Fluffy and Light Dinner Rolls

    (picture taken from http://www.life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com/2011/08/texas-roadhouse-rolls-and-cinnamon.html#)

I saw these on Life as a Lofthouse blog and wondered if they really would taste like the Texas Roadhouse rolls they claimed to be. Verdict: I can't say they were like Texas Roadhouse, but they were really quite delicious and light and fluffy. I loved them so much I have taped the recipe to the inside of my cabinet where I keep all my go-to recipes, so that should say something! I tweaked the recipe a bit to eliminate the scalded milk step, and halved it. (maybe this is why they didn't taste exactly like the "real" thing. Hmmm... maybe I should try them the original way first, huh? Well, these were great as they are!)

 

Fluffy and Light Dinner Rolls

Yields 12 large rolls

 

2 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast

1/4 cup Warm Water

1 cup Warm Water ( or Whole Milk, scalded and cooled to lukewarm)

1/4 C. dry milk (omit if using whole milk)

1 1/2 Tablespoons Butter, softened

1/4 cup Sugar

3.5 cups All-Purpose Flour

1 Eggs

1 teaspoons Salt

 

DIRECTIONS: Dissolve yeast in warm water with  sugar, in the bowl of a stand mixer. Once yeast has dissolved, add milk, sugar and 1 cup of flour. Beat thoroughly on medium speed. Let stand until foamy (about 2 minutes). Add butter, eggs and salt. Beat well.

Gradually add in another 2.5 cups of flour, slowly, to form a soft dough while mixer is on low.  *NOTE* Do not use more than 4 cups of flour total. The dough will be very soft and somewhat sticky, you may think it needs more flour, but it does not.

Knead dough in stand mixer with the dough hooks, for about 4 minutes. If you knead it with your hands, you will need to grease up your hands with some cooking spray, to help the dough from not sticking to your hands.

Once kneaded, place into a large, greased bowl. Place dough inside, and turn over to grease top. *NOTE* Again, dough will be sticky so you may need to grease your hands to handle while putting dough in the bowl to let rise. Cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

Once dough has risen, remove from bowl and place onto a lightly floured surface. Lightly flour a rolling pin, and roll dough out into a large rectangle, that is a 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough in half length-wise and then in strips making 12 total, then fold each strip into thirds, or roll it up and place in greased baking dish. (or if you want squares like Texas Roadhouse,  using a pizza cutter, slice dough into 12 large squares. Place squares onto greased cookie sheets. Cover, and let rise again, until doubled in size.

Bake rolls at 350 for 16-18 minutes, or until lightly golden on top. Remove from oven, and immediately brush tops with butter.

Yeast Biscuits (by Paula Deen)

This recipe for biscuits makes thick, fluffy, light biscuits, and they are no-fail! The yeast added makes them tender and fluffy and soft. And you don't have to wait for them to raise, just stick them in the oven and in a few minutes you have perfect biscuits!

Yeast Biscuits (by Paula Deen)  - this recipe is half the original recipe Paula gives. It will make about 9-10 biscuits

1/2 (about 1 1/2 tsp.) package yeast

1/4 cup lukewarm water

2.5 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon sugar

1/3 cup plus 2 Tbsp. solid shortening (recommended: Crisco)

1 cup buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk, use 2 Tbsp. vinegar added to regular milk)

 Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Dissolve yeast in warm water; set aside. Mix dry ingredients together. Cut in shortening. Add yeast and buttermilk and mix well. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and roll out to desired thickness. Cut with small biscuit cutter and place on greased baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Lion House Rolls

I am always on the search for the "perfect" roll recipe- one that is tender and soft. Well, I found it! These are truly the best I've ever had! My search for the perfect roll recipe has ended! (I found this recipe online at http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=204&sid=642378)

Lion House Rolls

Ingredients:

• 2 cups warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
• 2/3 cup nonfat dry milk (instant or non-instant)
• 2 tablespoons dry yeast
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/3 cup butter, shortening, or margarine
• 1 egg
• 5 to 5 ½ cups all-purpose flour, or bread flour

