Butterhorn Rolls, Cinnamon Rolls, and Freezer Meals

When I was growing up Mom would make the same delicious rolls every Thanksgiving. I remember the excitement when she would pull that first pan from the oven and we could slather one with butter and enjoy it warm. They are still some of my favorite rolls to eat but they aren't the fastest to make...like any yeast dough you have to wait for it to rise, form the rolls, wait for them to rise...but they're delicious!! For some reason yesterday felt like a baking day to me and these came to my mind. Once they were there, I couldn't think of anything else (blame the pregnancy brain). The recipe makes 36 rolls...a few more than a family of three needs to consume. So I used part of the dough to make cinnamon rolls, another treat in our home. They turned out so yummy, so perfect, I had to share!

Butterhorn Rolls Dough Recipe (can be used to make cinnamon rolls also)

2 packages (2 TB) yeast
1/2 c warm water
Pinch of sugar
1/2 c shortening, melted
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
2 c warm water
6-7 c flour

Mix yeast with 1/2 cup warm water and a pinch of sugar.
Melt shortening, add 1/2 cup sugar, salt, eggs, 2 cups warm water and mix.
Add the yeast mixture. Mix enough flour to make a soft, sticky dough. I usually need to use all 7 cups but add them one at a time see what works for you.
Knead it. It will be sticky!!
Put the dough in a large greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled (about an hour).
Divide the dough into three equal parts. Roll into 10-12 inch circles. Brush with melted butter and cut into 12 wedges.
Roll from the outside (wide) edge. Place on greased cookie sheets, cover, and let rise another 45 minutes to hour.
Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375.
For the cinnamon rolls, I rolled the dough into a rectangle and brushed with melted butter. I had mixed white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins (sorry I didn't measure them out!) together and sprinkled that evenly on the dough. I rolled it up TIGHT and used a knife to cut it into 12 pieces. Then onto a greased cookie sheet face up for the same amount of time and temperature. The glaze was 1/3 cup milk and 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar.

Yeast and warm water. A few minutes later, nice and bubbling.

Instead of shortening I used coconut oil. Worked great.

The very sticky dough.

This was before it rose...

...this was after! I'm always so nervous that it won't rise! :)

A circle of dough with melted butter spread on.

My little triangles of dough. Roll from the wide side to the point.

Ready to rise again!

My log of cinnamon roll, ready to cut into 12 rounds.

Before they rose...

...ready to pop in the oven. It's okay if they touch.

And rolls ready to bake.

Perfect!!!

All that cinnamon and sugar goodness ready to glaze.

This is the pork loin I mention below with apples and cranberries. So yummy and easy!!

I blogged awhile ago about freezer meals. So far they have all turned out great and delicious! The other night, to go with these delicious breads, I pulled a pork loin apple-cranberry meal from the freezer and had it in the crockpot all day. It was delicious, full of flavor, so tender. It would have been a perfect meal except I completely forgot about vegetables! Oops! Once it was all on the table I thought roasted potatoes and carrots would have been just the thing. Sigh. Pregnancy brain again. I found the pork recipe here. The name is pork tenderloin with apple cranberry sauce. Read about my experiment in freezer meals by clicking on the label Freezer Meals on the right of my blog.
Well, I'm off to enjoy another cinnamon roll!