Oh, Christmas Tree! Oh, Christmas Tree!

This recipe is straight out of the Rhodes cookbook, page 140.  However, I think my tree looks better than theirs...ahem.   The recipe calls for 8 Texas rolls, thawed, but I believe you should use 10.  I like a tall tree.  Press all the rolls into a ball and then roll it out flat into a rectangle.  Spread with a mixture of 1/3 cup butter, softened, 2 tsp. cinammon and 1/3 cup sugar.  I like to add cardamon and a bit of clove too, but its up to you.

Fold the dough like the start of a paper airplane, two corners down into the middle, leaving one inch uncovered at the bottom.  Cut this off and roll it for the tree trunk. Position at the the base of the triangle.  Cut into each side strips 1-inch wide.  Twist each branch several times and curve upward.  Cover and let rise for 40 minutes.  Bake 15-20 minutes. 

Make icing and drizzle over the warm tree; sprinkle with almonds and maraschino cherries or grapes.  

I love how it turned out!!!!!! Rhodes makes true Christmas comfort food.

Candy Cane Sprinkled Wreath

This Christmas wreath is directly out of the Rhodes cookbook...sorry, no creative imagination on this one...well, maybe the bow.  

It is really simple to make.  You cut the Rhodes rolls in half and layer them to make a wreath.  While baking, make a sugar icing.  When out of the oven and still semi-warm use a spoon to drip and pour a design over the wreath.  Crush candy canes and sprinkle over the top.  

Hey, why not let it harden and put it on your front door?

Candy Canes with Cinnamon Rolls

My brother asked me to make something with color.  This isn't easy because Rhodes dough is already kneaded, so to add color you need to figure out a different way than putting it inside the dough.  There probably is a way, but I haven't figured it out yet.  But, since I am the Rhodes Dough Diva, I will.  Just give me time.  Today I decided to make colored candy canes using Rhodes cinnamon rolls.

This is what they come out of the bag looking like.  I thawed mine in the fridge for about three or four hours.

Unroll the roll.....I like that sentence. Once it is unrolled, fold it in half so you have equal sides.  Cut the roll in half at the midpoint so you have equally long strips.

Melt butter and put in about 4 or five drops of red food coloring. If you don't have a pastry brush in your Diva arsenal, you MUST go get one.  Next to a spatula, it is the one tool I consistently use in the bread kitchen.

I found some colored sugar in the cupboard I decided to use.

One of the two strips has more cinammon on it than the other.  With the less cinammony strip (yes, I was an English major), spread the melted red butter all over it on both sides.  Then sprinkle with the red sugar.

Push the painted strip and the regular strip side by side.

Twist and twist.  Remember, you are making a candy cane.  This is a messy process, but look how pretty?....okay, unfocus your eyes and you will see that it looks really pretty.

Form your candy cane on a cookie sheet.  Since you are using sugar, BE SURE to spray your cookie sheet with PAM or some kind of cooking spray.  When the sugar is in the oven, it will carmelize and harden on to your cookie sheet.

Here is what they look like before they went in the oven.  I did a cinammon twist without the food coloring just for fun too.

350 degrees for 20-22 minutes.  I did mine for 25 minutes and it was too much.  I should have checked on them at 20 minutes, but I was watching "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" and seven ax-swinging, dancing red-headed men will throw any Rhodes Diva into a stuporous state.  

Remember the dough is thawed, so it doesn't take as long to cook as when you pop frozen rolls in the oven.

Brush rolls with the included glaze.

These candy canes will last only a minute at your house, as they did at mine.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus....

This work of art was worth the time because of the oohs and aahs I got from my family when I brought it in to the room.  I used the Rhodes wheat bread loaf for the skin and hat and white bread loaf for the beard and puffball at the end of the hat. The beard and hair were made entirely through a garlic press.  A spaghetti maker might work just as well and not take half as long.  What I wish was that I kept the beard moist and covered while I worked because it definitely hardened and didn't taste as fresh, in my opinion. I used melted butter on the hat before I baked it to make that part darker.  

I don't think the baby Jesus would come out as well...believe me, I've tried.

How to Braid Bread

I found this post on Meridian and thought I'd pass it along to all those would-be-braiders out there.  Go to this post and get braiding!

Frosty the Dough Man...hey, I'm getting clever.

Its that time of year when people start thinking of neighbor gifts. Now, I don't agree with neighbor gifts.  We string lights outside our house for our neighbor's to bask in the glory of every Christmas. Isn't that enough?  If not, you can make these snowmen with 6-7 dinner rolls, toothpicks, raisins, and cloves for buttons.  I stuck in the candy cane as an afterthought.  Merry Christmas!