Crescent Rolls

Servings: 16 rolls

Storage Life of Ingredients: 1 year

My kids' favorite roll recipe, these are soft and buttery with a beautiful texture. And, as a bonus, they look lovely on your holiday table.

Pictured Process

I've journaled my experience below using both the traditional recipe and the food storage recipe in pictures. On the left, you'll find the traditional recipe pictures and on the right are the food storage recipe pictures.

Traditional Recipe Food Storage Recipe

Gather all ingredients. And please don't notice the lack of salt in the traditional recipe picture...At least I put it in the rolls!

Add ingredients to stand mixer. Using paddle attachment, mix for a few minutes for gluten formation. You can see that the dough is elastic and there are strands of dough that are pulled around the mixer with the paddle. This is good!

Traditional Recipe Food Storage Recipe

Notice that in the food storage recipe, the dough is behaving quite differently. I was really worried when I noticed the dough strands weren't being pulled in the same way. But my fears were assuaged when I tasted the rolls...

Add the remaining flour and switch to the dough hook attachment. Allow the mixer to run for 6-8 minutes. Your dough should be clumped together in one big ball now. If you still find that there is a glob of dough at the bottom, add more flour and continue mixing.

Traditional Recipe Food Storage Recipe

Again, notice the difference in the dough. In the traditional method, the dough was so soft and pliable that lifting a small piece of dough was easily done without impacting the rest of the dough ball. In the food storage recipe, the dough was denser and, when trying to lift a small piece, the whole ball of dough started to lift too. I might try playing around more with the recipe, but again, it's still great as is with the food storage ingredients listed above. I just want to show you the difference in how the dough acted so you're not concerned when making this with your food storage ingredients.

Divide dough in half. Place one half of dough on floured surface and roll into an 8" circle. Spread butter over the circle. Using a pizza cutter, make 8 wedges.

Roll up the wedges starting from the wider side to the smaller side. Place on cookie sheet. Repeat with the other half of the dough.

Traditional Recipe Food Storage Recipe

In the traditional recipe, I add butter to the circle before cutting into wedges. In the food storage recipe, I try to limit the butter to just the tops of the rolls after baking in order to save on what is likely to be a scarce commodity in your food storage. One thing I did notice was that the food storage recipe resulted in rolls that held their crescent shape better. I missed the extra butter though and had to add more butter to the food storage recipe even after brushing them with butter when they were warm.

Cover the cookie sheets loosely with a towel and allow the dough to rest and rise for 1 hour in a warm place. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 8 - 12 minutes until rolls have risen considerably and the tops of the rolls are golden brown. Brush with butter while warm.

Traditional Recipe

Overall, the traditional recipe won out, which really isn't surprising considering the amount of butter and the egg that are used. They were a little bit lighter and fluffier and had a more buttery flavor. However, the kids really couldn't tell the difference between the two recipes if I added enough butter after cooked. They didn't even realize I did anything different (and I made them at the same time, so we could compare them simultaneously). Because I was really looking for differences, I noticed the slight difference in density and the need for more butter on the food storage recipe rolls. That being said, I will never shy away from eating the rolls made with food storage ingredients. And if I ever run out of any of the fresh ingredients the traditional rolls require, I know I can still make them...which will thrill the whole household!