Just Twaddle Today

 

I haven't done a twaddle post in a while. I made up my mind last week I would be finished Christmas shopping and wrapping and all of that. I waited in line for 45 minutes to mail packages. They had one poor guy working. Isn't that crazy? It was a very long line, but people are always interesting and nice to talk to in those situations. If I were Charles Dickens I would be taking character sketches.

 

This will be a nice week, my brother asked me to make him chocolate rolls. When we were kids, and we would come back in the house from being out in the cold, our grandmother would have fixed chocolate rolls. Being a kid, I had never tasted anything so good in my life. (My mom was a stickler about no snacks between meals and never sweets except say Christmas or some holiday.)
After our grandmother passed away, I was the one who got her cookbook. She only had one.

 

I just love it and its such a time capsule. Its filled with recipes from my extended family as well as recipes, my grandmother wouldn't tell.

I have left it pretty much how I got it. I have went through the recipes very carefully and looked at them. When I got the cookbook the first thing I did was went through it to see if I could find her chocolate roll recipe. It just wasn't there. I have tried for years to recreate it. Yesterday, my brother asked if I could make some like I did last year. I was surprised, because I tasted them and I didn't think they even came close to hers. Yesterday he told me, that they were indeed very close to what she made.

I will give you my bread recipe.
My favorite bread recipe. At least my kids will have it.

2 1/2 cups warm water
2 teaspoons yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
Let yeast soften and then stir until the water softens the yeast. Let rise a bit before adding to the flour.

I have a Magic Mill Assistant mixer. Put in the dough hooks.

I put three cups of flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
1 cup butter
when I am making cinnamon rolls I add one cup sugar. For dinner rolls I add a half cup. I turn on the mixer and add the yeast water.

I let it mix until its smooth and begin to add flour one cup at a time until the dough begins to pull away from the bowl. It might be 3-6 cups of flour or even more sometimes. That part is tricky because it has to be by feel and the stickiness of the dough.

I then let it rise until doubled. This can take anywhere to 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on how warm or cold my kitchen is that day.

I then roll it out like you do for cinnamon rolls and put butter then the cinnamon and sugar. Easy Peasy.
Now last year, I took Hershey's Cocoa and mixed it as I would cinnamon and sugar for cinnamon rolls. I went by color not measurements.
So I made them that way. I will try it again. 

 

I remember when I was a little girl and I asked her about something she was making and did she have a recipe, she told me that good cooks didn't measure they went by smell, feel and taste. She was the best cook I ever saw. Now after all of the years I have been cooking, I think that is so true. I know for that bread recipe I just wrote out, you have to do that, go by how it looks. I have done this recipe so many times that its hard for me to describe how to make it work. I also use it for pizza dough, but I leave out the butter and eggs. I use olive oil then and add spices to it. Its very easy bread dough. Of course make sure your yeast is fresh. Very important.

I hope you have a lovely next week. I always think of Grinch this time of year.

"The Grinch: It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes, or bags.
Narrator: The the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.
The Grinch: Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...
Narrator: He thought
The Grinch: ...means a little bit more."

Merry Christmas
~Kim~

Away in a manger
No crib for His bed
The little Lord Jesus
Lay down His sweet head
The stars in the sky
Look down where He lay
The little Lord Jesus
Asleep on the hay.