Muffins, Rolls, Bread and Squares

Wow! What a day of baking. It was snowing, and I had nowhere that I had to go so I baked until lunch time. I made four recipes I've never tried before. The first recipe was Orange Cranberry Muffins from "Company's Coming Kids Cook!" page 32. They were easy enough that my 8 year old could have made them, for sure. They were delicious to anyone who likes orange and cranberry. I thought it was odd to blend up a complete orange so I grated in the rind, sectioned the orange and just used the sections and the rind. After a chat with mom, I found out I could have really used the whole orange - that it works well. So I will - next time. I like that I can send them to the peanut-free school with the children.

After the muffins, I was on to Lenora's Yeast Rolls from THE bread book, page 474. This recipe had the unexpected ingredient of mashed potato. But I've been planning to make these since I made my weekly menu on Saturday so I had some mashed potato in the fridge. I mixed them up and this is how they looked just after kneading. The recipe said to knead "until it becomes smooth and velvety under your hands." That's exactly what it did! It was so soft and velvety - beautiful.

While these rose, I mixed up "The First Loaf" recipe from page18 of the book. It was a standard, white bread recipe. While everything was rising, I played "school" with the children. My pre-schooler was the teacher. I learned some numbers today! Then I had to shape the  rolls. There were 8 types of rolls to choose from. (Growing up, I was only really familiar with pan rolls, so this choice was exciting.) I chose 4 that seemed easy and made 6 of each. The top pan has Bowknots and Rosettes, then there's Crescents and finally, Cloverleafs in the muffin tin.

I brushed them with melted butter before rising and after baking. Then we tested them. They were HEAVENLY! I could not believe how delicious they were. Was it the melted butter coating them or the potato in them? I don't know, but they were soft, delicate and absolutely wonderful! Even the ones that got a little dark on the bottom still tasted great. I did make a note for future to only bake them one pan full at a time so as not to scorch them. 

"The First Loaf" bread turned out nicely too. The recipe says it makes 3 small or 2 medium loaves. I made 2. They look lovely. Only my oldest had room to eat a piece and she said it was great.

To finish my baking I made "Chocolate Chip Squares" from "Company's Coming 150 Delicious Squares" page 123. They were exactly like making chocolate chip cookies, but easier because you just put them in a square pan. They tasted just like cookies too. We all Loved them!

Now I must go for a walk and burn off some of those delicious calories!