Dinner Rolls {No Eggs + No Dairy}

I have two nephews (one on my family's side and one on David's family's side) and neither of them can have eggs or dairy, so I'm always on the lookout for "safe" things to make for everyone that they can enjoy as well. No point is making dinner rolls for everyone and then having to have a separate bag of rolls if you can find a recipe that is safe for them to eat, but still delicious for everyone else, too! My friends - these rolls are those rolls. Light, fluffy, delicious, quick to make (one blogger touts them as 1-hour dinner rolls), and quicker to disappear.

Dinner Rolls {No Eggs + No Dairy}

PheMonenon via At Home with Haley and adapted from My Kitchen Cafe

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 tablespoon instant yeast
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
4 cups all-purpose flour, lightly spooned into measuring cup, then leveled off

Directions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 5 minutes.

To the yeast mixture, add the oil, salt, and 2 cups of the flour - on low speed with the paddle attachment incorporate the flour to create a wet, sticky mixture. Still on low speed, add 1 cup of the remaining flour and incorporate. Switch to the dough hook and add the remaining 1 cup flour. On low speed, mix the dough to incorporate the final addition of flour until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Turn the speed to medium and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl - turn to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 20 -30 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently deflate into a rectangle. Cut it in half vertically, then each half vertically again into thirds so you have 6 equal strips of dough. Cut each strip of dough into fourths by cutting horizontally to make 24 little squares of dough. Take each piece of dough and cup it lightly under the palm of your hand on a clean surface. Press lightly and start rotating and rolling the dough ball quickly so that it forms a nice little ball of dough. (PheMomenon says that once you get some practice, you can do this with both hands at the same time and really speed up the process.)

Place each rolled piece of dough into a lightly greased 9x13 baking pan in rows of 4 about 1/2-inch apart. Cover the rolls in the pan with a lightly greased piece of plastic wrap and let rise to double while your oven is preheating to 400 degrees F (rise about 20 minutes). Bake for 13-15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Serve warm and enjoy!

Hot Ham and Cheese

I picked up some hoagie bun rolls at my favorite Sara Lee Bread Outlet for super cheap and I was looking for something to do with them that was yummy and a bit more than just regular deli sandwiches. I had an idea of what I wanted and, with a few adjustments, this fit the bill! The ham and cheese, sautéed onions, and bacon combine together to create a delicious flavor profile. (I've been watching cooking shows with David, can you tell?)

Hot Ham & Cheese Sandwiches
Source: Adapted from Pinch of Yum

Ingredients:
6 hoagie buns

6 slices bacon
1/2 yellow onion
6 tablespoons salted butter, divided
1 heaping Tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
12 slices deli ham (or more- depending on how much meat you like)
12 slices cheddar cheese

Directions:
Place bacon on a baking sheet lined with tinfoil. Bake in oven at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until crispy. Slice onion into thin strips. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a small skillet; add onions and cook over very low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. The onions should turn a deep golden color and taste sweet. 

Melt 4 T butter and whisk with the mustard and Worcestershire sauce.

Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Brush the inside of each bun with mustard mixture. Top with ham, onions, bacon, and cheese. Brush the top of the bun with remaining butter. Repeat for remaining sandwiches. Bake for 20 minutes or until warmed through and cheese is melted. Serve hot! 

*Note: I added spinach to my sandwich after baking and it was super yummy. I'd definitely recommend it. 

Overnight Sandwiches

A friend posted these sandwiches on her facebook wall as a recommendation for a meal when feeding a large group of people (i.e. baptism, blessing, etc..) They were originally called Funeral Sandwiches, but I felt that was a bit morbid and because I've never had them at a funeral, I changed them to Overnight Sandwiches - because I love that you can prepare them ahead of time and just have them ready to cook. I made a few other modifications because we didn't love the soggy bread - but we loved the sauce-soaked bread when it was crispy.

