Monday, January 10, 2011

SWEET POTATO PLANTS AND BUTTERY CROISSANTS

This is yet another find from Taste of Home Best of Holiday Recipes (2010) submitted by Loraine Meyer of Bend, OR. I really appreciate any breakfast that I can do most preparation on the night before and these rolls require the overnight in the fridge. They were buttery, flaky and I will definitely make them again.

BUTTERY CROISSANTS
40 ServingsPrep: 1 hour + chilling Bake: 15 min./batch

Ingredients
1-1/2 cups butter, softened
1/3 cup all-purpose flour

DOUGH:
1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
1 cup warm 2% milk (110° to 115°)
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
3-1/2 to 3-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions
In a small bowl, beat butter and flour until combined; spread into a 12-in. x 6-in. rectangle on a piece of waxed paper. Cover with another piece of waxed paper; refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, sugar, egg, salt and 2 cups flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface;
knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.

Roll dough into a 14-in. square. Remove top sheet of waxed paper from butter; invert onto half of dough. Remove waxed paper. Fold dough over butter; seal edges.

Roll into a 20-in. x 12-in. rectangle. Fold into thirds. Repeat rolling and folding twice. (If butter softens, chill after folding.) Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate overnight.

Unwrap dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll into a 25-in. x 20-in. rectangle. Cut into 5-in. squares. Cut each square diagonally in half, forming two triangles. Roll up triangles from the wide end; place 2 in. apart with point down on ungreased baking sheets. Curve ends down to form crescent shape. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Bake at 375° for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks. Serve warm. Yield: about 3 dozen.

Sweet Potato Plants
We started this quite a while ago, but since it has been so cold and the daylight so sparse they have taken forever to sprout. This is suppose to fulfill a Cub Scout achievement, only it spread because once E saw K make one he wanted to as well so now there are two. The faces you ask, what is up with those freaky faces? After watching these potatoes daily (they sit right on the ledge over the kitchen sink) I noticed that K's was getting these really plump veins running up and down the potato. The potato freaked me out, kinda disturbing looking for some reason, all veiny. Mister thought the faces would make them look more friendly...not really the effect I think he was going for because they are not making me feel less freaked out.




What we did, I picked out sweet potatoes that were already sprouting, and the thinner ones are better. I pulled out some jars (cleaned out jelly jars) and filled them with water. Next, Kaleb and I speared the potatoes right around the center; three bamboo skewers (toothpicks kept breaking) evenly spaced to hold the potato in the water. The pointy end goes in the water and the round end points up. I picked sweet potato because the vine looks interesting and I plan on keeping the plants. I am a keep-indoor-plants type of person, just having them around makes me smile and breathe easier.

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