Make Ahead Crescent Dinner Rolls

The Holidays are upon us.   Sometimes the holiday season feels quite busy, so it's nice when a recipe comes along that can be prepared well in advance and not contribute to any holiday craziness.  This is a roll recipe that is easy to prepare, and then you put your uncooked rolls directly in the freezer until the day you want to cook them.  When they are thawed and cooked, they still taste completely fresh as if you had worked all afternoon baking homemade rolls.  I got this recipe very early on in my marriage and I have turned to it countless times.  I'm so thankful for the kind woman who showed me how to do this years ago.  Now it's my turn to return the favor and pass it on to you all. 

Click here for printable recipe.

Post by: Jen

The Ingredients:

2 Tbsp yeast

1 tsp sugar

6 eggs

1 12 oz can evaporated milk (NOT the sweetened condensed milk!)

9 c flour

1 c sugar

2 tsp salt

1 c cold butter

Directions:

Place the yeast, 1/2 c warm water and 1 tsp of sugar in a small bowl to work the yeast.  Pour the evaporated milk into a large measuring cup and then add enough water to the milk to measure 2 cups total liquid.  Beat all the eggs in another separate bowl.  Now do the dry ingredients.

 

 In a very large bowl, mix the dry ingredients.  (The flour, sugar and salt).  Cut the butter into smaller pieces and cut it into the flour mixture, like you would for pie crust.  Use your fingers if necessary to break up the pieces of butter.  You will end up with a bunch of much smaller pieces of butter coated in flour.

Add all the wet ingredients to the flour and butter mixture. Stir until all the flour is moistened.  (with a spoon, not a mixer) Again, get your hands in there if necessary.  Just remember to take any rings off first! 

 The dough will be sticky.  Let rest 5 minutes.

 Place the dough on a floured surface. Coat the dough so it won't be as sticky and you can work with it.

 Divide the dough into 6 balls.

 Put aside 5 balls in the refrigerator and roll one ball out into a 14 inch circle.

 Cut into 12 sections.  This is easy to do with a pizza cutter.  Make a cross in the middle cutting the circle into fourths.  Cut each fourth into thirds.  This will make 12 triangles.  (OK, enough for the math lesson on fractions...)

 Starting with the outside of the circle, roll it into the center point.

 Continue rolling into a crescent shape.

 Line a cookie sheet  with parchment paper or grease it well.  Place the rolls POINT SIDE DOWN on the cookie sheet.  You don't need to leave a lot of space in between them because they are going directly in the freezer.  Just make sure that they are not touching.  Continue with the other balls of dough.

 When the cookie sheet is full, cover it with plastic wrap and place it on flat surface in your freezer.  (make sure that whatever pan you are using will fit in your freezer!)

 After a few hours when they are completely frozen, put them in freezer baggies and store in the freezer until the day you want to bake them.  It's just like having your very own frozen Rhodes rolls, but these are home made.  You should have 6 dozen ready to go crescent rolls.

 On your baking day, remove the frozen rolls and place them on a parchment paper lined or greased baking pan. Leave enough space to allow them to rise.  Cover with a light weight kitchen towel.   MAKE SURE THAT YOU DO THIS 6 HOURS BEFORE YOU WANT TO BAKE THEM!!!  It will take 5-6 hours for them to thaw and rise.

This is 6 hours after they have been thawing and rising.  They look completely fresh-huh?  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

 Bake in 400 degree oven for 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden.    Serve warm.  These are soft and buttery and taste so good that no one will know that you didn't work all day in the kitchen.