Amazing Dinner Rolls

Thanksgiving is rearing its deliciously ugly head next week and I'm heading with the hubs and toddler to Las Vegas to have a weekend with my family.    My mom is that housewife who makes it look effortless to be perfect.  She's and insanely good cook and keeps an immaculate house.  As a wife and mom, I am consistently in awe of how she did it and kept her sanity.  Well, the past year or so I've gotten pretty good at this whole cooking and baking thing.  When I visit my family next week I'm going to flex my domestic muscles and make a few Thanksgiving favorites - rolls included.

(don't pretend that picture didn't make you drool a little)

I have a recipe for rolls similar to these, and they're really good but they make enough for an army.  Even with my brood we don't even eat 1/3 of them when I make them, which is more often than it should be.  I got my Thanksgiving copy of "Taste of Home" today and while thumbing through, I found a recipe that is very similar to the one I use, only scaled more than halfway down (high five!). 

These rolls were amazing (clearly, by the name!); delicate and soft, dense but kind of fluffy (if that makes sense). The flavor is fantastic, the texture is perfect.  My husband, who isn't even a "bread person", ate 3 of them with dinner tonight.  I think I've finally found my official "go-to" roll for family functions.  Look out, Peg (my mom)! 

Amazing Dinner Rolls
Recipe adapted from Taste of Home

4 1/2 - 5 cups bread flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup whole milk
1 tbsp butter
2 eggs
1-2 tbsp cool butter (to rub on top of rolls when they come out of the oven)

Heat milk and butter in a saucepan until the mixture is comfortably warm to the touch (120-130 degrees).  Set aside.  In the large bowl of your stand mixer, fitted with the dough hook, combine 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt.  Add the milk mixture to the bowl.  Mix on medium speed for 3 minutes.  Add 2 eggs and mix on high speed for 2 minutes.  Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft, slightly sticky dough (the dough will pull away from the bowl but will stick to your finger). 

Knead with the hook for another 4-5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Place in a lightly greased bowl.  Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap and let rise in a cozy place until doubled in size (about 1 hour).

Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and punch it down.  Divide the dough into 24 equal (or equal-ish), and shape into balls and divide between two greased 13x9 inch pans.  Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise until doubled in size (about 30 minutes).

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. 

This little monster couldn't wait for them to be done.  He stood at the oven door the whole time until I finally took them out.

When you remove the rolls from the oven, immediately rub butter (holding the butter in a paper towel) on top of all the rolls.

Yield 2 dozen