Easy Pull-Apart Rolls!

I'm eating a fresh baked dinner roll right now and it's so good, I cannot form words. You'll just have to look at the photos.

The one roll I couldn't wait until dinner to eat.

It snowed here today and I stayed home from work, (I hate the snow by the way, but that's a story for another day), so of course I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to bake! I am so happy these rolls came out so good!

I got the original recipe from http://www.halfbakedharvest.com/easy-fluffy-pull-apart-whole-wheat-buttery-dinner-rolls/ but tweaked it a little since I have a bread machine.

Here's my version:
Ingredients:
1 cup very warm water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2-3/4 cup white whole wheat flour (I use the Trader Joe's brand)
2 tablespoons honey
1 egg
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions:

Place all ingredients (in the order listed) in your bread machine. I think some bread machines could be different, so if your machine says to put the ingredients in a different order, then by all means, do that! 

Set it to the "dough" setting.

When it's done (mine takes about 90 minutes), pour the dough out onto a floured surface (it will still be a little sticky) and form into a ball. 

Cut it into 9 sections and form a small ball from each one.

Spray an 8x8 inch pan with olive oil spray (we have a Misto!) 

Place the dough balls in the pan.

Cover with a dish towel and let rise for 20-25 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

When the dough is done rising, spray (or brush) with olive oil, and sprinkle with spice of your choice (I used rosemary).

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown on top. 

ENJOY! :)

The dough right after I took it out of the bread machine.

Dough balls in the pan, ready for the towel and some rising.

Dough balls after they rose, sprayed with olive oil and sprinkled with rosemary! 

Finished rolls! Right after I took them out of the oven! Mmm! 

Apple Cranberry Pie

This is a recipe for an apple cranberry pie I made a little before Thanksgiving. I didn't make it for Thanksgiving, but because it was November and I wanted a damn pie. I wanted it to have cranberries (fresh ones because I had never cooked with them before), and I wanted to make it from scratch.
I found a recipe similar to this one (which I tweaked slightly), and let me tell you - pies might be my new thing because this one was amazing. My boyfriend and I each ate a slice every night for a little over a week. And hey, there's fruit in it, this is a healthy pie!
I hope you try the recipe. It was really fairly easy and as I mentioned, a-freaking-mazing.
And look! There's a picture this time! :)

Apple Cranberry Pie 

Ingredients: {Filling}
1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour

1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. orange zest
1 TBS. salted butter

1 unbaked pie shell
1-1/2 cups fresh cranberries
3 cups peeled and sliced granny smith apples

{Topping}
1 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup rolled oats

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter cut into pieces

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. In a large pot, stir together the syrup, sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, orange zest and butter over low heat for about 2 minutes, then add the cranberries and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the apples. Pour the mixture into your pie shell. Prepare the topping: In a medium bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, oats and cinnamon. Add the butter with  your fingers to incorporate. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit filling.

Place the pie on the middle rack of the oven. Place a cookie sheet lined with foil on the rack underneath to catch any escape juices. Bake 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the pie to a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.

*Note: I made the pie crust from scratch for this pie (whole wheat too...). If you have time/want to try it, I will post that recipe too, however, since then I've been buying pie crust because it just takes too damn long. Maybe in the future when I'm not working full-time I'll be able to handle the pie crust challenge again. 

Here's the recipe I used:

Whole Wheat Pie Crust

Ingredients: 

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/3 cup cold butter, cut into pieces

4 to 5 tablespoons ice cold water

Directions:In a food processor, combine the flour and salt. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture had turned into crumbs the size of peas. Drizzle in the water (4 tablespoons) and continue to pulse until the dough comes together. Add the 5th tablespoon of water, if needed. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a ball, then flatten slightly. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

And here's the pie!