With a corncob pipe and a "button" nose

When I got my December issue of Bon Appetit, the pretty cookies on the cover definitely caught my eye.  Then I spyed the small print near the bottom that proclaimed them to be Dorie Greenspan's Speculoos Buttons, p. 96.  I immediately knew that I'd have to make them.  After all, I know I can rely on Dorie. =)  I realized also that these would be perfect for my virtual cookie exchange. 

The dough is easy to mix up.  You cream butter with regular and brown sugars as well as a little molasses.  Next in are an egg and some vanilla.  Then you add the dry ingredients--flour, salt and spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and a bit of cloves).  The dough is formed into logs and chilled for several hours.  Before baking, the logs of dough are brushed with egg white and coated in sparkling sugar.  This was a great chance for me to use the pretty pearlized sugar that I picked up a couple weeks ago.  The recipe calls for adding a glaze and additional decorations to the cookies after they're baked, but I didn't get that far.

The verdict?  I really liked these cookies--they have a good level of spice and aren't too sweet.  Brianna tried one and didn't really like it.  Gillian wouldn't even taste one.  So I took most of them to work, and found several people who were more than happy to take them off my hands.  I will definitely be making these again--the dough is easy to mix up and stash in the freezer for cookie emergencies. =)  Next time I'll have to add the glaze and play around more with the decorations.  Maybe if the girls get to decorate them, they'll reconsider eating them.  Lol. 

If you'd like to try these for yourself, you can find the recipe here.  Be sure to check back in a few days so see what other tasty cookies my friends have come up with for our cookie exchange!  

3rd Annual Virtual Cookie Exchange!

I am so fortunate that I am friends with a wonderful group of bakers and bloggers.  I wish that we could all get together in person to talk and eat cookies, but we live all over the place.  So until we can manage to meet up in person (one day!) we'll have to make do with drooling over pictures of each other's fantastic holiday cookies.  This is our third year of having a virtual cookie exchange, and I can't wait to see what everyone has to share this year!

I'll tell you all about my cookies later today, and I'll be back sometime next week with this year's round-up so you can check out everyone's wonderful recipes.  Be sure to check out the delicious cookies that we shared in 2010 and 2011, too.

Sweet and sour

Welcome to Ice Cream Week 2012!  I did something along those lines in July last year, but this time around, Ice Cream Week is being hosted by my friend Phyl.  I'm indebted to Phyl for providing me with the push I needed to get out of my recent blogging slump.  I could blame it on a number of things--still getting adjusted to my new job location/hours, the parenting fun of ridding my children and my home of lice, the joy that is a Texas summer, being sucked into watching Olympics every chance I get...  But what it really comes down to is what one of my former bosses called "analysis paralysis."  I worry too much about what to write and how to make sure it's "perfect," when sometimes I really just need to sit down and do it.  And while I'm at it, stop being so hard on myself for everything that I don't get done and that isn't perfect. =)

First up in our themes for this week is Summer Fruit.  Since I haven't been able to spend much time in the kitchen recently, I started off by checking my archives for recipes that I made but never posted.  But I rarely make fruit ice cream.  I think the problem is that they never taste that fruity to me--the flavor of the fruit is muted by the dairy ingredients.  And one of the things I love about most fruit is its acidity. So instead of a fruit ice cream, I bring you a sorbet.  (That's actually our theme for Wednesday, so stay tuned for another one then.)  

This recipe comes from my favorite ice cream book, Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home.  The recipes are arranged by season in the book, depending on when the ingredients are at their peak.  The way my tastes run, I've mostly made recipes from the Autumn and Winter sections, but this one is squarely in the Summer category.  The recipe is for Sour Beer Sorbets, and can be varied depending on the type of stone fruit you want to use or have available.  The sour beers are Belgian lambics, one of the few beers I'll happily drink.  I had a bunch of nectarines on hand, so I picked up a bottle of peach lambic and was all set.  The recipe is pretty simple--simmer pureed fruit with some sugar and corn syrup (which helps the final texture), chill the mixture, strain it if desired, add the beer, and churn.  I'm lazy, so I didn't bother to peel my nectarines before pureeing, so I did strain my mixture.  When I tasted the mixture after simmering but before adding the beer, it seemed a bit flat and overly sweet.  However, the acidity of the lambic beer took care of that.  I also added a pinch of salt to the mixture.  

