Best Country White Bread or Dinner Rolls

This is my official favorite recipe for making bread... I only make the rolls these days, but the bread's really good, too.  This is a breadmaker recipe, and I'm posting it as such.  If you hand-make the dough, it's a different process. :)

Preheat: --, but you'll bake the rolls at 350*
Category: Bread, Rolls, Bread Maker, PICTURES

1 c. Water
1 T. Water
1 large Egg
4 1/2 t. Vegetable oil
3 1/4 c. Flour (bread flour preferred)
1/4 c. Sugar
1 1/2 t. Salt (I add another 1/2 t. for preference)
2 1/4 t. Yeast
--
2 T Butter, melted or softened if making rolls

Bread
1. Put ingredients into breadmaker in order.  Make sure your flour covers all wet ingredients.  Use white bread setting and hit start.

Rolls
1. Put ingredients into breadmaker in order, making sure your flour covers all wet ingredients. Use the dough setting and hit start.

You'll want to check after about 10-15 minutes to make sure your dough is not too dry and not too wet.  This is just right:

2. Lightly grease a 9x13 pan.  I use butter, and since my 9x13 pan broke, I used my 9" round cake pan and that worked beautifully!

When the breadmaker cycle finishes, the dough rises to about this:

3. Grease hands to make 15 balls. I don't have room for 15 balls in my pan, so I make however many balls I like.  Apparently 15 is the magic number for a 9x13 pan! :)

I don't bother with a lot of fluff... Used to it made a big mess adding flour, but after several (several) batches of rolls, all I do is butter my (clean!) countertop and plop down the dough:

4. Cover and rise until double.  My favorite trick is to put the rolls into the oven, and preheat to 170*. When my oven beeps that it's at the right temperature, I shut it off... that helps the rolls rise faster (esp. in winter!). 

5. Bake at 350* for 12-15 minutes.  This is DEFINITELY for those 15 teeny rolls!!!  My larger rolls take more like 30 minutes to bake. I just watch for the tops to be a beautiful deep golden brown color and then take 'em out. 


6.  Remove the rolls from the pan ASAP and brush with butter.  If you put the rolls onto a plate, they will get soggy on the bottom!!  (Ask me how I know this.)  I put mine on a cooling rack and they turn out beautifully.  The brushing with butter keeps the rolls soft, if you didn't already know this. :)

Pampered Chef Loaded Potato Chowder

This is the recipe Lorri made tonight!

Preheat: --
Category: Main dish, Potatoes, Chowder, Soup, Microwave

3 large Baking potatoes
3 1/2 c. Milk (I used skim)
4 oz. Cream cheese, softened
2 T. Butter
2-3 Green onions (I used three)
4 oz. Sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/2 t. Salt
1/2 t. Ground black pepper

1. Cut potatoes into quarters. Microwave for 10 minutes and check for doneness. Rotate potatoes and microwave for another 10 minutes.

2. While potatoes are microwaving, beat milk and cream cheese together in one bowl; grate the cheese and chop the green onions.

3.  When potatoes are soft, mash, leaving mostly bite-size chunks of potato.  Add the remaining ingredients until thoroughly hot. 

4.  (you realize now, that I'm making up these directions... to get actual directions, buy the cookbook! lol) Serve with optional cooked bacon, sour cream and/or steamed broccoli florets.

I think the sour cream really made this soup great!

Megan's Chocolate Cake (modified)

This is out of my mom's collection of recipes and I made it tonight for the Pampered Chef party! I'm so glad you liked it! :) :)

Preheat: 350*
Category: Cakes, Chocolate, Dessert

3 c. Flour
2 c. Sugar
1/2 c. Cocoa
2 t. Baking soda
1 t. Salt
2/3 c. Oil
1 Egg
1 t. Vanilla
2 c. Water, cold

1. Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.

2.  Mix the oil, egg, vanilla and water in another bowl.

3. Pour the wet into the dry and mix well.

4. Pour everything into a greased and floured 9x13 pan.

5.  Bake at 350* for 45 minutes or until done.

6. Cool before frosting.  I used the Butter Frosting recipe from Better Homes and Gardens.  Obviously, I made the chocolate variation of the frosting! :)

The variation of this cake for the party was to use a stoneware baking dish--Lorri dumped in the batter, dumped the frosting on top, and it made the yummiest cake!

New York Cheesecake

My cute husband always throws away the box before I can get the recipe from the Philadelphia cream cheese box. :)

Preheat: 325*
Category: Cake, Cheesecake, Dessert

Crust
1 Cup Graham cracker crumbs
3 Tablespoons Sugar
3 Tablespoons Butter, melted

1. Mix crumbs, sugar and butter. Press firmly onto bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. I love my marble rolling pin for breaking up the graham crackers. :)

2. Bake at 325* for 10 minutes. 300* if you're using a dark nonstick springform pan.

Filling
2 1/2 Lbs. Cream cheese, softened
1 Cup Sugar
3 Tablespoons Flour
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
1 Cup Sour cream
4 Eggs

Topping
Pie filling (canned or fresh)

1. Beat all ingredients. When you get to the eggs, the recipe says add them one at a time.

2. Pour over crust.

3. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until center is almost set.

4. Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim of pan.

5. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Tope with pie filling before serving. Um, I say ABSOLUTELY REFRIGERATE OVERNIGHT! There's no question that the cheesecake is better after it has mellowed... and 2nd day cheesecake is rumored to be even better, but at my house it's always eaten before the rumor is confirmed. :)

Better Homes & Gardens' Butter Frosting

I literally use this butter frosting recipe for EVERY. THING. THAT. REQUIRES. FROSTING. It's versatile, based on the amount of additional milk you add.

Preheat: 350*
Category: Dessert, Frosting

1/3 Cup Butter (5 1/3 Tablespoons), melted
4 1/2 Cups Powdered sugar
1/4 Cup Milk
1 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
Milk

1. Whip Butter, Powdered sugar, Milk and Vanilla. This is a nice stiff frosting by itself, and you could stop here. It's too stiff for piping, and too stiff for frosting a cake... but good for piling on to delicious hot brownies!

2. Add milk, a few drops at a time, to get desired consistency. Note to those, from experience. If you get your frosting too thin, it will SLIDE OFF OF THE CAKE! *laughing* Thick is better than thin if you're not sure.

3. To make chocolate frosting, substitute 1/2 Cup of Cocoa and 1/2 Cup of Powdered Sugar. It's delicious. Trust me.

Best Brownies Ever

I haven't posted a recipe in forever because I just haven't been baking! My husband's been doing the dirty job. But my in-laws are in town and there's always that need to impress, right? I thought I had my butter frosting recipe already posted, and it turns out it's not there... and I needed it for this brownies recipe I found, so... there you go. :D I'm back; for how long, I don't know. :)

So, brownies in this post, and butter frosting in the next one.

Preheat: 350*
Category: Dessert

1/2 Cup Butter, melted
1/2 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Cup Sugar
2 Eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla
1/2 Cup Flour
1/4 teaspoon Salt

optional
1-2 Cups Chocolate chips, your choice, and experimenting works
1 Cup Mini Marshmallows
1 Cup Walnuts or Pecans, chopped

1. Mix dry ingredients. This includes the cocoa, the sugar, the flour and the salt. Mix it well!

2. In separate bowl, mix wet ingredients. This includes the melted butter, the vanilla and the eggs.

3. Mix wet ingredients into the dry. Mix thoroughly, but DO NOT OVER MIX!

4. Pour mix into a GREASED and FLOURED 8" square pan. It's not enough to just grease it. You can also use wax paper to line the bottom. :)

5. Bake in a preheated oven (350*) for 23-25 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE!

6. Cool completely and then cut. Now I know everybody gets excited about brownies, but really, don't cut these early! Might I add that they're very yummy frosted with the Better Homes and Gardens Chocolate Butter Frosting? :)

Austin's Chicken Noodle Soup

It takes a half-day of crock-pot and then normal dinner prep time. And it's soooo good. :)

Preheat: --
Category: Chicken

Crock Pot Chicken:
1 whole Fryer chicken
Water
Salt and Pepper

1. Put chicken into crock pot and add water until it's up about two inches. Season with pepper and liberal salt.

2. Turn crockpot onto Low and let the chicken cook until thermometer reads at least 165* when inserted. If the chicken was frozen when you put it into the crock pot, it'll take about five hours; if the chicken was thawed, it'll be more like three. I start my chicken first thing in the morning. I'm not kidding about liberal salt... it acts as a tenderizer for the chicken. Finally, the thermometer reading is right if you're reading from deep within the thigh. If you don't have a thermometer you can be sure the chicken is done if you pull gently on a wing or a thigh and the bone slides out. ;)

3. Carefully remove cooked meat. Save the liquid! I try to take the chicken out of the crock pot and let it cool for a little bit before attempting to remove the meat.

Soup:
3 cups Spiral noodles, uncooked
Chicken, cut into bite-size pieces
Liquid from crock pot, strained
3 Tablepoons Chicken stock
5 Potatoes, unpeeled and washed, cubed
3 Carrots, unpeeled and washed, sliced
3 stalks of Celery, washed and diced
1/4 cup Flour
3 Tablespoons Onion powder
3 Tablespoons Garlic powder
2 Tablespoons Oregano
1/4 cup Chicken stock
1/4 cup Butter
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Cook noodles according to package directions. Strain and set aside. I like to make extra noodles when having pasta, then I refrigerate until I need them so I can skip this step! :)

2. Strain the liquid (again) into the stock pot. Add chicken stock, potatoes, carrots, celery and salt & pepper. Stir until the chicken stock is dissolved.

3. Bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer. Add Oregano.

4. In a small dish, stir together the flour, onion powder and garlic powder

5. Pull out about 2 cups of broth from the stock pot. Gradually add the flour mixture, whisking rapidly. We don't want lumps here! :)

6. Pour the flour into the stock pot and stir in. Bring to a rolling boil so soup will thicken. Boil two minutes and then lower to a simmer. Stir in chicken stock and butter while waiting for the soup to boil.

7. Soup is ready when the potatoes are finished--easily pierceable by a fork. Add cooked pasta and chicken at this stage and serve while hot. I like the soup best after it's had an overnight in the fridge and is reheated. Mmmm. :)