It's November's Secret Recipe Club Reveal Day and boy, did we get lucky! We were assigned 365 Days of Baking and More, an incredible blog by Lynnefilled with sooo many baking (and non-baking!) recipes that we had a very difficult time choosing one. We were quite tempted to stay in our comfort zone and makesomething that didn't involve baking.As you are probably aware, we've had some baking issues in the past. Butthen, we decided to challenge ourselves. Lynne's blog isprimarily about baking, and we should embrace the theme! So, then, the questions were: should we make one of Lynne's dozens of cookie recipes? Homemade Suzy-Q's in tribute to the (oh-so-sad)end of Hostess? Donuts? Muffins? Brownies? Cupcakes? Then we saw it: a copycat recipe for Texas Roadhouse's famously fabulous rolls with cinnamon honey butter. Woot!!!
If you have ever been to a Texas Roadhouse, you know what we're talking about. These rolls are light, fluffy, slightly sweet, amazing bites of paradise. We love them and do our best not to fill up on them before the rest of our food comes. We often fail. We were so excited to see Lynne's recipe, punctuated with her enthusiasm for how good they come out. To quote her:
"This is one of those recipes on the 365 blog that I STRONGLYrecommend that you make!I'm not trying to force you into anything here, but I really don't think you'll be sorry. These should be served at EVERY special occasion!! Even when there isn't a special occasion you just NEED, yes you NEEDto have these in your life. They. Are. Almost. Better. Than. Chocolate. Almost."
That did it for us. We were going to make rolls. From scratch. For the first time, ever. Here we go! We followed her recipe exactly.Her bloghad clear, step-by-step directions and pictures to go along with them, so it was easy to follow. Nothing about it was especially difficult, although it was sort of time-consuming, you know, waiting for the dough to rise and rest and all that. At the same time, it was kind of fun!!! Baking?!?! Fun?!?!? Yes, we said it.
Results? Our rolls were a teensy-weensy bit dry. Nothing that delicious butter couldn't take care of. We ended up with 21 rolls, so as usual, we shared with the neighbors. Perhaps we are too critical of our own work, because D texted, "OMG.#%@ amazing. It was perfection. I could eat 10 of those. Like a dessert." Enough said. Thank you, Lynne! Youmay have converted us!
How great would these be on the Thanksgiving table?!?!?
Texas Roadhouse Rolls
Ingredients:
4 teaspoons (2 packages) active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups milk scalded and cooled to lukewarm
1/2 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar, divided
4tablespoons melted butter, divided
7-8 cups flour, divided
2 whole eggs
2 teaspoons salt
In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the yeast with the warm water and the teaspoon of sugar. With the dough hook attachment, mix in the milk, remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, and 2 1/2 cups flour to make a medium batter.Mix thoroughly. Allow to stand until light and foamy, about 8-10 minutes. Add 3 tablespoons melted butter, eggs and salt. Continue to mix with the dough hook until well combined. Slowly add remaining flour, to form a soft dough. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and allow it to rest for about 10 minutes. While dough is resting, prepare a large bowl by spraying it with cooking spray. Knead dough until it is smooth and satiny (we did this by hand and it took about 7-8 minutes). Place into prepared bowl and turn over, coating it with oil. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set to rise in a warm area until double in size, about 1-1 1/2 hours. Punch dough down. On a lightly floured surface and with a lightly floured rolling pin, flatten dough into a rectangle until it is about 1/2-inch thick. Fold the rectangle in half the short wayso that it is about 1-inch in thickness, and lightly roll together to seal the sides together. Allow to rest for 10 minutes. With a dough scraper, cut into rolls. Place rolls on a greased baking sheet. Cover with a damp towel and allow to rise in a warm area until double in size, about 1 hour or so. Preheat oven to 350 and bake rolls for 10-15 minutes or until lightly golden. Upon removing from oven, brush tops with melted butter. Cinnamon Honey Butter
Cooks' note: Since we had never made bread by hand before, we found this website about kneading dough very helpful!
Serve with Cinnamon Honey Butter.
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for approximately 30 seconds until lightly whipped. Add honey and cinnamon and beat until smooth and thoroughly combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Continue beating on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Dissolve the yeast with water and sugar.
Scald the milk and allow to cool to lukewarm.
The yeast starts to foam up in the bowl.
Add the scalded milk, sugar and flour and mix with the dough hook attachment.
Allow it to stand until it is light and foamy, about 10 minutes.
Add the melted butter, eggs and salt.
Mix in remaining flour using the dough hook attachment until it forms a soft dough.
Turn onto a lightly floured surface and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Knead dough until soft and satiny. When you pinch it, it should feel like an earlobe.
Turn into a bowl sprayed with cooking spray, then flip it.
Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow it to sit in a warm place for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until it doubles in size.
It doubled!
Punch it down. It's amazing how full of air it is!
Roll it out to 1/2 inch thickness on a floured surface. It takes up our whole baking mat!
Fold it in half and roll it to be about 1 inch thick.
Use a baking scraper to cut into desired size rolls.
Place on a greased cooking sheet.
Cover with a damp towel and allow to rise in a warm place for about an hour.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, until golden brown.
Brush with remaining tablespoon of melted butter.
Huzzah! We made rolls!!!
Serve warm with cinnamon honey butter.
