's okay too). In a small bowl mix egg, milk, lemon peel, and vanilla with a fork until blended. Stir egg mixture into flour mixture just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy). Fold blueberries into batter.

Spoon batter into greased muffin tin. Bake 20-25 minutes until golden and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove muffins from pan; serve warm.


Tips:

• If you use frozen blueberries, don't thaw them before adding to batter. Fresh turn out a little better because they don't bleed as much into the batter and the muffins turn out looking "cleaner." But they are tasty either way!

• For these muffins or for any quick bread or cake, I never use a toothpick. I check for doneness by lightly pressing down on the center of the muffin/bread/cake with one finger. If it springs back, it's done. If a depression remains, it's not cooked through.

• My muffin tins are dark metal and these muffins are always done in 20 minutes; check after 18 or so to see if yours are done.

• And I can't believe I forgot to mention; I always sprinkle a little regular white sugar on top of each muffin before putting them in the oven -- it gives them a nice crunchy sweet top! A friend of mine puts brown sugar on top of hers; I haven't tried that but I bet that would be tasty too.

Banana Nut Bread

I have tried different recipes over the years and this one is my favorite!

1 1/2 c sugar
3/4 c butter
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/4 c flour
1/2 c buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla
1 c chopped nuts

Cream together sugar and butter; add eggs and blend well. Dissolve soda in buttermilk. Mix flour, salt, soda & buttermilk with sugar/butter/egg mixture, beating well. Add bananas, vanilla, and nuts. Pour batter into two greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, then reduce heat to 300 and bake for another 30 minutes. To prevent top from browning too much, cover loosely with foil for last 20 minutes, or, put a cookie sheet on the rack above the banana bread. It may not be cooked completely after an hour; to check, gently touch the top middle of a loaf to see if it is semi-firm. If not, continue cooking and check every 5 minutes until it's done.


Tips:

• For quickbreads I always spray the loafpans with Pam, and only on the bottom on the pan. Spraying only the bottom will prevent the batter from creeping up the sides as it bakes, and will result in nicely-shaped rounded loaves. After baking, let cool for 10 minutes and run a butterknife around the edge to loosen and they'll come right out of the pans.

• There are a few recipes I use regularly that call for buttermilk, but I rarely buy buttermilk. To "cheat" just put 1/2 T white vinegar in a 1-cup measure, and fill the rest of the way with milk. This will make 1 cup of sour milk; a great substitute for buttermilk!

• Don't throw away bananas whose skins have turned a little too brown; make banana bread! OR - if you don't have time to make banana bread today, just put them in the freezer. Their skin makes a great container! Leave them in there up to a few months and get them out when you're ready to make some banana bread. Let them thaw partway before peeling. Thawed frozen bananas are very mushy inside but will still be yellow and just perfect for banana bread!

Wheat Bread

This is the way my Mom makes wheat bread and it's delicious! I made a batch last week and it's already gone; my kids and husband love it almost as much as I do. A few months ago I was interviewing my kids for a blog post and one of the questions was, "If you mom was famous for something, what would it be? Noah's answer was, "You would be famous for making wheat bread." It was such a funny response since at that time I hadn't made it in a few months. Another thing about wheat bread... Lucy put the emphasis on the word "bread." And she looooves to eat it!

5 c hot water - or more like 4 3/4 cups*

1 egg (*the egg is part of the liquids; so it's 5 cups of total liquid. Make sense?)

12-15 c freshly ground whole wheat flour

2/3 c vegetable oil

2/3 c honey

1/4 c (rounded) wheat gluten flour (I found mine in the health food section of my regular grocery store)

2 T dough enhancer

3 1/2 T Saf yeast

2 T salt

Grease four loaf pans (I use Pam, or Pam baking). In a stand mixer, put water, egg, and 7 cups of whole wheat flour. Mix until blended. Add: oil, honey, gluten, dough enhancer, and yeast; mix again. Add 3 more cups of wheat flour and salt, mix again until well blended. Gradually add 2-5 more cups of flour until the sides of the bowl start to come clean. For me, 2 more cups is usually enough. Don't add more than 15 cups total. Knead on low speed in your mixer for 8-10 minutes. Dough will be more "runny" after kneading. Oil your hands and the counter; form dough into four equal portions and put into loaf pans. I use Pyrex glass 1.5 qt pans. Let rise 45 minutes. Cook at 350 for 30 minutes.

Dinner rolls - recipe

This post will just be the recipe for my family's favorite rolls, with undetailed instructions. Below is a long, step-by-step post with lots of pictures ~ for anyone who has never tried to make rolls from scratch!

