Yeast Breads: Baked Potato Rolls

The use of mashed potato flakes makes these rolls tender and delicate. The sour cream and chives gives them a deliciously light flavor. Serve them at your next dinner party or make ahead and use them as hamburger buns at your next barbeque.


Ingredients


2½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup mashed potato flakes
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp dried chives
1 tsp salt
1¼ tsp bread machine or quick rise yeast
1 cup milk
¼ cup sour cream
1 egg


Preparation


These rolls are no more difficult than any other rolls. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix until you have a loose dough. Turn this loose dough out onto a floured surface and knead until the dough is soft and elastic, about 5 minutes. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm location until light and doubled in size, about 1 hour.


Uncover dough and punch it down to remove all air bubbles. Spray a 9x13-inch baking pan with baking spray to prevent sticking. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a smooth ball and place into pan. Repeat with remain pieces of dough. Cover once again and let rise until doubled in size. This time it will take about 45 minutes for the rolls to be ready.


Heat oven to 375°F. Uncover dough and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the rolls are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. Remove immediately from pan and cool on wire racks.


These rolls will keep for up to 5 days if kept in an airtight container. Stale rolls make excellent bread crumbs.

Snacks & Appetizers: Curried Chicken Bites

If you're looking for something quick and easy to prepare for a party, look no further than these delicious appetizers. They'll impress even the pickiest crowd and don't take too long to make. A little butter and some ingredients you may already have in the cupboard and you can make them in just 15 minutes.


If you have leftover chicken in the fridge, you can just use that for this recipe. If you don't, cook up a couple chicken breasts and let them cool.


A little tip: buy the phyllo. While it is possible to make it yourself, it's way more trouble than it's worth. You can buy a package at your local grocery store for less than $5. It's typically in the frozen dessert section. Buy it and let it thaw at room temperature for a couple hours. It just makes your life easier.


Ingredients


2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
¼ cup walnuts, chopped
¼ cup red peppers, chopped
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
4 tbsp apricot preserves
2 tsp curry powder
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 package phyllo dough
½ cup butter, melted


Preparation


Heat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl combine chicken, walnuts, red peppers, onion powder, garlic powder, apricot preserves, curry powder, and mayonnaise. Mix well with a spoon and set aside.


Unroll phyllo gently so you don't break it. Brush 2 or 3 sheets with butter and stack on top of each other, smoothing them so they form one slightly thicker sheet. Cut into squares. In a standard phyllo sheet, you can get 16 appropriately-sized squares for this recipe. You'll need more than 16 squares to use all the filling, so prepared a second set of phyllo squares.


Place a tablespoon of the chicken mixture in the center of each square. Fold in all four corners of the square over the chicken mixture. Press in place to seal. Place the pastries on a lined baking sheet and brush the tops with a little butter.


Bake pastries until golden brown on top, about 10 minutes. Allow to cool for 3 minutes before serving.


You can store these in the fridge to be served the next day. Just reheat in the oven at 350°F for about 5 minutes.

Yeast Breads: Parmesan Pan Rolls

These buns have a unique shaping method that makes them very pretty in the pan. It also makes them incredibly easy to make. Press into the pan, slice, and bake. Serve these at a brunch and all your guests will be impressed.


Ingredients


For the Dough
1½ cups water
1 cup rolled oats
3 tbsp butter or margarine, softened
4 cups all purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
2½ tsp bread machine or quick rise yeast
1 egg


For the Topping
6 tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp parmesan cheese, grated or shredded
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp garlic powder


Preparation


This dough is easy enough to prepare, simply place all dough ingredients in a large bowl and mix until a loose and slightly sticky dough forms. Turn this dough out onto a floured surface and knead until you have a smooth and elastic dough. This should take about 5 minutes.


Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise in a warm location. The dough must double in size, so give it a full hour to do so. Punch the dough down to remove the air bubbles and spray a 9x13-inch baking pan with baking spray to prevent sticking. A lasagna pan works particularly well in this instance.


Press the dough into the pan, making sure it fills all the corners. If you're having trouble getting the dough to relax into the corners, let the dough sit for 10 minutes. This will relax the dough, allowing it to press into the pan.


Take a sharp knife or spatula and cut the dough in the pan into buns. Cut at a diagonal in both directions, forming diamond-shaped buns. Try to press straight down with the knife or spatula, don't drag it though the dough. When the dough has been sliced, cover with a damp cloth and set aside to rise until doubled in size again. This time it will take about 45 minutes.


