My grandmother served rolls similar to this at every holiday gathering. I have fond childhood memories of my grandfather throwing rolls across a long table to my big brother for Thanksgiving dinner. This version adapted from my friend Carol’s recipe is simple and sweet. The beauty is they are supposed to be made ahead, which makes hosting a large meal one step easier.

Serves: 18-20 rolls

Tools:

mixing bowl

whisk

lightweight kitchen towel

2 standard size cupcake pans

large airtight storage container

Ingredients:

1.5 tsp active dry yeast

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 cups lukewarm filtered water

7 cups flour, sifted

1 tsp salt

1 egg, well-beaten

3 TBSP unsalted butter, melted

For the rolls:

In a mixing bowl, pour water and sugar. Stir together. Add in yeast. gently mix together. Then add in the beaten egg.

Add half of the flour and stir together. Add melted butter and stir in the rest of the flour. The dough will have a sticky consistency.

Set dough aside and cover with a light towel. Let the dough rise until doubled in size. This can take up to a few hours.

Then punch the dough down and transfer to a large airtight container and refrigerate.

Note: the dough will continue to rise a bit while in the refrigerator so make sure you use a large enough container to allow for the dough to rise.

To bake the rolls:

Remove dough about one hour before baking to allow it to come to room temperature. Butter cupcake pans.

First butter your hands with room temperature butter. Then taking small amounts of dough at a time form in to balls and place three balls per cup slot in the pan. Continue to butter your hands and form dough balls until the desired amount of rolls are prepped. Let dough rise again for about one hour.

Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit / 205 degrees Celsius. Bake rolls for 15 minutes or until slightly golden brown on top. Careful not to over bake. Promptly remove from oven. Using a spatula wiggle the rolls loose from the pan and place on a brown paper sack to cool. Rolls can be stored in an airtight container and served the next day, however they are best right away.