Quick Yeast Rolls

I made these a couple times in the last two weeks, because my husband eats most of them before I get them to the table. I found the original recipe on allrecipes.com and I've been playing with it. Because that's what I do.

Prep Time: 1.5 Hours
Cooking Time: 10 Minutes
Serves: 8 (huuuuuuuge) to 12

Ingredients:

2 T butter or shortening
1 heaping T sugar
1-2 T honey
1 C hot water
2.25 tsp yeast (1 packet)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp salt
2.25 C flour (I've experimented with all white flour and half white, half whole wheat. Both have been delicious. I add a little more honey to the whole wheat rolls.)

Directions:

1) Mix butter, sugar/honey, and hot water in a large bowl. Cool to lukewarm and mix in yeast until dissolved.

2) Mix in egg, salt, and flour. Let rise until doubled.

3) Divide the dough. Now you can be creative. The dough should be sticky. Really sticky. Like, scrape-off-your-hands-with-your-teeth sticky. My favorite has been to dust my fingers with flour and then drop the dough into a (buttered!) round cake pan. I tried making 8 rolls but they were bigger than my head, so I think 12 works better. You can also butter or grease muffin cups and drop the dough ball into the muffin cups. DO NOT ADD MORE FLOUR THAN YOU NEED TO TO GET THE DOUGH INTO THE PAN. If you leave it sticky, you will end up with beautiful, soft, fluffy deliciousness. If you add flour because you think it doesn't look or feel like bread should (I understand this concern. Ignore it.) you will be eating little golden-brown baseballs.

4) Preheat oven somewhere between 350 and 425. My oven cooks them perfectly at 350, but mine is stupid. Let the rolls rise again until doubled (remember, though, they will continue to rise in the oven).

5) Bake for 10-ish minutes until they are just barely browning on the top. Best served warm with butter.

Pumpkin Muffins

Hey, ya'll. I think I'm here to be the resident Southerner, so I'll try and make good on that one. My family always makes pumpkin bread and pumpkin muffins this time of year, and it's one of my favorite breakfasts.

In a large bowl, sift together:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
some cinnamon (like a couple teaspoons? I never measure anything.)
some nutmeg (teaspoonish)
some allspice (teaspoonish)

Blend in:
1 cup packed pumpkin puree
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup milk (I use 1% because it's in my fridge. You can also use buttermilk. Or 2%.)
1 egg
2 tbsp butter, softened.

Mix all that together with an electric mixer. Or beat it silly with a wooden spoon, whatever floats your boat. Spray a 12-muffin pan and fill them about 2/3 of the way. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes... ish. If you'd like a bread loaf instead, it'll take about an hour.

For extra-amazing goodness:
Sift together powdered sugar and some pumpkin pie spice and add water to make a glaze. Spoon over the top of the semi-cool muffins.

That's that. I hardly ever measure anything, so I'll try to pay attention so I can tell ya'll what to put in. I do things the way my grandmother taught me... "just do whatever feels right." If you ever need real measurements, let me know and I'll try to find them for you. Have fun!