Raised Doughnuts*

The photos below belong to me.

This is the recipe I should have tried before I tried the last one I tried!  Follow THAT jargon, huh!   I didn't do these up all fancy-like, but they sure are light and  'poofy'.

Remembering the Saturday afternoon raised doughnuts my mother would make when everyone was so busy around the farm with outside projects (jobs), I've been wanting to learn how to make them for a long while and had tried various recipes-- for me, none of them turned out a doughnut as light and  as my mother's!  (My mother had her doughnut recipe "in her head".)

About these?.....I say.....
"M-m-m-m-m-m-m!"

By the very feel of the dough with this recipe, I was so sure these were going to be LIGHT, and I was right!

Because I used a large doughnut cutter, these are 
almost 5" across and just under 2" thick.

For this great recipe, click on the link below:

* https://www.justapinch.com/print/dessert/cake/moms-raised-doughnuts-3.html

For plenty of "how to" photos, click here...
http://www.justapinch.com/recipe/cookiequeen/moms-raised-doughnuts/cake

No wonder these doughnuts taste so much 

like the ones my own mother made-- 

because they just are!

My Blue Ribbon Cinnamon Rolls (w/pictures)

I'd already posted this recipe in 2011, but I am 

moving it to the front for... my "convenience".

                                                                                 (Photo by me, Doris)

   (Photo by me, Doris)

                                                                                      (Photo by me, Doris)

  (Above photo by me and posted to this blog page on September 5, 2014)

History:

Back in the late 70's, I found this recipe for cinnamon rolls in a Family Circle magazine.  It was included in an article about a lady named Emily who operated a very successful truck stop called Emily's Dairy King in Sharon Spring, Kansas-- I still have the complete article.  Truckers knew of a great place where they could find big 'n fresh cinnamon rolls-- it was at Emily's!   I made these cinnamon rolls in September of 1977 and took them to compete in the open class of the always 'bigger'n better' Shawano County Fair.  On the Saturday morning when they were to be judged, I went to watch.  As I stood there in silence without showing I was 'interested', I was shocked that after they examined and tasted each of the many entries they picked mine as being worthy of the only blue ribbon in that class. At the age of 33, and competing against the older more experienced bakers who were also watching intensely, I honestly did not expect I would have a chance at winning, but...... I did!

For the actual fair entry, and so that all entries would be 'comparable' in some way, these rolls had to be entered for judging like this:  Because they wanted 'a block of four', I baked twelve in a 9x13-inch pan, then took a corner block of four 'cozy rolls' as my entry.    Extra note:  Something sort of odd  happened the day I was making these for my official fair entry--I had them in the pan for their final rising before baking.  Friends Penny and Linda came for some apples (our county fair is late, always over Labor Day weekend).   While outside and showing them where to get the apples, I sort of forgot about hurrying back into the house to bake the rising rolls.  Darn!, I thought, they rose too much!-- too bad/so sad, I thought, and stuck them in the oven, anyway.   As it turned out, the judges obviously liked and commented on the fact that they liked the 'extra lightness' they had-- this was above and beyond how I would have usually let them rise.  WoooHoooooo!!!  (Sometimes, 'mistakes' are good, huh!)  I have to say I learned something from that... let 'em rise more!!!

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO MAKE THE DOUGH:

