Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Tasty Tuesday - squash dinner rolls

I know it is Wednesday, but with Monday being a holiday - it feels like Tuesday.

Before I post this yummy recipe - I have a dilemma. What do you do for a 6 year old who doesn't want breakfast before school? Every morning it is the same thing. I list about 6 or 7 things out for her that I am willing to make. No good. Then I list out for her some things that I really don't want to make for her but I will if she REALLY wants them. No good. Most mornings she goes to school after having maybe a couple of drinks of milk and a bite of toast, or one bite of an egg. She hates granola bars and breakfast bars etc... She wont eat cereal, oatmeal or pancakes. The only time I can get her to eat breakfast successfully is if we have left over lasagna or spaghetti. Should I just make up a big batch of spaghetti and dish it out in breakfast sized portions? I wished the made lasagna flavored pop-tarts so I could just throw it in the toaster and she could eat it on the go.

Okay - since I don't have a recipe for those yummy sounding pop-tarts (or, just so you know one of my dirty secrets - I call them poop-turds for laughs - the kids think it is hilarious - I sometimes have the sense of humor of an 8 year old boy) I will share a yummy recipe that I tried on Sunday. I got it from the November Sunset magazine. I think that I am going to make a double batch of these for our Thanksgiving dinner.

Squash pull-apart dinner rolls

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm milk (microwave for about 1 1/2 minutes)
2 1/4 tsp. dry yeast (one envelope)
4 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup pureed squash or canned pumpkin
5 tbsp. vegetable shortening (thanks again Pam for letting me borrow some!)
4 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp butter, melted, plus more for pan
2 tsp. poppy or sesame seeds

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine milk with yeast, sugar, and salt. let stand 5 minutes, then add egg and beat well to combine.
2. Add squash and shortening; mash with a fork until shortening is in small pieces. Add 1 1/2 cups flour and mix well with a wooden spoon. Gradually mix in more flour by the cupful until dough collects around spoon and pulls away from sides of bow (you may not need all the flour).
3. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead 2 minutes. Put dough in a greased bowl; cover with a towel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and butter a large baking sheet. (I used a jelly-roll type cookie sheet but I think next time I will split the recipe and put them in a buttered cake pan to keep them from getting too flat.) Punch dough down, turn out onto a lightly floured work surface, and knead until dough is smooth and supple, about 7 minutes. Cut dough into 4 balls; cut each ball into 6 pieces.
5. Roll each piece into a round and arrange rounds on baking sheet so they barely touch. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with poppy seeds; cover with plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes.
6. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

4 comments:

Jenny-ology said...

Okay, how can you think the smell of pumpkins is disgusting, and then use them to make rolls.

Mmm... let's see- smell of fresh pumpkins vs. having lasagna flavored poop turds for breakfast...

and you go with the latter???

Jolene said...

Jen - I used butternut squash for the rolls. Canned, cooked pumpkin is okay but raw, fresh pumpkin smells like throw-up.

One Sassy Mama said...

Why can't N just eat bologna and processed cheese like the old days?
Your recipe sounds so famous - you always do such unique recipes for Thanksgiving. Remember the year you did the 3 different colored soups? I could barely get my act together for the normal Thanksgiving fare--and here you were channeling Martha Stewart in your kitchen.
Nic

Jolene said...

Nic -
Ah the good old days of bologna and American cheese. I should try that again - she has been off bologna for a little while. I think it might work. After the ward trunk or treat - Alan brought home a bag of left over hot dogs that had been boiled (gross!) so they split down the middle. Nicole ate a hot dog for breakfast everyday until they were gone. She would put cheese in that split before she put it in the microwave and then she dipped the whole thing in ketchup! The smell alone made me ill. But at least she ate breakfast all of those days.