Method:

In large bowl or electric mixer, combine water and milk powder; stir until milk dissolves. Add yeast, then sugar, salt, butter, egg, and 2 cups flour. Mix on low speed until ingredients are wet, then for 2 minutes at medium speed. Add 2 cups flour; mix on low speed until ingredients are wet, then for 2 minutes at medium speed. (Dough will be getting stiff and remaining flour may need to be mixed in by hand). Add about ½ cup flour and mix again, by hand or mixer. Dough should be soft, not overly sticky, and not stiff (It is not necessary to use the entire amount of flour).Scrape dough off sides of bowl and pour about one tablespoon of vegetable oil all around sides of bowl. Turn dough over in bowl so it is covered with oil. (This helps prevent dough from drying out). Cover with plastic and allow to rise in warm place until double in size, about 45 minutes.
Scrape dough out onto floured board. Turn dough over so it is floured on both sides; gently flatten to about 1 inch thick. With rolling pin, roll out to a rectangle about 18 inches long, 8 inches wide, and ¼ inch thick. Brush with melted butter. With pizza cutter or very sharp knife, cut dough in half to make two strips about 4 inches wide. Make cuts through strips of dough every 2 inches, making about 18 pieces of dough.
Starting with short end, roll up one piece of dough, with butter on the inside. Place roll on parchment-lined pan with other short end down on the paper. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough. Be sure all rolls face the same direction on baking pan. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise until double in size, about 1 to 1 ½ hours. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes, or until light to medium golden brown. Brush tops of rolls with melted butter. Serve with Honey Butter. Makes 1 to 1 ½ dozen rolls.

Whole Wheat Bread to die for!

I used to live near this old lady who would make my and my siblings tiny loaves of homemade wheat bread. My favorite kind of homemade bread is whole wheat bread, and this recipe is so tender, soft, and surprisingly light for whole wheat.

Whole Wheat Bread

1 1/8 cups water 3 cups whole wheat flour 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/3 brown sugar Place ingredients in bread machine pan in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select Whole Wheat setting, (but I used the regular setting afer letting the yeast sit for about 15 minutes,) and then press Start. If you are making it in a regular loaf pan, add yeast and water to large mixing bowl fitted with dough hook. Add sugar and let yeast develop for about 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and mix on medium speed for about 5 minutes. Remove from bowl and transfer to a well-greased bowl. Cover with a damp towel and let rise until doubled in size. (about half hour)  Remove from bowl and turn out onto floured surface. Roll up into a loaf size roll and place in greased loaf pan. Let rise again until nice dome forms above top edge of pan. Place in oven preheated to 350 degrees and bake for about 25 minutes or until top is golden brown. Remove from oven and brush top of loaf with butter. Remove from loaf pan after it has cooled a bit.

1 tablespoon dry milk powder 1 1/2 tablespoons shortening 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Super Breadsticks

I love bread! All kids of bread! And I love breadsticks- especially when they are warm, buttery, cheesy, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and dipped in alfredo sauce! So, since I am on an alfredo sauce kick (previous two posts can attest) I decided I'd better include a yummy breadstick recipe as well! (I think this recipe would make a fantastic pizza dough!)

Super Breadsticks by Erin Taylor

2 1/2 tsp. yeast
1 C. warm water
1 Tsp. sugar
2 C. all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt

butter
parmesan cheese
garlic salt

Preheat oven to 400 deg.  Combine yeast, sugar and water in a mixer with a dough hook attachment. Let sit for 5 minutes to let yeast develop. Add flour and salt and mix until flour well incorporated. Mix on med. speed for 7 minutes. (yes, 7 minutes. Dough needs to get very stretchy.)  Place in well greased bowl in a warm spot in kitchen and let raise until double in size (about a half hour).  Remove from bowl and place in very lightly floured surface. Cut dough in half, then half again, and half again until you have about 8 -10 same-size pieces of dough. Roll each dough into a roughly 6-7 inch strip and place on greased baking pan. Space each stick about 2 " apart, if possible. Let raise for another 15 minutes. Place in hot oven and bake about 10 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and brush softened butter (generously) over each breadstick. Sprinkle with garlic salt and parmesan cheese before serving.

