Squash Dinner Rolls

Jim and I just returned from a trip to New York City to celebrate our 5 year anniversary! The city was everything that I thought it would be and more! We really enjoyed every minute (and every bite!). It may come as no surprise that New York has no shortage of amazing food and while eating out 3 meals a day for 6 days in a row is fun, not to mention delicious, I was anxious to get back into my own kitchen and dive into this month's cook"book"!

I have made it a personal mission to become adept at making yeast breads. Last summer I challenged myself to perfect homemade pizza dough and I'm proud to say that I really think I mastered it! When I saw the Squash Dinner Rolls on page 19, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to try my hand at another type of yeast bread.

When you make these rolls, keep in mind that you've got to allow at least three hours of prep time, since a significant portion of the process is devoted to allowing the dough to rise. You've also got to be ready to get your hands dirty since you'll be kneading the dough which can be sticky.

The golden color of these rolls comes from the addition of pureed squash. The recipe indicates that you can use canned pumpkin but I decided to roast a butternut squash in the oven and then puree it in the food processor. Once the ingredients have been mixed and the dough comes together, it's time to let it rise in a lightly oiled bowl under a towel. I have found that one of the most satisfying moments in baking is the moment when you lift the towel off of a bowl of rising dough and find that it has doubled in size to a pleasing airy, fragrant mound.

Kneading the dough for a full seven minutes gives you a chance to really get a feel for the change in texture from sticky and loose to smooth and elastic.

After nestling balls of the dough together on the baking sheet, they get brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with poppy seeds (I used a mix of white and black sesame seeds). Finally, they need to rest and rise for an additional 30 minutes before going into the oven.

The flavor of the roasted squash wasn't completely apparent and they didn't have quite the vibrant color of the rolls in the picture, perhaps due to the fact that I used butternut squash instead of pumpkin. I served these rolls as an accompaniment to a hearty bowl of brisket and potato stew. A delightful, home cooked meal!

buon appetito!

Tempa

Deep Chocolate Vegan (Cup)Cake(s)

Sunday's "Family Dinner" was incomplete when we realized moments before guests were arriving, that we hadn't planned a dessert. Because we didn't want to run to the store we decided we needed a baked good that called for zero butter (as we were out). Brownies? Cake? We flipped to the dessert section of Moosewood and discovered a vegan cake recipe (pg. 242) that we actually had all ingredients on hand to make...sometimes vegan baking seems to equal an unusual ingredient here or there, but not this time.

We whipped up the batter and decided cupcakes would be best, so we used a cupcake pan instead of the called for cake pan. Upon tasting the batter we got a bit worried, as the cider vinegar was really strong, but hoped that would bake off and trusted the history of our successes with previous recipes from this book. It's just not one of those batters you're gonna want to lick the bowl clean of.

For the frosting we simply rigged up a double boiler to melt some bittersweet chocolate with a touch of cream (note NO LONGER VEGAN) and dipped each cooled cupcake into that for a smooth shiny finish. The cupcakes had an unusually crispy exterior with a delicate crumb, zero vinegar flavor, and tasted great!