1 cup of milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
~~~~~
2 tablespoons (or envelopes) dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup very warm water (NOT hot!)
~~~~
2 whole eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 stick butter, melted
~~~~~
6 cup sifted all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS:

To make dough: 

1.  Heat milk, sugar and salt in a small saucepan until sugar melts and small bubbles appear around edge of pan.  Set aside. Cool to lukewarm.

2. Dissolve yeast and the 1 teaspoon sugar in very warm (not too hot) water in a large bowl.  ("Very warm" water should feel comfortably warm when dropped on wrist.)  Stir until well-blended and allow to stand undisturbed for 10 minutes, or until the yeast begins to bubble up.

3.  Stir slightly beaten eggs into yeast mixture; add the cooled milk mixture.  Add melted butter. Stir in just enough flour, a little at a time, until dough is starting to be 'elastic' (5 cups, for sure); let it rest for about 10 minutes before adding more and more of the flour after that 'rest period'.  Work in enough of the remaining flour to make a kneadable dough.  (Do not add so much flour that the dough totally stops sticking to your hands.  The dough would end up being too heavy.)

4.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead for about 8 minutes, or until it feels very smooth, satiny and 'elastic' (and alive!).  Place in a lightly oiled or buttered bowl; turn to bring the buttered side up.  Cover with 'non-stick sprayed' piece of plastic wrap.  Let rise in a warm, draft-free place for at least 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.  (While a hot/humid day isn't the best kind of day to have an oven on, it sure is great for rising dough!)

5.  "Punch" dough down in bowl and let it "rest" for 15 minutes; turn out onto a lightly floured surface; knead just a few times; divide dough into two equal-sized, mostly smooth balls; let each rest for another 10 minutes.  Roll each ball of dough into a 12x9-inch rectangle.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO MAKE THE FILLING: 

1/3  cup butter, melted
~~~~~~~~
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. 

Brush each rolled out dough rectangle with half the melted butter; sprinkle each with half of the sugar/cinnamon mix.

Starting at a short end of the rectangle, roll up jell-roll style; cut into 12 slices.  Place slices, not quite touching, in a parchment paper-lined 13x9x2-inch pan IF you like to bake them "cheek to cheek", OR put 12 of  them on a 15x10x1" type of parchment paper-lined cookie sheet if you want them to look like the ones in the pictures above..  Repeat with remaining dough rectangle.

Set these in a warm draft-free place and let rise for 30-45 minutes, or until almost double in bulk. (According to the temperature in the room, the time for the final rising can vary quite a bit.)

 Bake (at 350-degrees) for about 25-30 minutes OR a bit less if you like to have "lighter colored" rolls.  Also bake for a shorter time if you make "smaller-sized" rolls.  I leave the rolls right in the cookie sheet (on parchment paper) until they cool.  But!, you can move the rolls to a rack to cool after baking.

VARIATION:  This recipe is also good for making the "caramel-pecan type" of rolls.  To use just 1/2 the dough of the above recipe for this variation, you'd melt together (but not boil) 1/3 cup butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 Tbsp. light corn syrup; then add to that 2/3 to 1 cup pecan halves. Spread that sweet mixture on the bottom of a very lightly buttered 9x13 pan/dish.  Place "wheels" of cinnamon roll dough on top of the caramel/nut mixture, leaving a little space between each.  Let rise and bake after roll dough has about doubled in size. Then, after baking, turn the pan of goodness upside down as soon as they get out of the oven.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FROSTING:  

Here's where I change the recipe a bit.  Instead using the traditional white icing on them, I prepare 'browned butter icing' for their tops.   This is how I make it:

Heat ½ stick butter in pan only until golden to medium brown in color (stirring the bottom of the pan all the while).  When the butter reaches the right color of "brownness", quickly add a couple tablespoons (2 or 3 Tbs.) of cold  milk to stop it from browning even more; now add about 3 cups SIFTED powdered sugar till you have the amount and consistency of frosting you need.  It may be necessary to add tiny amounts of more milk at a time to get a smooth/correct (pourable) texture-- OR a bit more powdered sugar to thicken it quickly before it starts to "stiffen up".  (Keep in mind that once the butter is browned, the next steps have to happen quite rapidly.)

Quick 'n easy:  Right from the pan/kettle, I pour "ribbons" of this frosting over the rows of rolls as the pans are lined up end-to-end.  