The verdict?  This is very tasty sorbet.  The texture is smooth and not overly icy or hard to scoop.  There's a hint of alcohol taste, but it's certainly not overpowering.  I'd definitely like to try other flavors, particularly the Plum & Black Currant variation.  

I've got my work cut out for me, since I don't have any other ice creams ready to go for this week's festivities. =)  But I'm looking forward to the challenge.  Be sure to check out Phyl's blog; he'll have posts every day this week (I'll probably only manage 3 or 4 at most) and will share links to other friends who are participating.  His recipe for today is Citrus Beet Ice Cream.  You should check it out for the color, if nothing else. =)

Citrus Sunday - Triple Citrus Bars

I've mentioned before that I love cooking magazines.  It was such a revelation the first time I ever read one (thanks to my wonderful husband who thought it would give me something to do while I was wiped out by the flu 13 years ago).  There are so many enticing new recipes in every issue!  Lots are seasonally appropriate, so sometimes I'm inspired to drop what I'm doing and make a new recipe right away.  That happened with the July/August 2006 issue of Cook's Illustrated.  Amazing that I remember that almost 6 years ago, isn't it?  The recipe that grabbed my attention was for Key Lime Bars.  I immediately made a double batch to take to a 4th of July potluck.  They were a huge hit and several people asked for the recipe.  I made the bars several times shortly after that, but as often happens, I got sidetracked by new recipes after that and have only made them maybe once or twice since then.

When I was trying to come up with a good citrus recipe for my blog event, I considered several ideas.  I even made an orange & vanilla bundt cake that turned out pretty good, but just wasn't quite what I was looking for.  I'm always short on time and frequently indecisive as well, so it really isn't surprising that I was sitting here yesterday (yay for a Saturday off!) still trying to decide what to make.  I turned to Eat Your Books to see what I could find on my bookshelves.  I bought some limes when we were shopping Friday night (to add to the lemons, tangerines & tangelos already in the fridge), so I started off searching that.  Nothing jumped out and grabbed me, so I thought to try searching for "citrus" instead.  Bingo!

Triple Citrus Bars came up a couple times in the list--they're a variation on the Key Lime Bars, and can be found in the magazine (online) as well as in the new Cook's Illustrated Cookbook.  Instead of just lime juice and zest (you can use either key limes or regular Persian limes), you use lemon and orange juice and zest as well.  The zests are used in equal amounts (1 1/2 teaspoons of each), but most of the juice is lime, with just a tablespoon each of lemon and orange.  I actually used tangelo zest and juice instead of orange, since that's what I had.

Rather than graham crackers, the crust is made with animal crackers.  They are pulsed in the food processor along with some brown sugar and a bit of salt and then melted butter is added to bind everything together.  This recipe gave me a change to use a new baking pan that I bought myself for my birthday--a Fat Daddio's 8" square baking pan.  (I love my Pyrex baking pans, but they don't work well for everything.)  The crust is baked for 18-20 minutes, which allows enough time to mix up the filling.  The filling consists of cream cheese, the zests, a bit of salt, sweetened condensed milk, an egg yolk, and the citrus juices.  Once the crust is baked and cooled for a few minutes, the filling is added and the bars are baked for another 15-20 minutes.  The bars are allowed to cool to room temperature, then are refrigerated for at least a couple hours.

The verdict?  These aren't quite as tart as the straight lime ones, but I like the flavor that the mix of fruits brings to the bars.  As the test kitchen cooks determined, the addition of the cream cheese and egg yolk helps firm up the filling so that it can be cut into neat bars.  I'm definitely not going to let so much time pass before I make these bars again.

If you'd like to try the recipe, you can find it here on the Cook's Illustrated website, or in the Cook's Illustrated Cookbook.  And be sure to check out all the other yummy citrus recipes that my blogging friends have made!  If you'd like to join us in the future, leave a comment or email me at diskitchennotebook at gmail dot com, and I'll add you to my email list.