Serve with warmed Alfredo sauce on the side for dipping!

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

The roll dough is so gooey and fluffy and soft, these are just irresistable deliciousness! Make them the night before and all you  have to do is take them out of the fridge, let them raise a bit, and bake and devour!

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls



On top of the stove, or in microwave, scald:
1 cup milk
add:
1/3 cup butter

Pour into mixing bowl and let cool to warm, then add:
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)

1/2 cup white sugar

Let sit for 5 minutes to let yeast develop.

Next, add flour and eggs alternately (1 C. flour, 1 egg, 1 C. flour, etc..) mixing until thoroughly combined between each addition:

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 eggs

Finally, add:

1 teaspoon salt

Mix for 5 minutes more until dough is elastic and smooth, pulling away from sides of bowl. Place in a greased bowl and let raise, covered, until double in size.

Roll out into large rectangle about 1/3" thick.

Spread over the dough:

1/3 C. butter, softened

Then, sprinkle evenly over the butter:
2/3 to 1 C. sugar

1/4 C. flour

3 Tbsp. Cinnamon (less if you like it less cinnamony!)

Roll carefully and evenly and pinch end into dough to seal it.

Carefully slice with a serrated knife, 1" sections. (I start from the very center, then work left, then right from the first slice. It helps keep it all together.)  Or you can use dental floss to cut it.

Place on greased cookie sheet about 2" apart, tucking the end of each roll under the bottom to keep it from uncoiling when raised.  Spray tops of rolls with pan spray and cover with plastic wrap. Place immediately in refridgerator overnight.

The next morning:

Remove from refridgerator. Preheat oven to 375 deg. and prop door open a few inches. Place pan of rolls in open oven to "thaw" and soften up. As soon as they are softer, remove from oven to finish raising while oven preheats fully. 

Bake in oven for 8-10 minutes or until outside is firm to the touch, but tops are NOT brown. You want your rolls to be soft, and if you wait until they brown, they will be too hard.

Remove from oven and frost generously with Cream Cheese Frosting (below)

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8 oz. package Cream Cheese, room temperature
2 Tbsp. Butter, room temperature
3 C. Powdered Sugar
2-3 Tbsp. milk  (or to desired consistency)

Combine all ingredients and whip until fluffy.  Drop by spoonfulls onto each roll. Gently spread over warm rolls, but let it "ooze" over the sides.

BEST Homemade Donuts EVER!!!

I have tried and tried and tried homemade donuts over the years with disappointing results- until now! I discovered this donut recipe online from the Pioneer Woman Cooks blog.  I have a favorite donut place up the street, and their donuts are so fluffy and crispy, yet tender and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. However, I often crave donuts in the evenings, and of course, no donut places are open that late! Now, I can make donuts when I want them, and they'll be delicious!!!! Thanks Pioneer Woman!!!

Note:  This recipe requires you to make the dough and refridgerate it the night before. I strongly recommend this! The dough does not take long to whip up (right before bed!), and not long to roll out and cut the next morning. They just need time to raise and they're ready. So, don't be shy, try them today!!!

Homemade Glazed Doughnuts

by Ree Drummond  (step-by-step pictures are available on her web site HERE)
 (with a few extra tips from Erin!)

Donuts

1-⅛ cup Whole Milk, Warm (Erin's tip: I used 1% milk and it turned out fine)


■¼ cups Sugar

■2-¼ teaspoons (one Package) Instant Or Active Dry Yeast

■2 whole Large Eggs, Beaten

■1-¼ stick Unsalted Butter, melted

■4 cups All-purpose Flour

■¼ teaspoons Salt

■Canola Oil


GLAZE

■3 cups Powdered Sugar

■½ teaspoons Salt

■½ teaspoons Vanilla

■½ cups Cold Water Or Milk

*Erin's Frosting tips:   I put powdered sugar in 3 bowls. One I made the standard glaze -above-, the second I added a few Tablespoons of Cocoa powder and vanilla and made chocolate glaze, and the third I added maple syrup for maple donuts! They were fantastic!!!*
 
