Savory Rosemary and Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls

This year for Thanksgiving I was in charge of the pie (as always) and bread. Every year we always freak out about the bread because we almost always burn it. Both houses. I just don't get it. Is it just our family or does everyone struggle with this? Thus, I thought it would be fun to make homemade rolls instead. That way it would be nearly impossible for us to burn them because I would be watching them like a hawk.

Since I had never made dinner rolls before, I thought I would try out two recipes to give everyone more options aaannddd to have a backup in case one completely backfired. I think they both turned out great, but it was clear that the sweet potato rolls were everyone's favorite (myself included). I think if the rosemary ones were saltier, they definitely could have given the SP-rolls a run for their money. (so you if want to give these rolls a try, I suggest increasing the salt by at least a teaspoon)

This recipe was moderately adapted from one I found on allrecipes.com

 

Sweet Potato Rolls  

Ingredients

1 package active dry yeast

4 tablespoons white sugar

1/2 can sweet potato puree

1/2 cup warm water

3 tablespoons margarine, room temperature

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

*This recipe is best made with a stand mixer. I’ve made bread with a hand mixer before and it just doesn’t work as well.

Directions

Mix together the water, yeast and 1 tablespoon of sugar on a large bowl and let sit for about 5 minutes until frothy.

Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar, sweet potato puree, margarine, salt, and whisked eggs and mix well. Mix in 1 cup of flour and then add the remaining 2 cups. Mix until the dough comes together, but is still sticky

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for about 2 to 3 minutes and add just enough flour so that the dough is no longer sticky. Don’t over knead. When the dough comes together (and no longer sticks to your hands) roll it into a ball.

Place the dough into a well-greased bowl and turn it until the entire dough ball is lightly greased in oil. Cover with a towel and place in a low lit area. Let it rise for at least an hour (2 is better). The dough should almost fill the bowl at this point. After the dough has risen, punch it down with your fist and let it sit for 2 minutes.

Pinch and roll the dough into 16 balls and place them into well-greased pans. (I used a 9.5x13 inch glass pan). Cover the dough again and let it rise for another 2 hours, or until the balls have doubled in size.

Bake at 375˚ for 15 to 20 minutes.

 this recipe is adapted from Confections of  Foodie Bride 

Savory Rosemary Dinner Rolls 

Ingredients

1 package active dry yeast

1 cup lukewarm water

2 Tbsp oil (vegetable, canola, or olive – I used olive) plus more for greasing bowl and pan

1 large egg

3 Tablespoons sugar

3 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp salt (I suggest adding another teaspoon to amp the flavor)

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

2 Tbsp melted butter

Directions

Stir together the warm water and yeast in a large mixing bowl and let sit for about 10 minutes, or until frothy 

Add the oil, egg (scrambled), sugar, salt, pepper and rosemary to the water/yeast mixture. Stir.

Freshly picked rosemary from my step-mom, Stephanie's, amazing herb garden

Add the flour in two increments and mix on low speed until the dough comes together and no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl.

On a lightly floured work surface, knead the dough for about 5 minutes. You can use the mixer and increase the speed to high but I personally think the gluten forms a more successful crisscross pattern when it is done by hand.  (The crisscross pattern in the gluten helps it rise and makes it soft instead of tough) 

Place the dough back into a well-greased bowl and cover with a damp towel. The recipe I used said to let the dough rise for an hour. I did this recipe twice however and found that the dough I let sit over night was much softer and made much better rolls so I suggest letting it sit for as long as you can (at least a couple of hours) 

After the dough has doubled in size, pinch off pieces of dough and roll them into balls. Place the smaller dough balls in a well-greased cake pan or glass baking dish (either works well) making sure to leave space for them to rise and expand. 

Preheat oven to 350˚

Recover the balls of dough with a damp towel and let rise again. (About another hour) 

Brush the tops of the dough balls with half of the butter and bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until lightly brown. After you remove the buns from the oven, brush the tops with the remaining butter. 

My brother, Joseph

Joe-Joe wanted to take the dinner roll glamor shots to a new level... just to mix it up a bit...Maybe he would start a revolution for my blog I mean who knows. Like little sisters do, I tend to think everything my big brother does is brilliant and hilarious so... I decided to go with it....

just noticed the fake gun in the corner.....we're so country

I think the juxtaposition of the buns in each photograph was simply superb.

Pecan Pie

What I absolutely loved about making this pie is that I didn't have to go to the grocery store for a single ingredient. Granted I keep an abnormal amount of baking supplies stocked in my cabinets all the time, but it was still nice to be able to whip this thing together without spending a dime. (well I had to buy the ingredients at some point - but still!)

Anyway, this was the first pecan pie I have ever made and ohmagoodness was it good. I wanted to make sure I found a recipe that didn't use corn syrup - because one. ew. I've used it before but it just seems so artificial. and two - I didn't have any corn syrup on hand. I also had to decide how I wanted to arrange my pecans. I read online that if you put the pecans at the bottom, they eventually would rise to the top. Although this system may not be the most aesthetically pleasing, I thought it would taste better if the pecans were more incorporated into the the gooey mixture (the only part I would eat growing up). After trying it out, I think this was the best decision. It is pretty to decoratively arrange the pecans on top, but then they don't get the added sweetness of being submerged in the gooey goodness. 

On another note, I have literally eaten about half of this pie by myself so if ANYONE wants a piece please come over to our apartment and it take off my hands!



I also want to apologize in advance for the crappiness of my play-by-play shots. It was late and the lighting was wack.

This recipe is verry loosey based off of one I found in Martha Stewart's Pies and Tarts.

The Crust 

Ingredients

1 ¼ cup of all-purpose flour

1 stick of unsalted butter

½ teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon salt

2 ½ tablespoons ice water

Pinch of cinnamon

Directions 

1. Start by freezing the stick of butter for about 15 minutes. Since I didn’t have a food processor, I grated the butter with a cheese grater while it was still hard from the freezer. Do this quickly because you don’t want the butter to soften.  If it becomes too soft during this process, pop the grated butter back in the freezer for a couple more minutes.

2. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well (flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon)

3. Add the butter with the dry ingredients. Pinch the ingredients together until it looks like course meal.

4. Add a tablespoon of water at a time and continue to pinch with your fingertips until the dough just barely comes together.

5. Pour the somewhat crumbly dough onto plastic wrap. Pack it tightly into a disk, loosely rewrap the dough and then refrigerate for at least an hour.

6. On a lightly flour work surface, roll out the dough until it’s big enough to fit your pie pan. To pick it up off the counter, roll the dough onto your rolling pin and the roll it back onto the pan.

Filling 

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com and didn't make any changes. I mean 1,051 say its 5 stars so is it really worth making a change just so I can call it my own? I don't think so. 

Ingredients

1 cup light brown sugar

¼ cup white sugar

½ cup butter

2 eggs

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup crushed pecans, plus more for decoration

1. Start by melting the butter and preheating the oven to 400˚

2. With an electric mixer, blend the eggs until foamy.

3. With a spatula or whisk, stir together the butter and eggs.

4. Stir in the sugars and flour.

5. Lastly, mix in the milk and vanilla

6. Pour the crushed pecans into the bottom of the crust (apparently they are supposed to rise to the top during baking) then pour filling on top. Add whole pecans on top for decoration.

7. To prevent your crust from burning, cut out a rim with tin foil. I actually didn’t have a very dramatic crust edge because I didn’t have much overhang, but I did it anyway just in case.

8. Begin by baking for 10 minutes at 400˚ and then lower the temperature to 350˚ and bake for an additional 30 or 40 minutes.