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I was beginning to think that this post was just not meant to be.
Last Sunday I made up a batch of rolls. They turned out perfect. They tasted wonderful and they looked beautiful. They raised perfectly and were golden brown. The photos were lovely.
Then I got a little over zealous with my camera. I not only deleted the photos, I totally erased my memory card before I downloaded the pictures. I was so sad.
But it was a great excuse to make another batch of rolls. They tasted just as delicious as the first batch, the unfortunate part is they weren’t quite as pretty.
Then when I went to write the post yesterday something was up with my computer and I couldn’t get it to upload any of the pictures – the ones I had retaken!
Lucky for you, I persevered and I have a post for you – a rather delicious one!!
If I had to choose my favorite Thanksgiving menu item it would be homemade rolls – hands down. You can have the turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy – give me the rolls!
My sausage and cornbread dressing is a close second but a homemade roll is heaven.
To me, nothing is better than a freshly baked, warm out of the oven, light as air homemade roll. A little butter doesn’t hurt either. O.K., a lot of butter. I love butter!
I have lots of different yeast roll recipes but today’s recipe is one of my favorites. It is a recipe that was given to my mother by a sweet Danish woman named Anna who was an amazing cook.
My mom is the resident roll maker in our family and this is the recipe she uses. The other great thing about this recipe is the dough can be made a day or two ahead of time and you just take it out 3 hours before you want to bake them, roll them out and let them rise. I love a good make ahead recipe, especially on a big holiday!
You can also not refrigerate and it let them rise right then. The dough is a very soft dough, you don’t want it too sticky but it is a little sticky. I just leave it right in the bowl of my KitchenAid where I mixed it up and let it rise in there.
Cover it with a towel and let it rise for about an hour. Or before you let it rise, put it into a bowl with a tight lid and let it rise overnight in the refrigerator.
My towel left a nice little pattern on the top of the dough.
Remove the dough from the bowl and put it onto a well floured surface, remember it will be sticky.
Add just enough flour so you can work with the nice soft dough without it sticking to your hands.
Divide the dough in half.
Roll each half out into a circle, about 12 inches in diameter.
Cut your circle into 12 pieces. My dough was still a little sticky. I could have added a bit more flour but oh well!
Roll each dough triangle up into a crescent shape roll, start with the wider end of the triangle.
Allow to rise for about one hour and bake.
Yum!! Smother in butter or better yet some honey butter and enjoy.
Crescent Rolls
Ingredients
- 2/3 C sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 stick 1/2 C butter
- 1 C boiling water
- 2 packages of dry active yeast
- 1 C warm water.
- 2 well beaten eggs
- 6 C flour
Instructions
- Combine first 3 ingredients. Pour 1 C boiling water water over all and allow sugar to dissolve and butter to melt.
- Cool slightly so the water is not too hot when you add the yeast in.
- Add 2 packages of dry active yeast to 1 C warm water.
- Soak yeast in warm water for 5 minutes. Add to sugar mixture.
- 2 well beaten eggs
- 6 C flour
- Add eggs and flour to mixture and blend well.
- Dough will be soft and a little sticky. At this point the dough can be put into a bowl with a tight lid and refrigerated overnight. Or you can just allow it to raise for about 1 hour in the mixing bowl. Cover with a towel.
- After raising put onto a floured covered surface. Divide dough in half.
- Add in enough flour so the dough is workable and not too sticky.
- Roll out into a 12 inch circle. Cut into 12 pie shaped pieces. Roll up into a crescent roll.
- Do the same with the other half of the dough. Place on baking sheet and allow to rise for about one hour or until doubled in size.
- Bake at 350 for 12 minutes or until golden brown.
- If you have refrigerated the dough just remove from the refrigerator 3 hours prior to baking and roll out the dough, form into crescents and let rise for 3 hours.
- Makes 24 good size rolls.
Mary Bond says
would like to try these but making them as celtic knots or small braided breadsticks unless you think one of your other recipes would work better. So tired of using canned biscuits in a pinch
Bessie Bennett says
Do you use self rising flour or all-purpose. Thank you
Angela says
Hello! I made these last year and they were a hit! I was just curious, do you think you could make these in a muffin tin where you roll two small balls of dough and place them together in a muffin tin and then let rise or do they have to be made in a crescent shape? Thanks!
Leigh Anne says
You could definitely use the dough to make a different shape roll.
Kim V. says
Love these rolls! I’ve made them 3 times and had to tell you that I love them. They are so easy and delicious. I’ve added a step: I butter the dough after I cut it into triangles. So I have even more buttery deliciousness. I’ve stopped making my usual pioneer woman rolls and now make these.
Kate says
These look awesome! Curious: can you freeze these for later? If you can, when would you freeze (after shaping and proofing, or par-bake and finish later)?
Leigh Anne says
I have never frozen them but I would definitely give it a try. Freeze them after you have shaped them and then let them thaw and proof before baking (like a Rhodes roll)
Tanya says
Love, love, love these crescent rolls! Thanks so much for sharing and finally making me feel like I can make a yummy homemade roll that I am not ashamed to bring to family & friend gatherings!
Heather says
I made these tonight for my children! They LOVED them. I can see this will be a family favorite! My daughter has begged me to make the 7-up biscuits again as well. Thank you so much for sharing your talent and sharing your family. I love your BLOG!
Leigh Anne says
Yeah – love it when the family loves a recipe!! Those 7-Up biscuits are to die for good! Thanks.
Christy says
I’ve made these rolls twice since the recipe was posted. They are awesome!
Leigh Anne says
So glad you enjoyed them – they are a good one!! I made 6 batches for Thanksgiving!!
Robyn Neville says
okay..i’m printing the recipe, making my list and going to give it a try. Not sure if I’ll do the dough Wednesday night or if I’ll do it all Thursday…wish me luck! Can’t wait for how the house will smell!