To Make the Dough:



1. Make sure milk is nice and warm, but not overly hot.

2. Add sugar to milk. Stir to dissolve.

3. Add yeast into a small bowl.

4. Pour milk/sugar mixture over yeast. Stir gently, then let sit for 10 minutes.

5. Melt butter in separate bowl until butter is almost melted. Stir to finish melting so butter won’t be overly hot.

6. Add beaten eggs to melted butter, stirring constantly to make sure the butter’s not too hot for the eggs.

7. Add the egg/butter mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook.

8. With the mixer on 3 or medium-low speed, pour in the yeast mixture.

9. Allow the dough hook to stir this mixture for a couple of minutes, making sure it’s thoroughly combined.

10. With the mixer still going, add helpings of the flour mixture in 1/4 to 1/2 cup increments until all the flour is gone.

11. Stop the mixer, scrape the bowl, then turn the mixer on the same speed for five whole minutes.

12. After five minutes, stop the mixer and scrape the bottom of the bowl. (Erin's tip: don't add more flour! It is stickier than you would expect, but it works! Just complete the steps below and it turns out great!)


13. Turn on the mixer for 30 seconds.

14. Turn off the mixer and allow the dough to sit in the bowl undisturbed for 10 minutes.

15. After 10 minutes, transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Toss the dough to coat, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place straight in the fridge.

16. Refrigerate dough for at least 8 hours, or overnight.



To Make the Doughnuts:

1. Remove bowl from fridge and turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. (*Erin's tip:  dough will be firm. It worried me at first, but it maked it easier to roll out, and it softens up and raises as it warms up.)


2. Roll out to 1/4 to 1/3-inch thickness. (*Erin's tip: I preferred my donuts to be thicker and puffier, so I rolled them almost 1/2" thick and they were more like my donut shop donuts, and didn't make as many, which I didn't need that much anyway!)

3. Using a 3-inch cutter, cut as many rounds as you can, then roll out remaining dough and cut as much as you can, etc. (*Erin's tip: I used a heart shaped cookie cutter, and a small heart for the center! Super cute!)


4. Cut holes out of each round using a 1 1/2-inch cutter.

5. Place both doughnuts and holes on a floured baking sheet.

6. Cover with large tea towel and place in a warm place in your kitchen; my kitchen is very drafty, so I have to briefly warm the griddle, then turn it off and set the sheets on top to keep warm.

7. Allow doughnuts to rise undisturbed for at least 1 hour; 1 hour 15 minutes if necessary. Doughuts should be visibly puffier and appear to be airy.



To Fry the Dougnuts


1. Heat plenty of canola oil in a large pot until the temperature reaches 375 to 380 degrees—do not let it get hotter than 380 degrees! 375 is ideal; keep the thermometer in the pan to continually monitor. (*Erin's tip: I used Crisco shortening in place of oil because I have found in the past it gives scones a crispier outside. IT worked great, but I'm sure the oil is fantastic, too.)

2. One to two at a time, gently grab doughnuts and ease them into the hot oil. Allow them to cook 1 minute on each side; they will brown very quickly.

3. Remove doughnuts from the oil with a slotted spoon, allowing all oil to drip off.

4. Place doughnut immediately on several layers of paper towels. Count to five, then flip it over onto a clean part of the paper towels. Count to five, then flip it over again; the purpose, obviously, is to drain as much grease as possible before it soaks into the doughnut.

5. Repeat with remaining doughnuts and holes. The holes will cook more quickly than the doughnuts; about 30 seconds per side.

6. Allow doughnuts to slightly cool.



To Glaze


1. Mix all glaze ingredients in a bowl until completely smooth. (or make the 3 flavors as stated in Glaze recipe above!)

2. One by one, dip doughnuts into the glaze until halfway submerged. (Note: completely submerge doughnut holes, then remove with slotted spoon.)

