PPQ: Rocket Rolls

This week’s Project Pastry Queen recipe was Ruby-Flecked Florentines, hosted by Missy. You can see her post with the recipe for these lacy, fruity cookies over on her creativemissy blog. You can also click here to see how the other PPQ members made this recipe.

In general, I’m not so much a fan of dried fruit in cookies, so I used this week to make a different Pastry Queen recipe: Rocket Rolls. I’m glad I picked these rolls! They were the best dinner rolls I have ever had. Completely light and fluffy, not too sweet or eggy, and all around perfect! They were just as good alongside soup at dinner as with scrambled eggs for breakfast. And Little Lady, who is a bit of a picky eater, loved them!

The only changes I made to the original recipe were:

~ Cut the recipe in half (this yielded 13 large dinner rolls)

~ Omit the cinnamon

I’ll be making these rolls again soon, and they may even become my fancy-holiday-dinner rolls. If you are looking for an easy way to add homemade bread to a meal, I hope you’ll try these rolls. As an extra bonus, they’ll make your house smell fantastic as they bake!

Rocket Rolls (adapted from The Pastry Queen, Rebecca Rather)

1/2 Tablespoon instant yeast (a.k.a. bread machine yeast)

1 cup lukewarm water (more as needed)

1/8 cup canola oil

1 large egg

3/8 cup sugar

3-1/4 cups bread flour

1/2 Tablespoon sea salt

Olive oil, for brushing on rolls

Using a mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the yeast, water, oil, egg, and sugar. Add the flour and mix on medium-low speed until the dough holds together, about 5 minutes (if a cohesive dough doesn’t form, add water 1 tablespoon at a time, until dough forms). Let the dough rest in the bowl for 20 minutes.

Sprinkle the salt over the dough and mix on low speed for 1 minute. Transfer the dough to a large bowl that has been lightly greased with oil or cooking spray. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk, about 1.5 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, or grease. Punch down the dough, coating your hands with a little flour if the dough is sticky. Pinch off pieces and roll into balls (mine were a little bigger than golf balls). Place the dough balls on the baking sheet, keeping about 2 inches of space in between.  Cover with plastic wrap or a clean towel and let rise about 20-30 minutes, until the dough is light and soft with the consistency of a marshmallow. The rolls will not double in bulk during this rising.

Bake the rolls for 20-30 minutes, until golden brown. Remove them from the oven and brush with a light coating of olive oil. Serve warm and enjoy!

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Cinnamon Roll Biscuits with Coffee Glaze

I’m totally a morning person. Early bird all the way. I love the feeling of a new day, with all its potential. Granted, some of this excitement is greatly diminished on mornings after the kids haven’t slept well, but overall, the a.m. is awesome! Here are my favorite things about morning:

~ A warm and cuddly Little Man who enjoys sitting on my lap and giving hugs and kisses

~ Fuzzy slippers

~ Big Man coming home from work (he works nights)

~ Checking my RSS feed and finding yummy recipes and challenging marriage posts

~ Little Lady wiggling and squealing with excitement at something only she can see

~ Coffee with sugar and half and half

~ A renewed patience for Bob the Tomato and 236 rounds of Pat-a-Cake

~ Any and all types of breakfast food, especially sweets.

One of my favorite breakfast foods is cinnamon rolls, but they take a lot of time. Even though I’ve had success making them the night before and letting them rise in the refrigerator, there is still too much time involved for regular weekday breakfast. These cinnamon roll biscuits are the perfect solution! A flaky, tender dough, rolled up with a cinnamon and brown sugar filling and topped with a sweet coffee (or vanilla) glaze. The recipe is simple to put together and doesn’t require any special ingredients or rise time so sweet, cinnamony, home-baked goodness is only about 30 minutes away, even on the sleepiest of mornings. This recipe is originally from my mom, and I just spruced it up a bit by adding the glaze. I hope you enjoy these special little rolls as much as I do. They’re a sweet addition to any morning routine and the perfect accompaniment to a cup of coffee. Matter of fact, bake them up tomorrow morning and savor along with my Sample Saturday post roundup!