Citrus Sunday

It's Citrus Sunday!  Meaning that it's time for our next seasonal blog event.  Last summer, I decided that we had so much fun with our Cookie Exchange that I'd like to host blog events more than once a year.  I know that my blogging friends are busy, though, so I didn't want it to be too often.  Seasonally--roughly four times a year plus the holiday cookies--seemed just about right.  For summer, we had ice cream and other frozen treats, then for fall we had loaves of all kinds.  (And of course we had another cookie exchange.)  That brings us to winter.  Now I know that we're just a handful of days away from spring, so I wanted a theme that would be a good transition from one season to the other.  Citrus fruits seemed like the perfect way to do it, since they're in season in winter, but make everyone think of spring.  There are so many great variations to choose from--I can't wait to see what everyone has come up with!

I decided to try something new this time.  My friend Nancy had the great suggestion to add a linky to this main blog event post.  That way everyone can leave their links so we can all check them out (especially since my life is crazy as always and I don't know how soon I'll find time to do a round-up).  I know that not everyone will have his or her blog post done today, so I'm allowing submissions for the next two weeks.  Enjoy!

Blog party!

I'm still trying to figure out what was going on in December 2007 that prompted so many people to start food blogs.  It seems like I keep finding other bloggers that I feel like have been around forever that started their blogs right around the same time I did.  Today, I'm excited to wish Shelby of The Life & Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch a very happy 4th anniversary for her blog!  A while back, Shelby sent me an invitation to a virtual party to celebrate her blogiversary.  We're all bringing one of my favorite types of party food--appetizers and small plates.  What better way to get to sample lots of yummy dishes without getting full too quickly. =)

I decided to share a recipe that I've made a bunch of times, but somehow never blogged--Cheddar Cheese and Pecan Crisps.  They're flaky, buttery, nutty cheese crackers that are excellent with a glass of celebratory beverage. =)  You can cut out round cookies, but I like to do other shapes, like these stars. (Snowflakes are fun too, this time of year.) I've confused people a few times, when they thought they were picking up a sweet cookie and instead ended up with a savory mouthful.  Not a bad thing, of course, just unexpected.  The recipe suggests using a mix of cheddar and parmesan, but you can use other sharp cheeses as well.  I usually make mine with just cheddar.  I'm not a big fan of spicy things, but the bit of cayenne in these gives them a little kick that's very tasty.  One last note--the recipe calls for 7 ounces of butter--that's 14 tablespoons.  The first time I made these, I misread the amount, and used only 7 tablespoons.  The crackers actually turned out okay.  I'm not sure they really need the full amount (feel free to try it and see what you think), but I have increased the amount I use from 7 to 10 tablespoons, which I think works well.  

The verdict?  These crackers are always a hit whenever I serve them.  The recipe makes lots, so I usually even have a few left over to snack on for a couple of days.  I pretty much only make them for parties, otherwise I'd be tempted to eat the entire batch myself. =)  

You can find the recipe here on the Fine Cooking website.  For lots more great appetizers & snacks, be sure to check out all the other links to Shelby's blogiversary party.  Also, to celebrate her blog anniversary, Shelby is sponsoring a giveaway on her blog.  Here are the details:

• Receive one entry by leaving a comment on this blog post telling me about your favorite appetizer.

• For additional entries, visit the blog links that will take you to the blogs of others who have joined in the celebration party and leave a comment on each of their posts.

• The giveaway will end on January 7th at 5 PM EST. The winner will be announced on January 8th via a blog post on The Life & Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch. 

• The winner will be chosen via a random drawing (drawing to be done by Grumpy). The prize will be a $50 gift card which can be for ONE of the choices listed here: Sears; Kohls; Amazon; Target; Wal-mart; Chili's; Uno's; Marshalls/TJMax; Bed, Bath & Beyond; Macaroni Grill; Olive Garden; Starbucks; Barnes & Noble

• The giveaway is limited to US and Canadian residents only.

2nd Annual Virtual Cookie Exchange - The Round-up!