• 1 pkg dry yeast
• 1/4 c warm water
• 1 c milk, scalded
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1/4 c butter (or shortening)
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 1/2 c sifted flour
• 1 egg

Soften yeast in warm water (110 degrees F). Combine milk, sugar, butter, and salt; cool to lukewarm. Add 1 1/2 c flour; beat well. Beat in yeast and egg. Gradually add remaining flour to form soft dough, beating well. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the surface. Cover and let rise until double (1 1/2 to 2 hours). Turn out on a lightly floured surface and shape as desired. Cover and let shaped rolls rise until double (30-45 min). Bake on greased baking sheet or in greased muffin tins at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Yield: 2-3 dozen.

Dinner rolls - tutorial

For anyone who is nervous about making yeast breads or rolls from scratch -- here are my detailed instructions for delicious dinner rolls, which my family prefers to eat in crescent shape. Enjoy!


Ingredients:
1 pkg dry yeast
1/4 c warm water
1 c milk, scalded
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c butter (you can also use shortening, but I prefer the flavor of butter)
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 c sifted flour
1 egg

Step 1. Put 1 cup of milk into a small saucepan, over high heat. Watch it; it won't take long to scald. You know it's scalded when small bubbles form at the edges, as shown below, and it hasn't started boiling yet. When it reaches this point, remove it from the heat. If you don't, it will soon boil over and make a huge mess.

Step 2. You'll need 1/2 stick of butter. If it's cold, cut it into small pieces and put into your mixing bowl (you can use a stand mixer or a hand mixer; but if you're using a hand mixer you'll need to stir the last of the flour in by hand). Pour the scalded (hot) milk over the butter pieces; this is what it looks like as the hot milk melts the butter.

Step 3. Get your yeast ready. Measure 1/4 cup of very warm water. Not too hot to the touch; maybe like a hot bath. Sprinkle the yeast over the water, you can stir a bit if you want, but then leave it alone and after a few minutes it gets all bubbly like this. This means the yeast is coming to life and ready to go to work!

Step 4. Back to your mixing bowl: add 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 tsp salt to your milk/butter; mix.

Step 5. Add 1 1/2 cups flour and beat well. Now it will look like this:

Step 6. Now that your yeast is ready, add the yeast/water and one egg to the bowl. Mix well.
Step 7. Add the rest of the flour (2 cups) and mix well. The finished dough will look like this:
Step 8. Time to let the dough rise! Spray a clean medium bowl with non-stick spray. Scrape the dough out of your mixing bowl and into your new bowl. Turn the dough over once so that all sides are lightly coated with non-stick spray. This will help prevent a hard "skin" from forming on its surface.

Step 9. Cover with a clean dishtowel and leave it alone for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

...and voila! Look how pretty it is now!

I always make my rolls into crescents. You can roll it into balls and bake in greased muffin tins, or you can form it into thin snakes for breadsticks; there are many possibilities. I will show you how to do crescents.

Step 10. Sprinkle some flour onto a clean flat working surface and get out your supplies. Rub a little flour on your rolling pin too.

Step 11. Divide the risen dough in half. If it deflates substantially, no biggie. Roll out half the dough into a large circle (doesn't have to be perfect).
Step 12. Using a pizza cutter (or a paring knife would be fine too), cut the dough into quarters.
Step 13. Then cut each fourth into 3 pieces, making 12 in all.

Step 14. Beginning with the base of each triangle, roll tightly toward the pointed end.

Repeat steps 11-14 with the other half of your dough, so you end up with 24 crescents total. 24 will fit nicely on a large sheet pan like this one (a "half sheet" by professional baking standards). If you're not using a Silpat sheet like I do, just spray the pan with non-stick spray so the rolls won't stick as they bake.

Step 15. Cover with the towel again and let rise another 30-45 minutes; they will plump up like this:
If you don't think they look big enough, they will still rise more as they bake.

Step 16. Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes.

You can brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter before baking if you want. Or, to make them look shiny, beat an egg and mix a little bit of water or milk into it, and brush that on top of the rolls before baking. I would do that if I were bringing them to a fancy party. For my family at home, I leave them alone and we eat them with butter and jam. They are so tasty leftover for breakfast with jam... or heated up, dipped into butter and then into a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. Delish!

Cheese Garlic Biscuits

These are similar to Red Lobster's biscuits and I always serve them with Chicken Noodle Soup for dinner!

2 c Bisquick
1/2 c grated cheddar cheese
2/3 c milk (use part cream to make them more rich!)
6 TB melted butter
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp parsley

Preheat oven to 450. Mix cheese into dry Bisquick. Add milk and mix just until it comes together. If it seems too dry, add another TB of milk but you don't want the batter too wet. Drop into 12 balls onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes. Mix spices into melted butter and brush on to rolls while still hot on the pan.