Valentine's Foods - Garlic Herb Rolls

The recipes for today and the next two days may not seem like the traditional Valentine's food, because there is nothing red or heart-shaped about them, but they are foods that are full of aphrodisiacs.

The recipe I am sharing with you today is a recipe for these cute Garlic Herb Rolls.  They are cute little rolled up rolls with a garlic herb butter inside, which is full of aphrodisiac herbs that should help you feel the love.

The garlic herb butter contains garlic, rosemary, and tarragon, all three of which are considered aphrodisiacs.  Garlic is considered an aphrodisiac because it is known to provide your body with energy.  Rosemary is known as an aphrodisiac because it encourages digestion and increases circulation.  Tarragon also encourages digestion.  Another reason why tarragon is considered an aphrodisiac is because it builds up your body heat.  Energy, proper digestion, good blood circulation, and body heat are all pieces of the puzzle of love.

These rolls are easy to make, and you only need 5 ingredients.  First, melt your butter and mix in your garlic, rosemary, and tarragon.

Then roll out a tube of Pillsbury Classic Pizza Crust onto a clean surface and spread your garlic herb butter around, getting it as even as possible and as close to each edge as you can.

Then with your crust in front of you as in the picture above, roll it from right to left.  Then cut it into six pieces.

Place each piece/roll in a greased cup of your muffin tin.

Bake for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees or until golden brown.

These rolls are a perfect part of a meal with the recipes I will be sharing the next two days.

Garlic Herb Rolls

Ingredients:

Pillsbury pizza dough

4 Tbsp. butter, melted

2 Tbsp. garlic powder

1 Tbsp. rosemary

1 Tbsp. tarragon

Steps:

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease 6 muffin cups.

2.  Mix butter and herbs in a small bowl.

3.  Unroll the pizza dough and spread the butter/herb mixture evenly on top.

4.  Roll the dough and cut into 6 pieces.

5.  Place each piece in a muffin cup.

6.  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Cheese and Bacon Pull-Apart Bread

I love bread with most dinners, especially when it's covered in cheese. Bacon just makes cheesy bread even better, so one day, I decided to combine cheese and bread on a fun pull-apart bread to go with our dinner. It was delicious.

I started out with a big unsliced loaf of sourdough bread. I cut it lengthwise and widthwise about an inch apart without cutting the bottom of the loaf.

Then I spread 2 cups of shredded cheese on top and then drizzled the butter and added the bacon bits and poppyseeds.

After wrapping the bread in foil, I baked it for 15 minutes.

Then I removed the foil, topped with 2 more cups of cheese and baked it for 15 more minutes until the cheese was fully melted.

Cheese and Bacon Pull-Apart Bread

Ingredients:

1 large unsliced loaf of sourdough bread

4 cups shredded cheese

½ cup melted butter

½ cup bacon bits
2 Tbsp. poppyseeds

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cut the loaf of bread lengthwise and width-wise without cutting the bottom crust.

3. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Spread 2 cups of cheese over loaf, pushing some down between the cuts.

4. Drizzle the butter over the bread.

5. Sprinkle bacon bits and poppyseeds over the bread.

6. Wrap the foil around the bread and bake for 15 minutes.

7. Unwrap the foil from around the bread and spread the remaining 2 cups of cheese on top of the bread.

8. Bake an additional 15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

Homemade Bread - Failed Bread Bowls Turned Into Rolls

Since this blog is all about trying something new, I wanted to try to make bread bowls to go with our soup. However, for some reason, unknown to me, after forming the balls for the bowls, they rose a little, increasing in size, but then they flattened out and turned into big rolls.  They were still good to eat with soup, so I'm still going to share the recipe I used.  Maybe you can get it to work for you as bread bowls, or you can have some nice rolls too.

