Editor’s note: For 12 days leading up to Christmas, St. George News is featuring staff members’ favorite holiday recipes. Here’s the latest installment.
CEDAR CITY — If you’re wanting a tried-and-true recipe for dinner rolls that almost melt in your mouth right out of the oven, look no further than these “Out of This World Rolls,” a holiday favorite that goes back generations.
The following recipe is courtesy of Cedar City resident Penny Richards, adapted from a similar recipe that was developed and popularized by her late mother, Mary Lynn Heaton, who in turn may have derived it from the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper decades earlier.
Out of This World Rolls
Ingredients:
2 scant tablespoons of dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil (or shortening)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup warm water
4½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
Penny Richards (left) and daughters enjoy a freshly baked batch of “Out of This World Rolls” on Thanksgiving, Santaquin, Utah, Nov. 23, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News
Directions:
Soften yeast in the 1/4 cup of warm water. Beat eggs well, then add all other ingredients except for half of the flour (a little over 2 cups). Beat until smooth. Then, add the remaining flour to make a soft dough. Cover bowl and allow to rise until it doubles in size. Punch down and refrigerate overnight. (Note: you can skip this step if you want to go ahead and make the rolls the same day.)
About three hours before baking, use a floured rolling pin to roll out the dough to a thickness of about one-half to one-third inch, onto a floured countertop or similar surface. Cut into circles with a cookie cutter, then dab a bit of melted butter on each roll before folding in half, pinching the dough to hold it together.
Arrange rolls on a large (12”x17”) cookie sheet that has been lightly coated with butter or cooking oil. Cover and allow to rise to almost double, then bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. Makes approximately two dozen rolls (enough to fill one cookie sheet).
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