Overnight Sandwiches
Source: Clever House Wife

Ingredients:
1 package (12 ct) of King's Hawaiian Rolls

12 slices ham deli meat
Swiss cheese, thinly sliced
½ cup butter, melted
3 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbs mustard
2 Tbs brown sugar
dash of onion powder

Instructions
Cut each roll in half and place bottom halves on the bottom of a baking pan. Layer with ham slices and cheese and place the top half back on.
Mix together the butter, Worcestershire, mustard, brown sugar and onion powder. Pour sauce over sandwiches, making sure to coat each top. It's okay if you drip over the edges - but don't pour so much that the bottoms become super-soggy. Cover tightly and marinate anywhere from 4-24 hours. Overnight works best!

Preheat oven to 350°. Bake for 15 minutes uncovered, or until cheese is melted and bun tops are a bit golden and crispy.

Crescent Rolls

My friend Amy (who I've gotten several recipes from in the past) shared this recipe on our online Facebook Dinner group and I immediately knew that I had to try them. These rolls are so incredibly soft and delicious. I made them the first time and swore right then and there that I would never buy crescent rolls in a can again. (Which is probably not true, but it is certainly WAY less likely.) They were so easy and just turned out so amazingly delicious that I would make them a hundred times over. They aren't as... flaky as the store-bought rolls, but they really are just so soft and yummy.

Crescent Rolls
Source: Amy Pugsley- Janet Rose's Roby Rolls

Ingredients:
2 T yeast
1/4 c warm water
2 eggs
1/2 c sugar
1 t salt
1 c warm water
1 cube butter, melted
4 1/2 c flour

Directions:
Combine yeast and 1/4 c warm water and let sit for 5 minutes. Add eggs, sugar, salt, 1 c warm water, and butter. Mix well. One cup at a time, add and mix in flour (might not take entire amount - dough should be soft).

Mix well until all flour is incorporated, but don't knead. Place in a greased bowl and cover. Let rise 1 1/2 hours or until doubled. At this point, either refrigerate overnight or roll out. (If refrigerated overnight, remove from fridge and let sit on the counter until room temp and then follow remaining instructions.)

To roll out, divide dough in half. Flour (or grease) counter space and roll each half into a large circle - dough should be about 1/4 inch thick. Using a pizza cutter, cut the circle in half, then in half again, etc... until there are 16 triangles from one circle. Roll each triangle up crescent style and place on greased baking sheet. Let rolls rise until doubled. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes. (Rotate the pans in the oven halfway through baking time.)

Yield: 32 crescent rolls

Manwich

I learned how to make this yummy meal while a sophomore at Utah State University. My sweet Mandy-roommate had her boyfriend/fiance/soon-to-be husband, Trent, over and he taught us the finer points of the manwich. So easy and super yummy! I think about them every time I make this dinner. We buy packages of lunchmeat at Sams Club and if I ever need to use up the last of the lunchmeat, I always pull out this meal.

Manwiches
Source: Trent and Mandy Olsen

Ingredients:
4 sandwich rolls
8 slices cheese
4 slices bacon
2 cups sliced lunchmeat (we use a combination of turkey and ham)
1 cup barbecue sauce

Directions:
Cook bacon in frying pan until crisp. Set aside. Slice lunchmeat into small pieces. Using the same frying pan from the bacon, fry up the lunchmeat. Once lunchmeat is browned add barbecue sauce and cook until heated through. Right before serving, brown insides of the sandwich roll in frying pan. Top sandwich roll with lunchmeat, cheese, and bacon.

One-Hour Dinner Rolls

All growing up my dad would make the yummiest dinner rolls, but after I got out on my own - I was too intimidated to make them. Every time I would try, I would end up with these pasty, dry, pale rolls with little to no flavor. Add that to the time it took to make them, and it just seemed easier to buy rolls at the store. However, I came across this recipe and LOVE it! It is originally a recipe for "Hamburger Buns", but I love it for dinner rolls as well. I usually make half of the batch of rolls, and then the other half I make a little bigger for a sandwich type dinner later in the week. (See photo at the end of the post.) It works out really well. It doesn't even take a full hour from the time you start to the time you have warm yummy rolls coming out of the oven! 