Helen's Elephant Ears (and/or "Twirly Rolls")

After already getting a lot of rain this month and almost three more inches of it since yesterday morning (instead of what would normally be December snow for our area), I just knew today would feel like the perfect day to make these--so,... I started them before going to bed last night.  I may be an odd ball and all alone in my thinking, but, for me,  these are more of a favorite than Christmas cookies!  With very little extra effort, I could make these look really festive, too, ...IF I wanted to, that is!


Elephant ears with chopped pecans rolled into the dough...

                                                       
Without nuts...

"Twirly Rolls" made with the same dough...

All three variations together...

Glazed 'Twirlies' pictured further down in this posting.

Some food stands at County Fairs sell "Elephant Ears", but theirs are  'deep-fried' whereas these are baked.  When I roll these out to be quite flat, they are so similar to a yeast bakery sometimes called "Cinnamon Crispies".  (Helen gave me this recipe in the early 70's.)

Here's the recipe for these VERY EASY to make (non-kneading) rolls:

INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (not too hot!)
1 teaspoon sugar (to activate the yeast)
~~~~
1 cup milk (scalded, then cooled to 'warm')
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 cup softened butter
~~~~
4 cups flour (about 1.25 lb.)
3 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
~~~~

INGREDIENTS  NEEDED JUST BEFORE  BAKING:
1/4 cup soft butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Chopped nuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Soften yeast in warm water with 1 tsp. sugar, set aside until 'foamy/rising'.

2.  In small kettle, heat the milk only until little bubbles form around the edges of the kettle.  Cool this to 'lukewarm' and then add the slightly beaten egg yolks.

3.  Add bubbly yeast mixture.  Add softened butter.  Mix until smooth.  Add flour, sugar, and salt. Mix well.

4.  Put in a lightly oiled bowl, rotate to coat top with oil, cover, and place in refrigerator for not less than 2 hours, but not more than 2 days.

Turn dough onto lightly floured board and divide into four balls.  Punch each ball into a flat 6" circle and let rest for about 10 minutes.  *

Next, roll each of the flat circles into a rectangular shape and spread with a quarter of the 1/4 cup soft butter.  Sprinkle each buttered circle with a quarter of the combined sugar(s) and cinnamon mix.  Taking the narrow side, roll each rectangular portion of dough up as you would a jelly roll.

Cut each roll into 4 sections (slices).  Place each (with a cut side down) on a surface that has been sprinkled with a small amount of the sugar/cinnamon mixture (you can also sprinkle some nuts on  the surface so that you can "roll them in". Coat both sides of the "cut roll" with the sugar/cinnamon mix and then roll with a rolling pin until it is about 1/4 - 1/2" thick.  (Again, ...before rolling out, you could sprinkle some chopped nuts onto the dough and roll them in, also.)  I like to roll these really flat so they bake up thinner and crispier. 

Transfer the flattened roll to a sprayed OR foil-covered OR parchment lined (my choice) cookie sheet and let them rest for 15-20 minutes; bake at 375-degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.   Ovens vary, so adjust temperature accordingly-- for yours, maybe 350-degrees will be best. (?)

*At this point in the recipe, if you want to make the 'twirly' rolls in my picture, roll dough into rectangle, 15x9 inches.  Brush with melted butter.  Mix 1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon; sprinkle that evenly over rectangle.  Roll up, beginning at the wide/long side.  Seal final edge by pinching the dough tightly together for the length of the roll.   Cut rolled 'log' into 1-inch slices.  Place a small round handle of a wooden spoon in center of each slice parallel to cut sides; press down and almost through the dough.  Transfer to greased OR parchment paper-lined baking sheet.   Or, I've found that I can do the 'pencil crease' AFTER the rolls are on the baking sheet.  (The 'pencil push' makes the ends of the little slice push out.)  Bake about the same as with the Elephant Ears recipe above.   If desired, frost with a light glaze kind of icing.