Cinnamon Roll Biscuits with Coffee Glaze (adapted from my mom’s original recipe, biscuit dough from Allrecipes.com)

Biscuit Dough*

2 cups flour, plus extra for dusting/kneading

1 Tbs. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. sugar

1/3 cup cold shortening

1 cup cold milk

*You can also substitute your favorite biscuit recipe

Filling

3 Tbs. butter, melted

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Coffee Glaze

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

1/8 cup espresso, or strongly-brewed coffee (to make kid-friendly, substitute milk and a splash of vanilla extract)

1 Tbs. milk (if needed)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and lightly grease (or spray with cooking spray) one 9×13 pan or two 9-inch round cake pans.

To make the dough, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Cut in the shortening (using a pastry cutter or two knives) until the mixture looks crumbly. Stir in the milk to form a wet and sticky dough. Turn out onto a very well-floured surface and knead until a smooth ball forms (about 20 times). You may need to add more flour while kneading to prevent the dough from sticking.

Roll out dough into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Brush on the melted butter and sprinkle evenly with the cinnamon. Crumble the brown sugar evenly over the dough. Starting on one of the long sides of the rectangle, roll up the dough tightly and pinch the edges to seal.  Slice at 1 inch intervals and place rolls cut side up in the prepared pan (you should get between 16 and 18 rolls). Bake at 425 degrees 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

To make the glaze, whisk together the coffee (or milk) and confectioner’s sugar. If needed, add up to 1 tablespoon of milk to get desired consistency. Drizzle the glaze evenly over the biscuits when they come out of the oven, and then let cool in the pan about 5 minutes before serving.

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Garlic Knots

Things have been busy here! Little Man had his second birthday party this past weekend and loved every minute of it. Rainbow cupcakes, balloons, gifts, and tons of love and attention; what’s not to love? He is talking more and more, learning to kick a soccer ball, and rocking his new “big boy” haircut.

Little Lady is getting so big! She is starting to crawl, babble, and she finds the world utterly fascinating, especially her big brother. She really enjoys trying out new foods and her hair is finally starting to grow (slowly)!

In the midst of all this, we still have all the rest of the normal life stuff, like Big Man’s job, church, grocery shopping, cleaning, and cooking. It can be a bit overwhelming, and I am learning that it is not only OK, but necessary to admit that I can’t do everything all the time. Not that Big Man asks me to do everything; he helps out so much. But there are days when we are both pretty tired and everything just feels a little off kilter.

This past week was a little rough, so when my mom called and asked if I would like her to drop off some homemade chicken soup for dinner, it was a wonderful treat! A yummy, healthy meal (even Little Man loves that soup) that I don’t have to cook? Yes, absolutely. Thank you, Mom! Since the main course was taken care of, I figured it would be nice to make some dinner rolls to go with the soup. I found this recipe on Tasty Kitchen and tweaked it a little to our tastes, and to account for the high altitude.

These rolls were a perfect accompaniment to the soup. Soft and fluffy, with just the right amount of garlic and spices on top. And the recipe was super easy: you don’t even need a mixer! I mixed the dough with a wooden spoon and kneaded by hand. I especially liked that the recipe only made 5 rolls, so I didn’t have to worry about having too many leftovers. I’ll definitely be making these rolls again soon, and I hope you will too!

Garlic Knots (adapted from Tasty Kitchen)

1-1/2 cups bread flour*

1/2 tbs. sugar

1 tsp. quick-rise (instant) dry yeast

1 (scant) tsp. salt*

1 tbs. olive oil

1/3 cup milk

1/2 cup lukewarm water

2 tsp. minced garlic (about 2 cloves)

2 tbs. butter, melted

1/8 tsp. dried oregano

1/8 tsp. dried basil

1/4 tsp. dried parsley

*These measurements are for high altitude baking. If you are not at high altitude, use 1-1/2 cups all purpose flour, and 1/2 tsp salt.

 

In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. Add the olive oil, milk, and water, and mix with a wooden spoon until a dough forms (it will be quite wet and sticky). Turn out onto a well-floured surface and knead until dough is smooth and elastic (you may have to add more flour). Transfer to a bowl that has been lightly oiled or sprayed with cooking spray and turn dough once to coat. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise for one hour.

Turn out risen dough onto floured surface and divide into 5 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope (about 3/4 to 1 inch diameter) and tie into a knot, tucking the ends under. Place rolls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Cover with a clean towel and let rise 45 minutes, until the rolls look puffy.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To make the topping, combine melted butter with garlic and herbs. Brush the topping onto the risen rolls, and bake until golden brown, about 16-20 minutes. Enjoy warm with your favorite soup or chili.

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