No holiday table is complete without rolls.
Or at least that’s the way I see it, and I think a lot of you will agree, every good holiday table needs a basket full of warm, buttery rolls. Well, today I am sharing one of my-all time favorite buttery, soft dinner rolls and I could not be more excited about it. This holiday season I’ve partnered with King Arthur Flour to share with you all three of my family’s favorite dinner roll recipes. You see, every year for Thanksgiving I am always on the lookout for a soft and doughy roll recipe. One that will be simple, easy and leave me with no desire to pull my hair out and scream…been there, done that, not doing it again. If there’s one thing that everyone in my family loves on a united front, it’s a good bread. In fact, for some of the very picky eaters of the family, the bread takes up a good portion of their plate. Point is, these buttery Parker House rolls are what will be on my Thanksgiving table this Thursday. They are all things delicious and incredibly easy too!
My strategy in creating Thanksgiving dinner is pretty simple, use recipes that I know are going to work and be delicious, prepare as much as I can in advance, and make sure to have extra rolls on hand in case I completely mess up…no seriously. Let me tell you the story of my first Thanksgiving turkey. It was awhile ago, a little before I started the blog. It was the first time I had ever cooked a turkey. I decided that this was the year I would take on the task of cooking the bird. That way my mom could go with my dad and brothers to cut down the family Christmas tree. You see, I had recently watched a Rachael Ray episode and been inspired to try my hand at cooking not one, but two birds. Rachael had said that she cooks two smaller birds instead of one large bird, she insisted it was the way to go, so I mean, who was I not to listen to Rachael Ray. I had my mom buy two birds. Before my mom left in search of the perfect tree, she went into explicit detail on just how she cooks the turkey. Then away she went, off into the woods, to cut down the family Christmas tree. In the time they were gone I pretty much prepared the entire meal. Mom had made pies and things, but I made the mashers, sweet potatoes, rolls (plenty of rolls) and whatever else was on the table that Thanksgiving. The turkeys were in the oven and smelling delish, things were looking good. When the group of starving tree seekers returned, with our always very large Christmas tree in hand, it was showtime. Dad took the temp on the first turkey, carved it up, and all was good. But, when the second turkey came out the temp was still way too low. Ahhh, what? See, the second turkey was a few pounds heavier than the first bird, apparently it was still in need of way more oven time. Well, ya, no one was waiting, and it’s safe to say that no one was going near that second bird. I kind of panicked for a couple of minutes, I mean my family is already huge, plus we had our usual “extras”. Dad calmly and evenly divided up the cooked turkey (fortunately, Asher was a baby and Red was still pretty little so we nixed their turkey servings all together), while I loaded the sides onto everyone’s plate, adding an extra roll smothered in gravy. Thankfully everyone seemed quite happy and well fed, but the point is, the extra rolls literally saved Thanksgiving that year, and ever since I have always doubled the amount of rolls I know I should need. I figure they’ll get eaten whether I mess up the turkey or not…and every year they always do.
The rolls that I’m sharing today are the perfect side to mop up all that gravy, and are even better the next morning with a big pat of butter. They’re also awesome for making leftover turkey sandwiches. I think what I love most about these rolls though, I mean aside from how soft, doughy, buttery and delicious they are, is just how easy they are to make. The dough is made all in one bowl and forming the rolls is as simple as rolling out the dough and cutting it into rectangles. Um, yes please! Easy is exactly what I need on Thanksgiving! Since I feel like we all could use some good T-Day tips, here are my three favorites when it comes to rolls! Make the rolls ahead of time! To do so, cover the rolls before the last rise in the pan and place in the fridge overnight. When ready to bake, remove the rolls from the fridge and let sit on the counter 1 hour or until puffed. To freeze the rolls, freeze the shaped dinner rolls before they rise; then let the rolls thaw and rise at room temperature before baking. …It’s better to underbake rolls just slightly than to overbake them, especially if they’ll be reheated later. I like to remove the rolls five minutes or so before the recipe says to. This guarantees, a soft and doughy roll! …To add fun flavors to your rolls, try using compound butters like cranberry butter, pumpkin spice butter, and maple butter. Oh and my last tip, which is really more of a suggestion, make double the rolls! Trust me on this, they will all get eaten and you will be so happy you had extras to go around! Check out my other tips and two of my favorite roll recipes on the King Arthur Holiday Table! There may even be some sourdough and some pumpkin involved! 🙂 Umm, the perfect little roll right there.
{This post is sponsored by King Arthur Flour. Thank you for supporting the brands that keep Half Baked Harvest cooking!! }
