Cloverleaf Dinner Rolls

It may seem that I haven't been cooking at all this week, as I have not updated since Sunday.

Quite the contrary though, because I did make a gigantic batch of beef stew for a couple of friends and a big batch of chicken orzo soup so I can freeze for lunches (both repeats and blog-worthy but I didn't want to update with recipes already posted).

Oh and I made these dinner rolls. I felt like baking some bread to go with the soup, so I looked on Allrecipes and found this recipe. I remember my friend Amber had made them as well, and they looked great so I gave it a go.

One thing though, I don't own a bread machine. So I went off of some of the reviews and kneaded by hand (which I prefer). They were just fine, and hopefully I burned a few calories in the process! They were very easy to prepare, and I actually halved the dough and froze one portion to use later. In the original recipe, it is stated to make them into crescents. I made cloverleafs instead. Much, Much easier in my opinion. Oh, and I didn't think they were sweet at all, in fact I think I would add a bit more sugar next time. But, they were light and fluffy, and very good. A good standby recipe that I'm sure I'll make again.

Cloverleaf Dinner Rolls

1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/2 cup warm milk
1 egg
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1/4 cup butter, softened ( I omitted)

Bread Machine Directions:
Place water, milk, egg, 1/3 cup butter, sugar, salt, flour and yeast in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Dough/Knead and First Rise Cycle; press Start.
When cycle finishes, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough in half. Roll each half into a 12 inch circle, spread 1/4 cup softened butter over entire round. Cut each circle into 8 wedges. Roll wedges starting at wide end; roll gently but tightly. Place point side down on ungreased cookie sheet. Cover with clean kitchen towel and put in a warm place, let rise 1 hour. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden.

The Directions I followed (by reviewer summerlover):

I don't have a breadmaker, so I made these the traditional way (dissolve yeast and 1 tbsp sugar in warm water, let sit for about 10 min. Meanwhile, warm milk in saucepan until it just bubbles. Remove from heat, stir in sugar and butter until melted and cool to lukewarm. In a large bowl combine yeast mixture, milk mixture and egg. Stir in flour a little at a time and knead on lightly floured surface about 8 min.) Cover and let rise about 1 hr...punch down and then roll out. I baked at 375 for 12 min, but could have used a tad longer. Still very good.

For the cloverleafs I made 3 small balls and put them in a pan then let them rest for about 29 minutes.

I then brushed them with melted butter (about 2 TBS.)

and baked them. I was able to get 12 rolls from the half I didn't freeze. Mine were a little small, but I could have easily prepared them to be larger.