Heat oven to 375°F. Uncover dough and take up your knife or spatula. Go over the slices you made earlier, being careful to press straight down and not drag the blade through the dough. Combine all topping ingredients and spread evenly over the rolls. Bake for 25 minutes, until rolls are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped.


If you're going to serve these rolls immediately, you can leave them in the pan for presentation. Otherwise you'll have to remove them from the pan and cool completely on wire racks.


These rolls will keep for up to 4 days if stored in an airtight container. They never last that long in my house.

Yeast Breads: Sweet Honey Rolls

A honey glaze adds just the right amount of sweetness to these tasty buns. You'll need to reserve one egg white to add to the glaze, so separate one egg before you get started.


Ingredients


For the Dough
1¼ tsp bread machine or quick rise yeast
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp honey
1 egg
1 egg yolk


For the Glaze
⅓ cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp honey
1 egg white


Preparation


These rolls are easier to make than you might think. Place all dough ingredients in a large bowl and blend until a loose dough forms. Turn this dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until dough is soft and elastic. This should take about 5 minutes. Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a damp towel. Allow to rise in a warm location until doubled in size, about 1 hour.


Spray a 9x13-inch baking pan with baking spray to prevent sticking. Punch down dough to remove air bubbles. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Form each piece into a smooth-topped ball and place into the baking pan. Repeat with remaining rolls, spacing them evenly in the pan.


Using a whisk, blend all glaze ingredients together until you have a smooth glaze. Drizzle half of this glaze over the rolls. Set glaze aside. Cover rolls with a damp towel and place in a warm location to rise for a second time. They need to double in size once again, so leave them be for about 45 minutes.


Heat oven to 375°F. Uncover rolls and drizzle with the remaining glaze. Bake for 25 minutes, until rolls are browned and sound hollow when tapped. Remove from pan immediately and cool on wire racks.


These buns will keep for up to 5 days if kept in an airtight container.

Drop Cookies: Peanut Butterscotch Cookies

Peanut butter cookies are tasty, but peanut butterscotch cookies are divine. The addition of butterscotch chips gives these classic cookies a delightful upgrade. Serve them with milk for a fun afternoon snack.


Ingredients


½ cup butter or margarine, softened
½ firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1¾ cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup butterscotch chips


Preparation


Heat oven to 375°F. Place sugars and butter in a large bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs and blend until smooth. Mix in flour, baking soda, and salt. Gently fold in butterscotch chips.


Scoop by rounded tablespoons and rolls into balls. Dip the tines of a fork into sugar and use the tines to flatten the cookies slightly. The traditional crisscross pattern is formed by using the fork twice, but you are not required to use the traditional pattern. You can make up your own pattern, either using a fork or something else in your cupboard. The bottom of a glass works well. Whatever you use, dip it in sugar first to prevent sticking. In the picture, I've used a holiday tea cup to mark the tops of my cookies.


Bake your cookies for 10 minutes. Remove from cookie sheets immediately and cool on wire racks.


These can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Snacks & Appetizers: Potato Sandwiches

Potatoes are delicious, especially mashed potatoes. They generally get eaten up, but after a large family meal, we always seem to have leftover mashed potatoes. This is a great way to use them up. If you don't have leftover mashed potatoes, you can whip them up specifically for this recipe.


Ingredients


3 cups mashed potatoes
1 egg
½ cup breadcrumbs
2 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper
4 tsp rosemary
1 tbsp parmesan cheese
cheddar cheese, grated
bacon slices, cooked


Preparation


These delicious snacks are incredibly easy to make. Combine mashed potatoes, egg, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, rosemary, and parmesan cheese in a large bowl. Mix well. Heat a pan to medium heat.


While the pan is heating, decide how large you'll make your sandwiches. If you make them bite-sized, for appetizers, you'll obviously get more out of the recipe. Larger sandwiches will result in fewer. Once you've decided on size, tear the bacon into pieces that will fit.


Add a little butter to the pan and allow to melt. Take a little potato and form it into the size you've chosen. You can make your sandwiches square or round, or another shape if you prefer. You'll want the potato to be about ¼-inch thick. Place potato in the pan. Add a little grated cheese, some bacon, and a little more cheese. Take a little more potato and form it into the top of the sandwich. Place it on top of the cheese.


Allow to cook until the bottom is golden brown, about 3 to 5 minutes. Flip gently and cook on the other side, again to golden brown. Remove from heat and drain on paper towels. Repeat this process for the rest of the potato mixture.


Serve warm, possibly drizzled with ranch dip or a creamy garlic spread.