Homemade Crescent Rolls w/a Twist!

Cheese/Pepperoni Crescent Rolls

For years now I have made the Betty Crocker Traditional Roll Dough and made it into Cresent Rolls, which my immediate and extended family rave about. This year I got creative and put parmesan cheese and pepperoni in them...OMG! Why didn't I think of this sooner. I took some over to the neighbor and they love them too. They taste so good by themselves or with chili or you name it. You won't be able to eat just one :) Here are a few of the step by step pics and the recipe.

And here is some of the finished product with one half gone! :)

3 1/2 -3 3/4 cups flour

1/4 c. sugar

1/4 c. shortening or butter

1 tsp. salt

1 package active dry yeast

1/2 c. very warm water

1/2 c. milk (scalded then cooled)

1 egg

margarine or butter(softened)

about 1/2 c. parmesan cheese(little more or less to your liking)

pepperoni

Mix 2 cups of the flour, the sugar, shortening, salt, and yeast in 2 ½ quart bowl. Add water, milk, and egg. Beat on low speed, scraping bowl frequently, 1 minute. Beat on medium speed, scraping bowl frequently, 1 minute. Stir in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased 2 ½ quart bowl; turn greased side up. Cover and let rise in warm place until double, about 1 hr. (Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.)

Punch down dough; roll half of dough into 12 inch circle on floured surface. Spread with margarine or butter, softened (I do this very generously). Sprinkle with parmesan cheese to your liking. Cut into wedges with knife or pizza cutter. Put pepperoni slices on each wedge then roll each one up beginning at rounded edge. Place rolls, with points underneath, on greased cookie sheet; curve slightly. Cover and let rise until double, about 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake until golden brown (my bottoms are usually dark golden brown and tops are lightly golden brown) 12 – 18 min. (I remove them from the hot sheet to cool). Cool slightly and enjoy!

Farm Fresh Blackberry Jam!

Being my first year here with my boyfriend I was overjoyed to find that we have oodles and oodles of blackberries, black raspberries, and elderberries. I had to be very faithful though after milking every morning or just before a hard rain to go berry picking...about 1-2 hrs. every other day to everyday. I made homemade jam from our blackberries and black raspberries.

I made more seedless jam then regular as my boyfriend struggles with diverticulitis(spelling). It made jam production take a lot longer but so joyful to present to him something he loves so much. I was stunned to find that it was the first time in the 22 years he has owned the farm that he was able to enjoy the berries in any way, shape, or form.

The recipe is below the pics.

with seeds...

without seeds!

Jam Recipe

8 cups(or 4 pints) of berries

5 cups of sugar

Combine both in large pot and bring to boil over high heat stirring frequently. Boil uncovered about 25 min.(this is a smart thing to do-follow the time, and do just one batch at a time - I made the mistake of trying to make 2 batches at one time and doubling the time...didn't work, didn't set). Poor into jars immediately and either seal with wax, can, or freeze.

I chose to freeze mine. I used the canner for our garden treasures...spaghetti sauce, salsa, hot peppers. I also froze green tomato jam and made refridgerator pickles. Whew! Summer/fall was busy, but mmm mmm good!