Lamson Family Cinnamon Rolls

  Or more specifically, wife's mom's cinnamon rolls, traditionally eaten with the meal, (weird, yea I know). This recipe takes a bit of time but the flavors are incredible, set aside a good portion of your morning and you will be greatly rewarded;

Ingredients;
 1) 12 oz can of evaporated milk.
 1/4 cup warm water.
 1/2 cup sugar.
 1/2 cup vegetable oil.
 1/2 cup leftover mashed potatoes (unseasoned and no milk).
 2 eggs.
 3 envelopes dry yeast.
 6 cups of flour.

      To start, dissolve yeast in the warm water, add all the ingredients, except the flour, into a mixer and mix for 3 minutes.  Gradually add the flour, until a dough ball forms,and knead by hand or with a dough hook attachment for 10 minutes. Place dough ball in well greased, large bowl and grease top of ball also, (Mom used Crisco, I used butter, butter makes it better *S*). Cover and allow to rise until doubled in a draft free, warm place, (approximately 1 3/4 to 2 hours). Punch down and repeat, this time allowing to rise about 1  hour. Punch down again and transfer to a lightly floured surface.

Filling;
 1/3 cup softened butter.
 3/4 cup brown sugar, (Mom used light brown sugar).
 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon.

      Divide dough into two sections and roll out each section, (one at a time of course), into large rectangles, and spread 1/2 of filling evenly over each section. Roll back up and slice into 1 inch slices. Add slices to greased baking sheets, cover and allow to rise for one more hour, (told you this was time consuming, you want to start early if you are serving these at lunch). Bake at 325 for 10 minutes and then turn up temp to 350 and continue baking till done , (OK, this is the EXACT recipe, but keep an eye out until they turn golden brown, about 10-20 more minutes). Let cool slightly and serve with your meal, OR,

      For you traditionalists, you can now make the frosting;

Frosting;
 1 stick softened butter.
 2 tablespoons flour.
 1 cup confectioners sugar.
 1 dash salt.
 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

      Beat all the ingredients together and slather on rolls. But first I encourage you all to try the rolls as a sub for dinner rolls, c'mon live on the wild side!

A (Non) Traditional Thanksgiving Feast.

        For the first time ever, we decided to host a small gathering at our house for Thanksgiving, (as opposed to the 30+ usually at my parents house). Since this was our first time hosting, we went with a pretty much pre-cooked meal. All from Costco's except for the rolls, (more on them later) . For the star of the show, we went with a Niman Ranch ham from Costco's . For those of you who have never heard of Niman ranch, they produce sustainably raised meats, that have never been fed antibiotics or hormones. Yes, they are a bit more expensive but the flavor is incredible. And since they buy from 650 US farms and ranches, the money stays in the USA.

       To go with the ham, scalloped potatoes. We could of course have made some homemade, (this was the wife's wish), but I decided to try another one of Costco's offerings and went instead with frozen cheddar potatoes. Both the wife and Kris thought this was strange, as their mom's homemade did NOT include cheese. But Mike and I thought they were quite good, never having had the originals. Here are a couple of pics of the ham and potatoes;

      Now for rolls to go with this feast, we decide to try and replicate the Lamson Family tradition. And this is where things get a bit weird. The Lamson family rolls are actually cinnamon rolls. And NO they were not eaten for breakfast or dessert but rather with the meal like regular dinner rolls. Other than getting past the fact you are eating a cinnamon roll, they really went well with the meal. The glaze on the ham included brown sugar and cloves and the cinnamon in the rolls complimented it perfectly. Of course, when you are trying to recreate a childhood memory, things never seem as good. But for Mike and I, who had never had the originals, we thought they were GREAT. I will write a separate post with the exact recipe, as it is pretty involved. For now here is a pic;

      We tasked Kris with the vegetables and she came up with two great dishes of carrots and squash (or so I was told, as I don't do vegetables so much). A great meal was had by all and for dessert, another Costco's original;

      For our official Costco's ratings;

Niman Ranch Ham  A+
Main St Bistro potatoes B
Dessert Assortment  A-

      And there you go, a rather simple, but elegant Costco's Thanksgiving.