Pretzel Challah Rolls

Last May, Rowan Fae performed at a Spring Fairy Magic Market in Tacoma. After our performance, we walked around the market for a little bit, checking out the vendors. One of the vendors was a bakery called Forest Fairy Bakery. I ended up buying a cookie and a loaf of challah bread, the latter of which I stuck in the freezer and snacked on occasionally over the summer. I'd never had it before but I'd pinned a few challah bread recipes so when I saw it at the market, I thought "Why not?" Since I ended up liking it, I decided to make some challah rolls the next time I needed to make dinner rolls.

Because I hadn't had pretzel rolls in a while, I decided to add that extra step (it's pretty easy really - just give the rolls a baking soda bath). So I started searching through my bread pins. One of the pins was instructions from PopSugar, a lifestyle and pop culture website. It even included a link to a recipe for  challah bread on the YumSugar, PS's food section - until the link mysteriously became broken a few days after I saved the instructions. Couldn't even find the recipe by searching the website. So I quickly went through my pins until I found an easy challah bread recipe from Life as a Strawberry.

Maya Angelou's Buttermilk Biscuits

A few years ago, when my mom first asked me to make the bread side for Thanksgiving, I chose a biscuit recipe. I figured it would be quick and easy - just mix all the ingredients together and you don't have to wait for it to rise! Except it was a disaster: I was unfamiliar with how butter is supposed to be mixed into biscuit dough so, as I often do when I get frustrated, I had a bit of an emotional breakdown (Fortunately my mom was able to quickly run to the store and get some rolls).

I ended up getting a pastry cutter that year for Christmas (I had used knives, as often suggested for cutting in butter so that might've also been the problem?).

I have since discovered two things: 1) Thanks to Food Network, there's supposed to be dots of butter in biscuit dough as you cut it in (it'll all melt as the biscuits bake) and 2) yeast doughs are my strength. So for the last couple years I made yeast rolls for Thanksgiving. This year I decided to try biscuits again. A redemption of sorts. After searching through all my sources, I finally decided on the Buttermilk Biscuit recipe that People magazine posted shortly after Maya Angelou passed away in 2014 (apparently her cooking was as good as her writing and her heart).

Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits

I have a confession that probably won't be a surprise to those who know me: I'm a carboholic. Specifically bread. You know that healthy eating tip that says to replace the carb of your sandwich (bread, bun, etc.) with a veggie or something? Yeah, I roll my eyes at that one. I'm even interested in bread served at restaurants I will never go to. Like Red Lobster (other than Gorton's brand fish sticks, seafood doesn't appeal to me). I've heard nothing but raves over the years for their cheddar biscuits. Which basically meant I had to try them. Thank goodness for copycat recipes on the internet! (Yes, I know you can buy the mix at the store. And while I almost got it because of the ingredients, I decided to stick with making these from scratch.) I've saved a few on Pinterest so I looked at all of them and decided on one from Damn Delicious.

Easy Homemade Pretzel Croissants

This year for Thanksgiving my mom had me make a couple appetizers. One was the pepperoni pinwheels (it's become my specialty. Plus Nonni loves them so I don't mind making them). The other was up to me but Mom suggested something cheesy. So I started looking for a baked brie recipe since I love brie cheese and figured I'd be able to finish the rest at home (which wasn't much - it ended up being a bigger hit than I had expected). A baked brie recipe tends to include a sheet of puff pastry, which only come in pairs at the grocery store. However, I already had an idea for how to use the other one: when I finished my dinner rolls, I could make the pretzel croissants recipe I'd found on Pinterest. It consists of both a yeast dough (which I've become really good at making and am possibly an expert at) and a sheet of puff pastry and comes from the blog Plated Cravings.

Easy Dinner Rolls

A couple years ago for Thanksgiving my mom asked me to make the rolls. I chose a biscuit recipe that required cutting butter into flour, something I'd never done before. Since I didn't have a pastry cutter I just used two knives (as suggested by food blogs and recipe sites). I thought everything was going great until it was time to put the dough on the baking sheet.

