It took quite a while to decide what to give for neighbor gifts this year. If you read the post on apple butter that I made late this fall I mentioned that I wanted to give cute little tubs of it to my neighbors for Christmas. But what good is apple butter with nothing to put it on? So it made sense that it would be great to combine it with rolls.....but then came the problem. How to get them to them fresh and hot which is obviously the most fantastic way to eat rolls with cinnamony (is that a word?) sweet apple butter on them, right? So the testing began. No one I talked to had ever parbaked rolls and many wondered if that was even possible. I took my favorite Sweet Dinner Rolls recipe from allrecipes and even researched on the internet and found that there is a way to parbake (partially bake) the dough so that they can either be frozen or refrigerated and finish cooking at another time! It really works and makes it so you can have hot rolls but prepare them ahead of time! They made fun gifts because neighbors could eat them when it was convenient but also enjoy them hot. Here is how to do it.
First make a batch of this roll dough:
Sweet Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
1/2 cup warm milk
1 egg (mixed in with a fork)
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry
yeast (1 Tblspn.)
I make it in my bread machine following the instructions it gives me. I add the liquids first then the dry ing. and last I make a well and put the yeast in it. ( I also use instant yeast instead of regular). Set the bread machine to the dough setting and press start. You can make it by hand the usual way you make rolls, but I love the way my bread machine turns out a perfectly risen dough each time and it is just sooo easy!
While the dough is rising go ahead and get your pans ready. This is what I did for the neighbor gifts:
Spray pan with cooking spray, then if you want a space in the middle to put tubs of butter or apple butter, wrap two small canning jar rings with foil and set in the middle of the pan.
When the dough is ready, take it out of the machine and divide the dough in half and those halves in half. Keep squeezing each portion in half until you have 16 little equal size portions of dough.
Form rolls by taking dough and
pushing it up through an O formed by your thumb and middle finger. This
makes the top of the roll smooth and pretty. Set the dough evenly
around the pan with about an inch in between and cover with a light cloth to rise for about an hour. Rolls should touch when they have risen enough.
To parbake them when you want to finish baking at a later time, just preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Bake your rolls for about 11 minutes. Watch rolls and remove when they just have a hint of golden on the top.
Remove them from the oven and let them cool. Remove the foil rings in the center and add the tubs of butter.
I included a note telling them that these were only partly baked and how to finish them.
Bake these at 400 degrees for 3 to 5 minutes until golden brown! Top with apple butter or strawberry butter!
Great for Christmas gifts but just as wonderful any time of the year!
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