Well, it's safe to say that I didn't realize just how crazy life was going to be the past couple weeks.  I figured it might take me a week to get the round-up done for our Virtual Cookie Exchange, but instead it's closer to two.  The good thing about the delay is that it allowed others (whose lives are also crazy, so I feel a little better) to get their posts done, even if it wasn't for the 4th.  So without further ado, here are all the tasty contributions.  I'm excited to be on vacation now until the 27th, so I'll actually have time to try some of these!

I think Phyl's Scottish Shortbread may have been the last cookies I read about, but they're one of the first on my list to try.  I love shortbread--mmm, buttery. =)  I often make shortbread into round cookies, but I think I need to invest in some pretty scalloped cutters. 

Jessica was also a bit delayed--hopefully her technical difficulties have finally been resolved.  She recently renamed her blog to What Happens After Singleton, since she got married a couple months ago.  She's having fun figuring out how to blend holiday traditions to come up with something that works for her new family.  Personally, I think her husband is crazy not to like these English Gingersnaps. =)

Julie is a new member of our merry band of seasonal bakers.  I hope she brings lots of yummy things like these Nutella No-Bake Cookies!  No-bake cookies are a favorite of mine, but I never would have thought to make them with Nutella instead of peanut butter.  Considering how much my girls love chocolate hazelnut spread, I will definitely be making these soon.

Chaya made cookies with one of my favorite things, butterscotch chips.  I ate them by the handful when I was pregnant with Brianna.  I don't eat them quite so often these days, but I always have a bag or two stashed away in my pantry.  So I'll be able to make these yummy Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies.  

Nancy got to break out her German cookie molds for these gorgeous Soft Gingerbread Cookies from Tartine.  I don't have the book, but I think it's going on my wishlist.  And these cookies will be a perfect way to use some of the blackstrap molasses that I bought by accident...

Kayte brought us these adorable Orange Creme Roll cookies.  I admit, my first thought was that they look like cannoli. =)  I need to get my hands on some of her clothespins first, though.  I have some, but not the right kind.  I suspect I can improvise something, though.

Once again, I think Marthe is the participant from farthest away.  (She lives in The Netherlands.)  That's one of the things I love about our virtual exchange--we don't have to worry that distance will keep people away.  I definitely wouldn't want to miss out on these Chocolate Munchies that Marthe made!

I'm pretty sure that Mike has the same cookie press that my mom had.  I love his addition of salt on top of his Caramel Spritz Cookies.  I still prefer the butter ones, but I'll have to try substituting some brown sugar in my recipe, or putting butter in Mike's. Either way, I have to try these.

I have a copy of Alice Medrich's recent cookie book, but haven't baked nearly enough from it.  Fortunately, Leslie brought these fantastic Chocolate Espresso Cookies to my attention.  I'm sure B&G will be thrilled when I make them--they think I don't make nearly enough chocolate cookies. 

You can't go wrong with a classic combination like chocolate and peanut butter.  That probably explains why these Peanut Butter Blossoms are always so popular.  I'm really glad that Kayte convinced Katie to join us this year so she could share these.

At first glance, you might think that Jessica brought us more chocolate cookies.  And she did, sort of.  But she went one better, and combined chocolate with ginger for these yummy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies.  Don't ask me why, but even though I don't care for cinnamon with chocolate, ginger with chocolate is just fine.

Dorie is always suggesting that we play around with her recipes, and Spike did just that.  She took the already awesome World Peace Cookies and added candy canes to make them World Peace & Peppermint Cookies.  Maybe if I have some of these in the house, I won't be as tempted by the Starbucks Peppermint Hot Chocolate. Right? 

Another great pairing with chocolate is caramel.  These Heartland Turtle Bars that Mary brought look like a great way to combine the two.  I have to admit, sometimes I really love making bar cookies so I don't have to mess with baking multiple pans of cookies.

Next up is our over-achiever, Margaret. =)  When I sent out the email about this year's cookie exchange, I was teasing Margaret about making two cookies last year instead of just one.  Well, this year, she made three!  All look wonderful--Angel Wings, Double Drizzle Pecan Cookies, and Eggnog Thumbprints.

