Best Dinner Rolls Recipe

There is nothing like homemade bread. This recipe is simple but yields big flavorful results!

Baking bread is my passion. I do it often and lose myself in the process, letting my stress melt away as I work the dough. It is a magical process for me.

I make bread all the time, but I have never shared this with you guys. Why is that? I have no idea! So today I want to share my best dinner roll recipe with you. It also makes lovely loaves of fresh white bread.

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 stick of real butter, softened
1/4 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
2 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast
1 cup of warm milk
1 egg
1 teaspoons of butter flavored crisco 
2 tablespoons of melted butter

Directions
Take a large mixing bowl, 'grease' it with Crisco and set it aside.
Add warm milk, sugar and yeast to a medium size mixing bowl. Stir it up and allow it to rest for 5 minutes.
Add butter, egg, salt and 1 cup of flour to the milk mixture, stir to break up butter and egg.
When those ingredients are incorporated add remaining flour.
As the mixture begins to form dough begin mixing with your hands, let that turn to kneading.
Knead the dough for about 3 minutes or until it is soft and pliable in your hands.

Transfer the dough to the greased mixing bowl and allow it to rise for about 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
You can tell the dough is ready when you press a finger into it and the dough rises to fill in the indentation.

Next, liberally butter the loaf pan or baking dish you are going to bake in.
Split the dough into handful size portions for dinner rolls or 2 large rounds for a loaves allow to rest and rise a second time for about an hour.

Brush tops of rolls or loaves with melted butter and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. The tops will be a lovely golden color when the bread is done.

You can find more easy recipes here

You can make rolls in a slow cooker too!

Slow Cooker Dinner Rolls and a Giveaway

This conversation was sponsored but the recipe is from me to you, no strings attached, because I know you will love it!

This slow cooker dinner roll recipe is perfect for when the craving for bread hits but you are short on time.

I love to bake bread. It is one of those things that relaxes me and returns me to a simpler life, the aromas that come from my kitchen as the bread transforms from simple ingredients takes me back in time to my childhood, on Sunday mornings when my grandfather would bake fresh bread.

I had never baked in a slow cooker before so when Hamilton Beach offered to send me their awesome Professional Sous Vide and Slow Cooker I knew exactly what I wanted to make. Something different, something simple, something anyone could make without fail.

Slow Cooker Dinner Rolls! This recipe also works well for oven baked bread.

Slow Cooker Dinner Rolls

3 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 stick of real butter, softened
1/4 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
2 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast
1 cup of warm milk
1 egg
1 teaspoons of butter flavored crisco

Take a large mixing bowl, 'grease' it with Crisco and set it aside.

Add warm milk, sugar and yeast to a medium size mixing bowl. Stir it up and allow it to rest for 5 minutes.
Add butter, egg, salt and 1 cup of flour to the milk mixture, stir to break up butter and egg.
When those ingredients are incorporated add remaining flour.
As the mixture begins to form dough begin mixing with your hands, let that turn to kneading.
Knead the dough for about 3 minutes or until it is soft and pliable in your hands.

Transfer the dough to the greased mixing bowl and allow it to rise for about 30 minutes.

For the next step, I turned to my Hamilton Beach Professional Sous Vide and Slow Cooker, as it was cold in my drafty old house and you need a warm environment to successfully raise bread.

I liberally rubbed butter on the sides of the slow cooker pan, next I tore off handfuls of dough and formed it into balls, lining the slow cooker with the balls, spaced about 1/4 apart.
I turned my slow cooker on low for a 4-hour setting.
This allowed my dinner rolls adequate time to rise, then bake.

My rolls came out nicely. They had a delicious golden brown crust but they were as soft as cotton inside and out. The appearance isn't quite as gorgeous as traditional oven baked rolls, as it seems they didn't get as puffy, but the flavor is just as great.

This is a great way to bake bread when you have a busy day planned, or when your oven is tied up. If you happen to not have an oven, you will be so thankful to have this easy and delicious slow cooker dinner roll recipe for the next time a bread craving hits you!

I am crazy about the Hamilton Beach Professional Sous Vide and Slow Cooker, let me tell you what I like about it.

It holds 6 quarts, so it is perfect for cooking for a crowd, it does double duty on cooking capabilities, acting as both a sweet slow cooker and a sous vide cooker, which is a wonderful way to cook with water. It is easy to use, easy to clean and it has a timer! That is so nice!