First I mixed the sugar, yeast, and water and let it sit for 5 minutes.  Then I added the milk, oil, salt, and eggs.  After mixing that in, I added 3 1/2 cups of flour and stirred it to form the dough.  Then dumped the bread from the bowl to a lightly floured surface on the counter.  I kneaded the dough for about 8 minutes until smooth and elastic, adding more flour 1 tablespoon at a time to prevent it from sticking.

The I placed the dough in a large bowl coated with oil, turning it over once to coat the dough with the oil.  Then I covered it and let it rise in a warm area of the kitchen for 1 hour and it had doubled in size.  After that, I punched it down.

Then I divided the dough into 4 pieces and formed them into balls and placed them on a baking sheet.

Then I left them to rise again for another 45 minutes.  After 20 minutes they had increased in size some, and were still balls.  However, like I mentioned earlier, by the time I came back after the full 45 minutes, they had flattened out.

I didn't want to waste the dough though, and went ahead and finished the baking process.  So, I made an egg wash by mixing an egg and water together and brushed it on top of the rolls.  

Then I baked them for 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees until they were golden brown and cooked through.  Then I sliced the rolls so we could easily eat them with our soup.

Homemade Bread

Ingredients:

1/2 cup warm water (not hot water)

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup oil

3/4 tsp. salt

3 eggs (2 for dough and 1 for egg wash)

4 cups flour (3 1/2 cups and then 1/2 cup more)

2 tsp. water

Steps:

1.  Mix warm water, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl.  Let it sit for 5 minutes.

2.  Stir in milk, oil, salt, and 2 eggs.  Then add 3 1/2 cups flour and stir to form a dough.

3.  Remove dough from bowl onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about 8 minutes), adding enough of the remaining 1/2 cup flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to the dough to prevent it from sticking to your hands.

4. Place dough in a large bowl coated with oil and  turn to coat the dough with oil.  Then cover the bowl and let dough rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

5.  Punch dough down and divide into 4 pieces.  Form each piece into a ball and place on a greased baking sheet and let it rise for another 45 minutes until the balls have doubled in size.

6.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

7.  Whisk together the egg and water and brush on top of the rolls.

8.  Bake rolls for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.

Soft Pretzels

Today's post will not actually include a recipe, but instead a link to a recipe that I found on Pinterest. But I did make the item, so I will be including my own pictures today.

One day, while looking on Pinterest, I found a recipe for Homemade Soft Pretzels. I love soft pretzels. My family lives in Amish Country, Pennsylvania (Lancaster County), and one day when I younger, we went to a small soft pretzel factory and they let us try making our own. Since then, I have always wanted to make them on my own at home, but never did, because I couldn't find a recipe that I liked enough to try it. Instead I would buy frozen soft pretzels, or if I was near Auntie Anne's Pretzels or Wetzel's Pretzels.

The recipe that I am talking about was found at the following link: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/12/25/30-minute-whole-wheat-pretzels/

I made them on my own (though I did you all white flour instead of whole wheat flour), including boiling them in the water with baking soda and egg wash. At some point I do want to find a way to do them without the egg, because I would love to be able to make some that people who are allergic to eggs can eat, like my mom. But the final result was delicious soft pretzels. They were so good that the three of us in our family who eat food (since little baby A. is too young) finished them all in just a few hours (and I made 10). I am thinking of making a double batch the next time I make some and freezing them, so an easy snack in the freezer. I might even make a variety of types of soft pretzels (regular, cheesy, and some cinnamon-sugar pretzels).

And now with no further delay, here's the pictures from my soft pretzel making adventure.  I encourage you to make your own soft pretzels by following the recipe provided by Sally at http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/12/25/30-minute-whole-wheat-pretzels/.

 Yeast and water mixture

 Almost done mixing in the flour.

 Ready to start kneading the dough.

 My water and baking soda heating up.

One of my pretzels ready to boil.

 Half of my pretzels after they've been boiled.

Boiling a pretzel.

On the pan after the egg wash, ready to bake.

Finished pretzels!