Saturday, November 22, 2008

"Hot" tip at the end of this post...be sure to check it out in time for Turkey leftovers. :)


Unless something that simply cannot be ignored happens between now and 6:00am Wednesday morning ( and lets face it, I have a 2 year old in the house, so chances are good there will be some kind of hilarity) this will be my last post until the first week of December...can that be right??? wow.
Anyways, I am going to share with you one more Thanksgiving recipe. I would caution you however, that if you have not ever baked bread from scratch before, this might not be the best recipe to start with, since there are no specific flour measurements. This year I have baked them up "brown'n'serve" style, since we'll be traveling a few hours away and I needed to bake them in advance. So, if the picture looks pale to you, that's why.

Sweet Potato Cranberry Rolls
1 14-16 oz Sweet Potato
1 C. Half and Half
1 pkg dry yeast
6 T golden brown sugar
1/4 C. Butter, Melted
2 t. Salt
1 t. Ginger
Flour
3/4 C Dried Cranberries
1 lg. Egg, beaten

Pierce sweet potato in several places, cook on high in microwave for 7 mins. Turn over, and cook until very tender (could be up to 7 minutes more) Scoop flesh from potato into bowl, mash. Transfer 3/4 cup mashed sweet potato into large mixing bowl. Using Whisk attachment, beat potato until very smooth (I usually just do this by hand, you don't need to have a mixer, or a whisk attachment to make these turn out). Heat Half and Half and 1 T. Brown sugar in microwaver 2 minutes, let rest 5 minutes, sprinkle yeast over it and let stand about 10 minutes until foamy. Add remaining 5 T brown sugar, melted butter, ginger, and salt to sweet potato, beat until smooth and well blended. Add yeast mixture, mix until well blended. Beat in enough flour, one cup at a time to form a soft dough. Beat three minutes ( dough will be very soft). Turn out dough onto floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic. (adding more flour by tablespoons if its too sticky) Knead about 6 mins. Knead in dry cranberries ( try using orange scented or cherry scented if you'd like, they are yummy).
Spray large clean bowl with non-stick cooking spray, turn dough into bowl and spray dough ball with non-stick cooking spray. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, let rise until double.
Butter 2 baking sheets, or cover with parchment. Punch dough down, turn onto floured surface. Divide dough in half, roll each half out to a 12" diameter circle, cut round into 8 triangles. Roll each triangle into a crescent shape. Place each roll on baking sheet. Cover baking sheet loosely with plastic, let rolls rise until light and puffy (about 45 mins.) Position baking racks in center and top 1/3 of oven. Preheat oven to 400. Brush rolls with beaten egg. Bake about 15 minutes or until rolls are golden and sound hollow when tapped on bottom. (make sure to switch racks half way through baking time).
These can be made up to 2 weeks ahead and frozen.

***To reheat, place in brown bag, run bag under running water until wet, but not dripping. Place in 350 oven for about 10 minutes. ( You can do this with any rolls. they will be warm, moist, and delicious every time, not dried out, crusty, rubbery, or hard! like if you used a microwave or oven without the wet bag)

10 comments:

Brittany Marie said...

Oh my heck, that sounds so good. I usually replace brown sugar in recipes with a combination of granulated splenda and sugar free syrup (weird, I know). Do you think that would do anything to the integrity of the recipe?

Kristina P. said...

These sound awesome!

No more posts for a whole week? What are we going to do!!?!?!?

Goob said...

Brittany, I think you could definitely go with the splenda and syrup. The sweet potato adds a ton of fiber, but you could also probably make these with 50% whole wheat flour. ( we splurge for Thanksgiving and just do wonderful white). The syrup will make it just a tad wetter, so adjust the flour accordingly. Oh! and, since the flour will be the only thing the yeast will have to feed on, the rise might take a little longer. If you try it, let me know how they turn out, I'm really curious.
Kristina...I'm sure you could find something else to do...lol

Shauna said...

Yum! Thanks! I just signed up to follow your blog :) ♥ Hugs!

in time out said...

thanks for being a new blogger friend. glad to hear that you are making connections where you are, and in cyber world. read you again. ♥♥♥

capcha word

nonive: not native to the beehive.

Jillene said...

That sounds DELISH!! I also loved the tip at the end!! I will be missing you for the next week!! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Jen said...

Holy smackerdoodles...those look awesome! Can't wait to munch on my own bunch. Thanks for the recipe! You'll be missed this week! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Anonymous said...

wow, those look good. Hope you have a marvelous holiday. The first week of december is frightening closer than it appears.

rachel said...

That sounds so yummy. Thanks for coming to my blog and following me. I will definitely follow your blog. I love the title and you are such a good writer. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the recipe. It sound delicious. Have a great Thanksgiving!