Saturday, March 6, 2010

Rolls

It takes about 3 hours of time, but 2 of those hours are rising periods. Not as much work as it sounds.

Ingredients:
4 cups warm water (110-115 degrees)
1 cup powdered milk (dry milk works too)
1 cup of sugar
10-12 cups flour
2 tablespoons of instant yeast
1/2 cup of oil
5 teaspoons of salt
4 eggs, well beaten
1 stick of butter (for greasing counter and spreading on dough)

Directions: (I use my kitchen aid and it works great!)
Beat water, milk, sugar, and eggs. Mix yeast in 5 cups of flour in a separate bowl. Add both mixtures together and mix for 5-10 minutes. Turn off mixer and let rise for 15 minutes (in the mixing bowl, beater still attached is fine). Add oil and salt and slowly add more flour and beat for 5-10 minutes. Turn dough out on a floured counter and knead until the right consistency (for me, this is when the dough is still really soft, but not sticking to the counter or my hands anymore). Put into a big buttered bowl with a cloth over it. Let rise to double the size, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down and take a stick of melted butter and butter the counter. Divide dough into quarters so there are 4 equal sections. Roll each section into a circle, put melted butter on the dough just to cover the surface and then cut into 12 triangluar pieces like a pizza. (I use a pizza cutter and it works great!) Roll each section from the fat part to the skinny part. Put on pan so that the rolls are almost touching (shouldn't need more than 2 large cookie sheet type pans - about 24 rolls on each). Let rise for 1 hour.

Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes. (For some reason, my oven takes more like 16 minutes, but just watch for golden brown on the tops.) Take out and butter the tops.

Voila! The best rolls ever. These freeze great... just set out to thaw at room temp. They stay super soft and never get dry even days after making them.

Christina Tosi's Compost Cookies

This was on Regis & Kelly.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup Butter
1 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp Corn Syrup
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Large Eggs
1 3/4 cups AP Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Kosher Salt
1 1/2 cups Your favorite baking ingredients!
(Kelly used mini chocolate chips, raisinettes, rollos & cocoa krispies)
1 1/2 cups Your favorite snack foods (chips, pretzels, etc)
(Kelly used goldfish, ritz, & fritos)

DIRECTIONS:
In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugars and corn syrup on medium high for 2-3 minutes until fluffy and pale yellow in color. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.

On a lower speed, add eggs and vanilla to incorporate. Increase mixing speed to medium-high and start a timer for 10 minutes. During this time the sugar granules will fully dissolve, the mixture will become an almost pale white color and your creamed mixture will double in size.

When time is up, on a lower speed, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix 45-60 sec just until your dough comes together and all remnants of dry ingredients have incorporated. Do not walk away from your mixer during this time or you will risk over mixing the dough. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.

On same low speed, add in the hodgepodge of your favorite baking ingredients and mix for 30-45 sec until they evenly mix into the dough. Add in your favorite snack foods last, paddling again on low speed until they are just incorporated.

Using a 6oz ice cream scoop, portion cookie dough onto a parchment lined sheetpan.

Wrap scooped cookie dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour or up to 1 week.

DO NOT BAKE your cookies from room temperature or they will not hold their shape.

Heat the conventional oven to 400F. (350F in a convection oven)

When the oven reads 400F, arrange your chilled cookie dough balls on a parchment or silpat-lined sheetpan a minimum of 4" apart in any direction.

Bake 9-11 min. While in the oven, the cookies will puff, crackle and spread.

At 9 min the cookies should be browned on the edges and just beginning to brown towards the center. Leave the cookies in the oven for the additional minutes if these colors don't match up and your cookies stills seem pale and doughy on the surface.

Cool the cookies completely on the sheet pan before transferring to a plate or an airtight container or tin for storage. At room temp, cookies will keep fresh 5 days. In the freezer, cookies will keep fresh 1 month.

Yield: 15 6oz cookies