GLAZE:  1 cup sifted powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon milk, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.  Mix well and drizzle over rolls.  (Adjust consistency  by adding either more milk, or more powdered sugar.)

Better than this vanilla glaze, I like to drizzle over these a burnt (browned) butter kind of icing... stirring constantly, I heat butter until it is a med. dark color.  Then, very quickly add small amount of milk to stop it from darkening further.  To that, I add sifted powdered sugar and quickly (QUICKLY) pour it in strips over the rows of rolls.  One must move quickly with this kind of icing because it "stiffens up" so quickly!

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These freeze well, but two of them won't make it into the freezer...

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The hot chocolate was not as 'dark' as it looks in the picture, but it 'wuz-z-z-z' good.

If you have any questions about this recipe, send me a message.

Easter 'Combo' Rolls (sort of!)

Jen B., I changed the plan, huh.  I intended to trim the outside 'braid-y' dough to look like a grassy basket, and then decorate the 'dough eggs' in the middle.  INTENDED, that is.  

 By using the whole recipe for the Butter Rolls, 

this is a full 14" across.

When this came out of the oven, I thought it smelled 'too good' and it was then that I decided I wanted to use the outside for our rolls/bread tomorrow.  Because of my 'change in thinking', I only put  icing on the 'dough ball eggs' in the center.  Like this,...

Above:  This way, we'll either break or slice from the outside braiding.

For my dough, I used the same recipe I'd already posted in my blog under rolls and it is named Butter Rolls.... scroll down to the recipe posted 'after this one'; I moved the post forward to yesterday.  Here are the basics:



Ingredients:

1. 1 cup milk, scalded
2. 1/2 (1 stick) butter
3. 1/2 cup sugar
4. 2 tablespoons dry yeast
5. 1/4 cup warm water
6. 1 teaspoon sugar
7. 1 teaspoon salt
8. 3 eggs, well beaten
9. 5 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

• Scald milk; add butter and the 1/2 cup sugar and let cool.
• Dissolve yeast in the 1/4 cup 'only warm' water with the teaspoon of sugar
• Beat 3 eggs well.  When milk/butter/sugar mix is cooled to 'warm', add eggs and the 'frothy/rising' yeast.  Mix well.  Add flour gradually and mix well after each addition of flour.  
• Place dough into lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat top.  The dough is still very THIN (I think), and certainly NOT kneadable, but it turns out if left like this.
• Cover with damp towel and let rise in warm place until double in bulk.  Punch down and proceed to make what you wish with it.   Note:  It is 'still' very very sticky stuff, but that makes it easy to add flour to the table top and on rolling pin without making it 'too tough'.  
• This dough may be used for many variations of sweet rolls.

Below:  This sure isn't a 'fancy thing', but I love how this smells.  The smell alone makes me want to break some of it off-- right now!-- but, I'll wait.   Maybe.  No, I really WILL wait.   Maybe!?!  (LOL)

For the frosting, I just mixed some soft butter, sifted powdered sugar, vanilla, milk/water until I had the consistency I wanted and then added some coloring(s).

Butter Rolls (SUPER simple!!)

One no-knead dough, three variations-- or, as many variations as you can think of...

A recipe for rolls that does NOT need kneading (none!).  I DO like to knead dough, but I don't have a problem with NOT doing it, either.  How can this be so simple!?!-- follow just nine steps, let it rise until double and make almost any kind of roll you can think of!  With just this one 'single batch' of dough, I made the following three variations:

Nine dinner rolls  ▲...

  and, ▼

and,... ▼

More pictures are posted below...