One-Hour Dinner Rolls

Source: Adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
3 to 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

Directions:
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add oil and sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the egg, salt and enough flour to form a soft dough.
Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic. Immediately shape into balls (you can get about 14 dinner rolls, or 8 hamburger buns - depending on the size). Place on baking sheets lined with tinfoil. 

Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. 

Bake at 400° for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cover tops with butter and remove from baking sheet to cool. 

Richersweet Dough

David's mom is incredible in the kitchen. One of David's family Christmas traditions is a delicious treat called Christmas Roll. His mom makes several of them each holiday season and everyone looks forward to Christmas Eve and New Years Eve so they can enjoy some Christmas Roll. Sue also makes incredible dinner rolls that she serves with yummy meals (or just sets on the counter for people to snack on). Seriously they are so delicious, they are fought over and devoured like cookies. Fortunately, Sue agreed to teach me how to make them, and helped me write out the recipe below.

Richersweet Dough
(For rolls, cinnamons rolls, doughnuts, Christmas Roll...)
Source: Sue Peaden; Bates Book of Cookery, Blanch McAllister

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs yeast
2 eggs
1/2 cup shortening
4 1/2 - 5 cups flour

Directions:
Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water until frothy and doubled in size. While waiting for yeast; scald milk (microwave for 2 minutes - to a boil). Mix shortening, sugar, salt, and scalded milk until shortening starts to melt. Start by putting in a little flour (1 cup-ish) and eggs. (This cools down the milk mixture because if you add the yeast to the hot milk mixture while the milk is too hot the yeast will die.) Add yeast to the bowl. Stir with spoon, flour a little bit at a time. When the mixture gets too hard to stir, use your hands to knead in the rest of the flour. You want the dough to be soft, but not sticky. (The least amount of flour to make it not sticky is best.)

Pull the dough out onto the counter and knead until elastic. Rinse mixing bowl, then grease with shortening. Place dough into bowl, pat with shortening, then cover with wax paper and a dish towel. Let rise until double in bulk. (45 minutes to 1 hour in a warm place.)

Roll into desired shape (see below) and let rise again for about 1 hour then bake at 350 until golden brown.

Dinner Rolls: Use a rolling pin to roll out dough onto a lightly floured countertop. (Dough should be about 1/4 inch thick.) Using a small round cutter, cut out small circles around the dough - keeping each circle as close as possible to the next to minimize wasted dough. Remove excess dough and set aside. Butter each circle with softened butter, then use the back of the butter knife to place a firm indent across the center of the circle. Fold each circle along indent and then place closely together on a baking sheet. Let rise for 1 hour. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minute or until golden brown. (To cool, flip rolls upside down on a clean counter or table. After the bottoms are cool, flip right side up to finish cooling. After rolls are completely cool, you may place them into a gallon ziplock single layer to freeze them. Then just set on the counter to thaw. Place in the oven right before serving for a warm delicious roll.)

Christmas Roll: Use a rolling pin to roll dough into a rectangle. (Dough should be between 1/4 - 3/8th of an inch.) Spread softened butter and sprinkle cinnamon sugar generously over the dough rectangle. Roll up like you are making a cinnamon roll, but before cutting - pinch the ends together to make a circle on the baking sheet. Every inch and a half, slice 2/3 of the way through the dough circle - leaving the centers connected together. Let rise for 1 hour. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Doughnuts: Use a rolling pin to roll out and then cut according to desired shape. Let rise for 1 hour then deep fry until golden brown. (For doughnut balls, top of spice glass-type jar works well for cutter.


*As I was typing this recipe up, I was referencing and old cookbook that was typed up on a typewriter. The recipe is signed at the bottom by Blanche McAllister (David's grandma). I was also asking clarifying questions to Sue (David's mom) as I went - making sure that I included all of the tips and tricks. As I think about how many generations of women have used this recipe to make delicious rolls and Christmas treats, I am overcome with gratitude for their love, sacrifice, and hard work. I hope to be included in that line of strong, loving women someday.