If you need a whole bunch of cookies but don't want to make several kinds, then Abby's Peppernuts (from her mother-in-law) might be the cookies for you.  She mentions that the yield from the recipe is about 560 cookies.  No, that's not a typo.  Fortunately, she also mentions that they keep well and you can freeze them. =)

Next up is a good example of why I love these cookie exchanges.  My other friend Margaret shared a very special cookie with us.  She received the recipe for these Candy Cane Cookies from her sister-in-law shortly after she married into the family.  I bet they would be lots of fun to make with my girls.  And she gives a handy tip for crushing the candy canes, too!

Elaine was worried about running late, but I think I've got her beat. =)  Besides, if you show up with cookies, who cares if you're late?  These Pecan Crunch Cookies have an unusual ingredient, but you'll have to head over to Elaine's blog to see what it is.

I was really excited to see Tracey's contribution to the cookie exchange.  Every year I make goodie bags for the girls' teachers.  This year, I really wanted to make biscotti for some of them, but I also wanted something without nuts.  These Candy Cane Biscotti are perfect!  They'll be the first cookie exchange recipe that I make, but I'm sure they won't be the last.

Last but not least, we have my Spritz Cookies.  This is another recipe that makes a lot of cookies--they're small, so you can eat several without feeling too guilty.

I really hope that you've enjoyed this year's Virtual Cookie Exchange.  If this isn't enough cookie recipes for you, you can always go back and look at last year's roundup, too.  If you'd like to join us for future blog events, email me at diskitchennotebook at gmail dot com, and I'll add you to my list.  Look for the Winter event sometime in February!

Virtual Cookie Exchange - Not my mother's Spritz Cookies

I mentioned in my post earlier today that I had a holiday party last night.  It was for a bunch of people from work, most of whom have eaten lots of the baked goods that I take to work.  One person walked into the house, commented on how pretty our Christmas tree looked, then walked over to the kitchen (we have a pretty open floor plan) and said, "So this is Di's kitchen, where the magic happens!" =)

There's definitely something magical about Christmas cookies.  I have fond memories of helping my mom make cookies during the holiday season.  There were certain types that we always made every year.  I don't have quite the same line-up now, but there are still some varieties that have to make an appearance.  One of my mom's favorites was Spritz Cookies.  They were usually in the shape of trees, and the dough was tinted green.  My mom had an old school cookie press that required you to turn the handle on top to make the dough come out--definitely a workout with a stiff cookie dough.  One of my sisters has the cookie press, but I do have the recipe.  I don't make it much, though, since it uses all shortening, no butter.  I just love the flavor of butter cookies, so I use a recipe from Cook's Illustrated that first appeared in the magazine in 2004.  

The dough for these cookies is easy to mix up.  First you whisk together an egg yolk, a bit of cream and some vanilla in a small bowl and set it aside.  Next up is creaming the butter, sugar and salt.  Once that mixture is light and fluffy, you mix in the liquid mixture.  Finally, you stir in the flour.  The fun part is playing with the cookie press.  I have one much like this.  It holds just enough dough for a pan of cookies, about 2 dozen of the small trees.  I spooned a little bit of colored sugar on top of each cookie before baking.  

I almost always bake cookies on parchment lined baking sheets, but that doesn't work for these--the dough from the cookie press won't stick to the parchment.  So use an unlined, ungreased pan.  For the best flavor, be sure to bake the cookies until they are just starting to brown around the edges--if they're still completely pale, they won't have that great browned butter flavor.  I baked mine for 12 minutes at 375ºF.

The verdict?  I love these.  The butter and vanilla flavors are immediately apparent, and they have a lovely crisp texture.  The only thing that you might not like about these cookies is how easy they are to pop in your mouth, since they're bite-sized.  The good news is that the recipe makes at least 6 dozen, so you'll probably still have enough to share even after you eat a bunch yourself.  Brianna paid me a high compliment indeed, making a point to say how much she liked these cookies. =)  

Spritz Cookies - ingredients

1 large egg yolk

1 tablespoon heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

225 grams (two sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened

140 grams (2/3 cup) granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon table salt

285 grams (2 cups) all-purpose flour

You can find the full recipe online at Cook's Illustrated, or in the current Holiday Baking newsstand issue.  

Check back next weekend for a full round-up of delicious holiday cookies from our cookie exchange!

Logo courtesy of Allifer Designs

2nd Annual Virtual Cookie Exchange!