Years ago, I found this recipe in an old well-used and tattered book-- one that was stuck in with a box of 'junk' at an estate auction in the late 70's.  While my mother's eyes went towards something else in the box, mine went to this well-used tattered recipe collection.  It is entitled The Racine Journal-Times and Sunday Bulletin and dated November 1957.  It is a collection of "Cook of the Week" recipes and sold for $1.50.  The recipe I'm posting today is on page 24 and is shown to have come from Miss Inga Johnson.  Thank you, Inga!  (I wonder if Inga ever married-- if not, some 'could-have-been hubby' missed out on enjoying this recipe of hers!)

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Below:  Check out the PHONE NUMBER that's in this same recipe book-- it sure isn't anything like our 10-digit numbers these days!....

Another bit of 'dated' information in the above ad.  The ad states: "...the Largest and Best Selections of Dress Fabrics in Wisconsin."  I take that to mean 1957 ladies were sewing a lot more than now in 2011.  Whodathunkit!?!?

Getting back to the recipe I'm posting...

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup milk, scalded
2. 1/2 (1 stick) butter
3. 1/2 cup sugar
4. 2 tablespoons dry yeast
5. 1/4 cup warm water
6. 1 teaspoon sugar
7. 1 teaspoon salt
8. 3 eggs, well beaten
9. 5 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

• Scald milk; add butter and the 1/2 cup sugar and let cool.
• Dissolve yeast in the 1/4 cup 'only warm' water with the teaspoon of sugar
• Beat 3 eggs well.  When milk/butter/sugar mix is cooled to 'warm', add eggs and the 'frothy/rising' yeast.  Mix well.  Add flour gradually and mix well after each addition of flour. 
• Place dough into lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat top.  The dough is still very THIN (I think), and certainly NOT kneadable, but it turns out if left like this.
• Cover with damp towel and let rise in warm place until double in bulk.  Punch down and proceed to make what you wish with it.   Note:  It is very sticky stuff, but that makes it easy to add flour to table top and on rolling pin without making it 'too tough'.  
• This dough may be used for many variations of sweet rolls.

To make BOW KNOTS:

• Roll small pieces of dough into a six-inch strip.  Form into a knot (above).  Let rise until about double in size; bake in 350° oven for 15-20 minutes, or until nicely browned.  These little bow knots are quite 'wicked good' as dinner rolls with some butter.  BUT,  IF desired, you can frost with a powdered sugar frosting like this:

To make PECAN ROLLS:

First, prepare the muffin pan* as follows...

Butter muffin pans well, put 1 scant tablespoon light brown sugar and about 3 pecan halves into the bottom of each 'muffin hole'.

Moisten that sugar slightly with about 1 and 1/2 teaspoonfuls mixture of one half brown syrup (like Karo) and one half water (for six of these, I mixed 2 tablespoons syrup with 2 tablespoons water, etc.). 

• Roll dough into a strip about 14-inches long x 6-8 inches wide. 
• Spread with some melted butter and sprinkle with a little mix of brown sugar/cinnamon.  Starting on long side, roll up, jelly roll style, and cut into two-inch pieces.  
• Put the cut side of the dough down onto the sugar mixture in the muffin cup.
• Let rise until about double in size.
• Bake at 350°  for about 20 minutes, or until nicely browned.

*  I used a regular-sized muffin pan for these-- it might work well to use the 'deeper kind' of muffin pan, also-- especially, if you want more of the muffin to 'stay down inside' as it bakes.

When removed from the oven, carefully lift each roll from the muffin pan, turn it upside down and, with a teaspoon,  immediately spoon the melted caramel-type liquid and toasted pecans onto them, like this.

 This recipe is also excellent for butter horns or Parker House rolls-- or, like I wrote earlier, for whatever variation YOU like to make.

Filled Sweet Rolls

The cup was given to me by my V.T.'s Becky H. and Laura R. (Thanks, girls!)  