And that's when the breakdown began, as I discovered that there was still chunks of butter in the biscuit dough (I tend to cry like a child when I get frustrated, especially when it's something that shouldn't be hard). So I tossed the dough and asked my mom to make a last minute run to the grocery store (surprisingly she found some). (Over the last year and a half that I've been watching Food Network regularly I've discovered that I didn't screw-up - there's supposed to be chunks of butter. If I remember correctly it makes the bread fluffier). So last year when Mom asked me to make the rolls again I decided to stick with a yeast dough since I'd made some before and was successful. I found some very fluffy dinner rolls from Recipe Girl. They were a hit! So much so that Kati asked me to make them for Easter when she and Anthony hosted. I can't remember why I didn't do a blog post either time - forgot to take pics I guess (something I do from time to time since, you know, I don't do this daily like a normal food blogger). So when I needed rolls for myself, I knew exactly which recipe to look for.

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

I've never really had the popular lemon poppy seed flavor. If I'd had, it wasn't memorable. So for my next Sunday breakfast (after the waffle recipe I made in high school cooking class - one of my faves!) I decided on something lemon poppy seed flavored. I also decided on bread because I had mentioned to my family that I don't have a loaf pan and Kati said "Take some of ours! We got more than we need for wedding gifts." So I now have two loaf pans. I searched all the sources I have and finally decided on a recipe from the Joy of Baking website (I swear, this was one of the most decisive moments I've ever had. So quick to pick the flavor and type).

Pretzel Rolls

I've been on a bit of a pretzel kick over the last, I don't know, 8 years maybe. I think it all started when I was working the 2nd of my two food service jobs (the concessions stand at a water park in Renton): one of many snacks served was soft pretzels so I would occasionally get one for a snack (or lunch). Been hooked ever since. Every time I'm at the mall or a baseball game, I often have to pull myself away from the stands that sell soft pretzels. Not sure what it is - a different taste maybe? Currently one of my snacks is a serving of SnackFactory's Pretzel Crisps. And back when I lived with my parents and joined my mom on her Costco runs, I would occasionally grab a bag of pretzel rolls instead of regular rolls to go with my Easy Mac. I have yet to find them at the regular grocery store.

Which brings me to these (somewhat flat) lovelies. When I ran out of the King's Hawaiian Rolls, I decided to try and make my own pretzel rolls. So I scoured my Pretzels board on Pinterest (yup, the love is that major) and finally decided on Pretzel Rolls from Tasty Kitchen.

King's Hawaiian Rolls

You know how some grocery store delis have meal options that include a 4-pack of King's Hawaiian rolls? Back when my brothers and I lived at home we'd occasionally get the chicken meals, complete with chicken tenders for me. Since there was 5 of us and I'm a bit of a white bread-aholic, I made sure to grab my roll ASAP and hoped that there was one left. Because those commercials aren't lying: these things are sweet and soft and delicious.

So I was delighted when I moved out and discovered that you can get these rolls in packs of 12. A sweet and soft side, even when frozen and defrosted? Yes please! Which is why when I ran out of the Butter Rolls I figured I'd make one of the many King's Hawaiian copycat recipes I've saved on Pinterest. I chose a simple one from La Petite Brioche.

Butter Rolls

I decided this year that I wasn't going to make New Year's resolutions. Over the last few years, any that I've made ended up being broken within a month. However, in the last couple weeks I kinda made one: make use of the recipes I've saved both online and in hard copy. I'd somewhat started back in November with breakfast (something that I hope to do again) with ... interesting results, but this time I was leaning more towards the rolls I sometimes have with dinner and the dessert I always have with dinner. For the rolls, I looked through the dozens of recipes I've saved to my Bread/Rolls board on Pinterest. I finally decided on some butter rolls that looked similar to the store bought cloverleaf ones some people get for a holiday dinner.

Best Banana Bread

I'm not that big of a produce eater. Fruit and veggies - not my thing on a daily basis. So of course I didn't notice or care when we got back from a week in Chelan and several of my dad's bananas were brown. And because we try to waste as little as possible, Dad asked me to make banana bread with them (as opposed to throwing them in the trash or food waste). I started searching before my mom told me about the recipe that she uses from the cookbook that her godmother's church put together with recipes from members and their friends, including my mom's godmother and her banana bread recipe.