Happy December, everyone!  I'm not sure how it got here already, but I can't change the fact that it's started, so I might as well embrace it!  In contrast to last year, we're actually doing quite well getting into the holiday spirit.  Our Christmas tree is up and decorated, without any drama at all (unlike last year).  We had a holiday party last night, which gave me lots of incentive to get my house cleaned up (at least downstairs; upstairs still needs some work).  I've spent the past two days in one of my favorite places--my kitchen--doing one of my favorite things--making lots of yummy food to share with friends.

Last night's party was definitely a success, and now I'm here for another one.  The nice thing about this one is that no one will get to see that my house is still a mess from the last one. =)  (I even broke my own rule about not going to bed until all the dishes are washed.)  Some of you may remember that last year I hosted a Virtual Cookie Exchange here at Di's Kitchen.  It was lots of fun, and we all came away with some great cookie recipes to try.  I'm excited that we're doing it again this year!  I made it a little earlier--this way I can get the round-up done by next weekend and everyone will still have some baking time before most of the major holidays that are celebrated this time of year.

Many thanks to my friend Nancy's daughter Allison, who was kind enough to paint us a cookie badge again this year.  Check out her website for more custom artwork!  Hopefully you'll see lots of posts with it out there today, but if you miss a few, check back next weekend for the full round-up!

I like big bundts, again

Happy National Bundt Day!  I'm excited once again to be celebrating the day with Mary the Food Librarian.  This is her third year of I Like Big Bundts, where she's baked 30 Bundts in 30 days, leading up to National Bundt Day on November 15th.  I missed the first year, but last year I joined in with an Espresso Gingerbread Bundt.  I've been on the lookout for a good recipe for this year, and finally settled on one.

I went shopping on my day off last week, heading down to the outlet malls in San Marcos.  We have outlets closer to home, but not the specific stores that I was looking for--Crate and Barrel and Williams-Sonoma.  WS in particular ended up being quite dangerous.  I've been wanting a cake stand for a while, and finally bought myself one.  It seemed perfect for showing off my bundt.  You can also see my makeshift cake dome, which is the bowl from my salad spinner.  It's the perfect size! =)  The cake recipe that I used comes from one of the other acquisitions from my shopping trip--a copy of Sarabeth's Bakery: From My Hands to Yours.  At 50% off, I just couldn't pass it up.  There are several yummy looking bundts, so it was just a matter of picking one.

I decided to make the Ruby Cake, so called because it has a raspberry filling hidden inside, along with some bittersweet chocolate.  I love those flavors together, so this was definitely my first choice to make.  The batter itself is a rich one, loaded with butter and sour cream, though lighter on the eggs (only 3) than some I've made.  The batter is made by the creaming method, and came together with minimal effort in my stand mixer.  The recipe calls for using two piping bags to put the batter and filling in the pan, but I didn't follow the instructions for that.  I just spooned half the batter into the pan, made a trough for the filling, added the jam and chocolate very carefully so they weren't near the edges of the pan, and topped them with the remaining batter.  It worked fine.  I really wanted to use my Heritage Bundt pan for this cake.  The recipe calls for a 10-12 cup pan, so I thought I'd be okay.  I baked my cake for just under an hour.

The verdict?  Well, I wish I'd left the cake in the oven a bit longer. Or used a different pan. Or just put less batter in the pan I used.  The cake rose about an inch about the top of the pan, but didn't overflow at all.  It seemed to test done, but the middle (near the raspberry part) was definitely a little under-done.  While it might not have been exactly to my taste, the texture didn't stop my coworkers from devouring it. =)  My friend Nancy pointed out that lots of people like under-done cake.  Better that than too dry, I guess.  And as I'm writing this on Monday night, I'm now laughing, since Brianna's opinion of the cake is that it could be a little more moist. =)  She also thinks that it needs more chocolate.  G pronounced it pretty good.  My only critique of the flavor is that it needs a bit more salt to balance out the sweetness.  (I'll probably use a full teaspoon next time, instead of half.)