4. Remove from glaze, then turn right side up on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet (to catch dripping glaze.)

5. Serve warm if possible, or room temperature.

(*Erin's Tip: Roll a few donut holes or donuts in sprinkles after you dip in the glaze! Kids can't stay out of them!)

Super Easy Scones with Orange Honey Butter

Scones! Gotta love em, right? Well, with orange honey butter they're even better! Try em today!


Rhodes Scones

8 frozen Rhodes Texas Rolls, thawed

deep frying pan with 3" oil, heated.

Press roll dough flat and shape with fingers into about a 4" diameter circle. Place in hot oil and cook on both sides until golden brown. Dust with powdered or granulated sugar for a fancy effect.  Keep warm in warm oven until ready to serve.

Orange Honey Butter

1 stick butter, room temperature
1 Tbsp. grated orange rind
1/4 C. honey

Mix all together and set aside in refridgerator for 15 minutes.  Spread over hot scones and try not to eat too many!!!! Delicious!!!!!

Paula Deen's Yeast Biscuits

                             

I cannot make biscuits to save my life. They end up little flat disks of hard flour. I have always used frozen biscuits, and it has worked out fine. However, I watched an episode of Paula Deen, and she made these yeast biscuits that were so fluffy and yummy looking I had to try them. You know what? I can totally make biscuits now!!! They are easy, and delicious- sort of a cross between a biscuit and a roll. So, try them today! (I halfed the recipe she had because it just makes waaaay too many for an average size family. This recipe makes 8-10)

Paula Deen's Yeast Biscuits

Preheat oven to 400 deg. F

mix together in mixing bowl:
1 pkg. yeast
1/4 C. lukewarm water
2 Tbsp. sugar

add to yeast mixture:
2 1/2 C. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 + 1 Tbsp. shortening
1 C. buttermilk

mix all ingred. together until incorporated, but don't over mix. Place dough on floured surface and knead until not too sticky to handle; roll out to about 1/2" thick. (here's where I changed her recipe, I don't use a biscuit cutter- I like things to be as simple as possible!) Form dough into rectangle or square and cut into 8-10 equal size squares. Spray baking pan or baking dish. Form each square into a circle (if you want) and place in pan, or in dish- 2 inches apart. Bake for about 12 minutes, until nice and golden on top.

Great served with butter and homemade jam, or eaten as biscuits and sausage gravy!!!!

Cinnamon Raisin or Cranberry Orange Biscuits

By Erin Taylor

I used to work at Hardee's restaurant. About the only good thing about it was the smell of their yummy warm Cinnamon Raisin biscuits in the mornings. Here is my version, and a twist with dried cranberries and orange! Try them and see which one your family loves best! (Use the variations for the cranberry orange version.)

2 1/2 C. Bisquick mix
3/4 C. milk
1/4 C. butter
1/4 C. sugar
1/2 C. raisins (variation: dried cranberries)
1 tsp. cinnamon (variation: 1/2 tsp. ground cloves)
1 tsp. vanilla (variation: orange extract and 1 tbsp. grated orange peel)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees, Mix all ingredients together and drop by heaping spoonfulls onto cookie sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes until golden brown on top. Glaze and serve. Makes about 8.

Glaze:
1 C. powdered sugar
3 tbsp. milk (variation: orange juice concentrate)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. butter, softened
dash cinnamon

Cheddar Bay Biscuits (like Red Lobster!)

Erin Taylor style!


I can NOT stay away from the garlic cheddar biscuits at Red Lobster, so of course I had to figure out a way to make them at home! These are as close as I could get to the real thing... yummmmmm!

2 1/4 cups Bisquick® mix
2/3 cup milk (may need more if dough is too stiff.)
1 C. grated cheddar cheese
1/2 C. butter, softened
1 Tbsp. chopped Garlic
1 Tsp. chopped basil (dried is fine)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients until incorporated. Drop by big spoonfulls onto cookie sheet. Place in oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden on top. Remove and brush with butter and sprinkle a little garlic salt on top. Serve warm!!!