Thinking of my hubby's late Aunt Alma-- and, missing her. She was such a special and sweet person-- a great homemaker, cooker, baker, great everything!  While our families visited back 'n forth quite often, a farmer's life/schedule can simply 'get in the way' of things we'd like to do.  Now that we aren't as tied down since we sold our milk cows, it's too late.  Special times don't wait for freer schedules, that's for sure.  Lately, I've been thinking of her (and her sister, the late Aunt Esther) very often.  Today, my mind went back to Aunt Alma making what I thought were the BEST kolache's (for the Bohemian in her family, she'd say)!!  Her fillings for these baked goodies varied between prune, poppy seed and other fruit.   OH, SO GOOD!  Well,... with me being much younger and busy with children and farming duties during those earlier years, I never asked her for the recipe--           : (            but, I surely wish I had!

Not having her recipe, I decided to make up a batch of pretty regular (sort of) sweet rolls and 'pretend' they were kolaches in how I prepared them. (I seriously doubt that's something that can be 'pretended', though!)  While these didn't end up as large and spread out as hers were, I am happy to say these turned out g-o-o-d enough that, after having just one, I quickly put them 'out of my sight'!  : )

Yield:  With the dough being rolled to 1/2-inch thick before cutting, I ended up with two dozen rolls, with a small chunk of dough left-over.

INGREDIENTS for the dough:

• 2 tablespoons dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 tablespoon sugar

----

• 2 cups milk, heated alone till 'hot to touch'
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 egg  yolks, slightly beaten

----

• 5 and 1/2 cup sifted flour (bread flour will make a lighter product)
• 2 teaspoons salt

----

• 3/4 more cup of sifted flour

DIRECTIONS:

• Dissolve yeast in water with the tablespoon of sugar, set aside until frothy.
• Heat milk in saucepan until pretty hot to touch; remove from heat and add to it the butter and sugar.  When this mixture cools down to being 'just warm', add the 2 slightly beaten egg yolks.
• Add the bubbling yeast mixture, and mix everything together.
• Add the 5 and 1/4 cups flour and 2 teaspoons salt to the above.  Using my Kitchen Aid stand mixer, and with the paddle attachment, I let this mix for about 4 minutes.  The dough was still very, VERY sticky!  
• Dump in last 1 cup of flour and mix with the dough hook on mixer for another 2-3 minutes.  (The dough will still be quite sticky-- some sticky is a good thing!)
• Remove dough from bowl and transfer to a lightly floured surface for kneading until the surface gets "satiny"-- 5-8 minutes?   (I think I may have used another 1/4 cup of flour by dusting the kneading surface during the first couple of minutes.)
• Put kneaded dough ball into a rather large greased/oiled bowl, turn 'ball' to oil top,  cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled.  (1 hour?)
• When fully doubled, punch down; roll dough out to be 1/2" thick, cut with biscuit cutter. (Next time, I'm going to roll the dough closer to 1/4" thick and cut it with a bigger cutter-- mainly, just to see how that works out.)

 

• Place on greased or parchment-lined baking pan, leaving about one-inch space between each. 
• Brush with melted butter and let rise again (covered) until light to the touch-- about 25-30 minutes? (If you want to cover rolls at this stage, you can spray a sheet of Saran Wrap with non-stick spray and gently lay that on top-- something that will come off easily without hurting the 'rising that happened'.)
• Carefully, make a one-inch circular indention in the center of each raised roll and fill with the filling of your choice.  (I used Solo brand raspberry filling for some; and made cream cheese filling* for others.)  Some bakers make a poppy seed OR apricot filling; and sometimes, use canned pie filling.

Above:  For some, I put a dab of cream cheese filling in first, then a dab of raspberry.

• Let rise while you preheat the oven to 375-degrees.
• Bake for about 20 minutes.
• Remove from oven and brush with melted butter, again.

After baking, you can top with glaze** OR... another option is to wait until they are cooled and dust them with powdered sugar through a screen/sifter.

*CREAM CHEESE FILLING:  Beat together 8 oz. package of softened cream cheese with 1 egg yolk, until very smooth.

**GLAZE:  2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 2 tablespoons softened butter and almost 4 tablespoons milk.  Combine all and spoon over rolls while they are still warm.