I did like the cake enough that I'm sure there will be another attempt at it.  If you'd like to try it for yourself, you can find the recipe here.  You can also find it in Sarabeth's book, of course.   Don't forget to head over to Mary's blog for her post today, which includes the list of all the bundts she's baked this year.  She'll also have a round-up with lots of fabulous bundts from other bakers later this month.

It's virtually Thanksgiving!

I have to admit, I have mixed feelings about Thanksgiving.  Sure, it's the ultimate food holiday.  But it's also kind of a pain.  So many dishes to make, and trying to coordinate things so that you can actually manage to cook it all in one kitchen and have it done at the same time.  Then there's the fact that turkey isn't my favorite.  I'd be happy just having all the other dishes--mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, vegetables, cranberry sauce...  Yum.  Then there's bread.  Do you really need bread with everything else that's going on?  It does come in handy for mopping up the extra gravy.  And I do like to bake bread and rolls...

That's why I'm bring you these rolls, even though we have some time before Thanksgiving.  My friend Phyl, who talked us all into making pumpkin recipes last month, came up with the idea of having a Thanksgiving round-up this month.  That way we can all try out some recipes well before the holiday gets here, and also get new ideas from each other.  As the host, he's got the turkey taken care of, and a bunch of us are bringing the rest of the dishes.  Now if only we lived close enough together that Phyl could share his actual Thanksgiving turkey with us, so I wouldn't have to make one. =)

These rolls are pretty straightforward to make, especially if you're comfortable working with yeast doughs.  First, you put the milk, sweetener (I used golden syrup since I prefer it over honey), butter and shortening in a large liquid measuring cup.  You microwave the mixture on high for about 90 seconds, until the milk is warm and the fats are beginning to melt.  They'll melt the rest of the way as you stir the mixture to combine everything.  Then you put most of the flour (4 1/2 cups, or about 630 grams), yeast and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and stir them to combine.  You add the liquid to the flour and stir to combine, then mix in the egg.  I usually use my dough whisk to get everything roughly combined, then use my mixer with the dough hook to knead the dough.  You add half a cup (70 grams) of additional flour to the mixer as the dough is kneaded, then add up to half a cup more if necessary to get a dough that clears the sides of the bowl and is tacky but not really sticky.  Once the dough is the right consistency (which takes 5-6 minutes), you hand-knead it for a minute or so to form a smooth ball.  The dough is soft, but really nice to work with.  

The dough goes into a greased bowl (covered with plastic wrap) or rising bucket (with lid) to proof for about an hour, or until it's doubled in size.  Then it's formed into 15 rolls.  I did the math, and found that my dough balls needed to be about 90 grams (around 3 ounces) to get 15 equal pieces of dough.  The balls are formed into tight rounds and placed in a greased 13" by 9" pan.  (I used a Pyrex pan.)  The pan is covered with plastic wrap and the shaped rolls are allowed to rise for another 45-60 minutes. Then they're baked at 375ºF for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the internal temperature is about 190ºF.  The original recipe calls for an egg wash on the dough before baking, but I skipped that.  I did brush the rolls with melted butter when they came out of the oven.

The verdict?  Oh, these definitely deserve a place on the Thanksgiving table!  The texture is soft and rich, and the fluffy crumb makes a nice contrast with the browned exterior.  They're delicious served warm from the oven, with some butter.  You can also make the rolls ahead, let them cool, then wrap them up and store briefly at room temperature or longer in the freezer.  The rolls can then be wrapped in foil and reheated in the oven before serving.  

If you'd like to try these rolls for yourself, there are several places you can find the original recipe.  For subscribers to the Cook's Country website, it's here.  For those with back issues of the magazine, it was published in Dec/Jan 2007.  You can also find this roll recipe in the current newsstand special issue America's Test Kitchen All-Time Best Holiday Recipes.  

Ingredients for Fluffy (Make-Ahead) Dinner Rolls

(adapted from Cook's Country)

350 grams (1 1/2 cups) whole milk

105 grams (1/3 cup) golden syrup or honey

70 grams (5 tablespoons) unsalted butter

50 grams (1/4 cup) shortening (I use Spectrum Organic)

700 - 770 grams (5 - 5 1/2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour

9 grams (1 tablespoon) instant yeast

13 grams (2 teaspoons) table salt

1 large egg