This slow cooker makes a great gift option this holiday season and is available at Target for about $130.


I have been so happy with my Hamilton Beach that I want to give one to you guys! This giveaway will end on 11/30 and is open to US residents aged 18 and older.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Easy DIY Puzzles for Preschoolers

We love puzzles, but it seems like my kids lose a lot of the pieces in a short amount of time. When I learned about making our own puzzles a while ago, we were hooked. If a piece gets lost it is not an issue as we can make a whole new puzzle for pennies!

This is such an easy project you are going to wonder why you have never made these with your kids before!  It requires basic supplies and only a few moments of time to create. There is no prep time to speak of, and best of all your kids can make these on their own!

All you need to make puzzles are:

Clear tape

Classic Washable Markers

Craft Sticks

First, tape the craft sticks together.

Then draw a design on the opposite side.

Color in the background.

Peel the tape off of the back and scatter the sticks. And there you have an Easy Puzzle for toddlers and preschoolers. If you have older children, you might want to check out my idea for an easy DIY photo puzzle. 

These make a great gift idea for anyone wanting to give a sweet gift for a little one on a tight budget.

17 Pies for Thanksgiving

Can there ever be too many pies at Thanksgiving? I think not! This year I am going to prepare several varieties to share with the people I am thankful to have in my life. This list gives me a great starting point in my pie baking. If you are looking for a few great pie recipes, I know you will find a few on this list that you will love!

Pumpkin
Skinny No-Bake Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin Pecan Pie
No-Bake Vegan Pumpkin Pie
Double Layer Pumpkin Pie

Chocolate
French Silk Pie
Mud Pie 
Chocolate Fudge Pie

Fruity
Peaches & Cream Pie
Cranberry Sauce Pie
4 Ingredient Berry Pie
Blueberry Banana Cream Pie
Easy Cherry Pie
Caramel Apple Pie
Apple Pie

Nutty
Brown Sugar Pecan Pie
Corn Syrup Free Pecan Pie
Vegan Pecan Chocolate Pie

Apple Tree Window Cling

Fall days are the perfect time to find inspiration from nature and create fun crafts with the kids. This easy DIY window decal comes together within a few moments and adds a colorful touch to your windows. The kids will love displaying their artwork for the world to see!

This is such a simple project you guys! For $2 you can make a dozen or more window decals to add a festive fall touch to your windows! Best of all, this imaginative craft is perfect for the kids!

To make an apple tree window cling you will need:
Transparent contact paper, cut to the size you wish to work with. We used a 6'x4" section.
Tissue Paper Squares in dark green and yellow
One strip of brown construction paper
Scissors

First peel the backing off of the contact paper and lay it sticky side up. Add a strip of brown paper for the tree trunk.

Cut several circles from your yellow tissue paper, place around the tree trunk.

Next lay your squares of green tissue paper over the yellow dots, forming the leaves of the tree. 

Finally, find a window that gets a lot of sun and smooth the sticky side to the window. It will peel off without mess or residue whenever you are ready to take it down.

I love this craft for kids because it introduces them to a sticky texture to work with, and manipulating the paper into the right placements is great for fine motor skill development.

You might also enjoy this Fall Tree Silhouette Placemat Craft for kids.

17 Must Read Thanksgiving Books for the Kids

This post contains affiliate links, but the list was inspired by the reading material I have for my children this month.

Thanksgiving is near and everyone is excited for the time with family, the parades and of course the food! This year, why not build on that excitement while offering your kids a chance to read, learn and be entertained without screentime?

I have compiled a great book list for my kids, Roo and Harp and I think your kids will love these titles too. You can order them via the links below or perhaps look for them at your local library.

Pete the Cat's Thanksgiving

Reading Railroad : Giving Thanks

Little Critter Just a Special Thanksgiving

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Helper

Bright Baby Thanksgiving

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie

Ladybug Gives Thanks

What is Thanksgiving?

The Berenstain Bears Give Thanks

T is for Turkey: A True Thanksgiving Story

Happy Thanksgiving Curious George

Fancy Nancy: Our Thanksgiving Banquet 

Arthur's Thanksgiving

 Five Silly Turkeys

Turkey Trouble

10 Fat Turkeys

Have your kids read any of these books? If you have a favorite I would love to hear about it so we can look for it!