That's How Breakfast Rolls

After all that pizza mayhem, I’m somewhat pizza’d out. That being said, I still had half of my pizza dough in the freezer. As I mentioned in that particular post, it wasn’t as chewy as I’d have liked for a pizza crust, but it still made fantastic bread. I wasn’t about to just let it go to waste, so what could I use it for? Well, we have a bakery here called Great Harvest.  They actually have lots of franchises all over the country, but they have a very mom and pop, local feel about them. You may remember the name from back when I did my version of their Mazurka Bars. Well, some of their locations make what they call Breakfast Rolls. Think the shape of a cinnamon roll, but savory rather than sweet, with egg, potato, and bacon. Well, mine have bacon in them. I’m not entirely sure what the meat product is in theirs. That’s not a criticism, I just really don’t know what the little pink bits of “meat” are. Their rolls are fantastic, and I love being able to drop in and pick one up on the go. They’re so good, in fact, that they inspired me to make my own version.

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• ½ of this dough recipe
• Potatoes – diced and cooked until soft
• Bacon – cooked and crumbled
• Grated cheese
• 1 egg 

This is a great recipe because you can pretty much make everything in advance and then just throw it together, or roll it together, as the case may be, whenever you feel like it. I made pan fried potatoes to go with dinner one night, and bacon for breakfast one morning. I just made sure to make extra and put it aside for my rolls. So, first up, you need to roll out your dough into a rectangle. Something like 15 inches wide is what you’re shooting for.

Scramble an egg with a teaspoon or so of water and lots of freshly cracked pepper. Seriously, go heavy on the pepper, you won’t regret it.

Brush it on the dough.

Be sure to liberally cover every inch. Unlike the butter you would use on cinnamon rolls, the egg acts as glue, so you don’t need to leave a border.

Spread the potato and bacon around, this time leaving a half inch or so on the top and bottom.

Cover that with grated cheese. I used a combination of extra sharp cheddar and Colby jack.

Then, just roll the whole thing into a long log.

Pinch the seam together with your fingers.

Slice the log into 12 equalish pieces. I like to make the ends bigger because they are smaller around.

Grease a 9x13 pan. I saved the grease from cooking the bacon and used that, but if you prefer, you can just use butter.

Place the slices into the pan and press them down a bit to help them spread.

Cover the pan with a damp towel and allow them to rise. It will probably take something like 45-60 minutes. They’ll be nice and puffy and their edges should be touching.

While they’re rising, preheat your oven to 350°. Bake the rolls for 30-35 minutes. When they’re done, they’ll be nice and golden, and the cheese will be bubbly and well…

Using a spatula, loosen the rolls and make sure they haven’t attached themselves to the pan, then dump them out onto a cooling rack.

It’s not entirely necessary, but I rubbed the entire surface with butter to make them tender and shiny. I highly recommend it.

If you eat them while they’re warm, they’ll be gooey, cheesy, deliciousness with bits of tender potato and crispy, salty bacon.  Drooling yet? 

With the leftovers, allow them to cool completely, then place them in ziplock bags and pop them into the freezer. They reheat beautifully in the microwave. They are a seriously fabulous breakfast that you can just grab and go.

Thank you, Great Harvest for the inspiration, and for providing them whenever I don’t happen to have any in the freezer or don’t have the time and/or motivation to make my own.     

Does Oatmeal Make It Healthy?

Is there anything better than a chocolate cake? I’m not talking about that grocery store stuff that hardly tastes like chocolate and is smeared with a layer of artificially colored, sweetened shortening.  I’m talking about deep, dark, rich, chocolately goodness covered with fudgy deliciousness. That's exactly what this oatmeal chocolate cake is. I know I always go on about how important high quality ingredients are, but with chocolate, it’s more important than ever. If you make a cake with hersheys chocolate and generic cocoa, that’s exactly what it will taste like.  I’m not saying you have to put yourself in the poorhouse, but buy something decent. When using chocolate chips from the store, opt for the Ghirardelli or Guittard rather than the store brand or Nestle ones.  As for cocoa, I suggest a high quality, dutch process variety.  I get mine from Penzeys. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon molasses
• 6 Tablespoons butter
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ¾ cup flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cocoa
• ½ cup old fashioned oats
• ¾ cup boiling water 

The first thing you need to do is pour the boiling water over your oats and set them aside. 

Now is probably a good time to preheat your oven to 350°, as well.  Then, in a mixing bowl, combine your softened butter, sugar, and molasses.  Mix it for a minute or two, scraping everything down once in the middle.  It won’t really get fluffy, per se, because it’s a bit heavy on the sugar side, but it should be light in color and soft. 

Add the egg and vanilla.

Stir until they’re incorporated. 

Then scrape everything down again, and mix it for another minute.  I’ll be honest, it’s not terribly pretty at this point, but don’t panic, it’ll get better. 

Sift in the dry ingredients and mix until they’re incorporated. 

Now come the oats, along with any water they didn’t absorb. 

Stir them in and then scoop the batter into a buttered 8 x 8 pan.  As you can see, the batter is quite stiff, but that’s just as it should be. 

Spread it to the edges, doing your best to even it out across the top, then into the 350° oven for 35 minutes. 

Now, the frosting for this cake gets poured on while the cake is still hot, so I like to start on it when the cake has been in the oven for about 10 minutes.  I didn’t take an ingredients picture for the frosting,

But here’s what you’ll need: 

• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup cocoa
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup milk
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup chocolate chips
• 1 ½ cups powdered sugar 

Combine the sugar, salt, and sifted cocoa in a sauce pan. 

Stir them until they’re evenly distributed. 

Pour in the milk,

And add the butter.

Stir constantly over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture just reaches a boil. 

Then remove it from the heat and add the vanilla and chocolate chips. I used a combination of dark chocolate and semi-sweet, but you can use whichever suits your fancy that day.

Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and you have this gorgeous concoction.

Now, sift in half of the powdered sugar.

Make sure it’s completely incorporated before adding the second half. 

Then stir that in and your frosting is ready for the cake. And speaking of cake, it should be just about done. When it’s ready, a toothpick inserted in the center should come out pretty much clean. A few crumbs are ok, just not wet batter. 

Pour the fudge frosting over the hot cake.

Stop drooling, because now comes the hard part. Allow the cake to cool completely before cutting into it.  It’ll probably take 2 – 3 hours, minimum, for it to cool and the frosting to set. 

I just sprinkled my piece with mini chocolate chips to make it more aesthetically pleasing, it really isn’t necessary.  In full disclosure, I actually took them off before eating it. This cake is absolutely fabulous just the way it is. It’s not like, wow, there’s oatmeal in my cake. If you didn’t make the cake, you’d probably never guess there was oatmeal in it, you’d just think, ‘I love the fantastic texture of this cake!’ and the fudge frosting is pure bliss. 

What’s your favorite chocolate treat?

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