Mmmmm....Crescent Rolls

I have fond memories of waking up on a Saturday morning to my grandma making crescent rolls in the kitchen. The smell of the warm, yeasty rolls permeating the house combined with the creamy taste of butter spread onto them was divine. I have been afraid to tackle this recipe for years but today - driven by the stress of a looming deadline on an article that I have been procrastinating throughout the holidays - I decided to go for it. I mean, what better time to take on a scary and new recipe than when you have to submit an article on the same day?

The recipe: From the Betty Crocker 1950 Picture Cookbook

The Challenge: Figuring how to convert a recipe that calls for compressed cake yeast to dry,active yeast. (Difficult but not impossible. I finally gave up trying the read the conversion charts and used two packages) and trying to get the dough to rise in a chilly, Ohio house.

The result: I'll admit they are not perfect but still delicious. Especially the ones that I ate right out of the oven with the butter melting on contact. Surprisingly, they were not hard to make and may become a regular on our dinner table. They lack the flakiness of a croissant (due to using shortening instead of butter) but not quite as heavy as a dinner roll.

Mix the following ingredients together until smooth:
1/2 C. sugar
1/2 C. soft shortening
1 t. salt
2 eggs

Stir in:
3/4 C. lukewarm milk

Crumble into mixture and stir until dissolved:
2 cakes compressed yeast

Beat in with spoon:
4 C. sifted flour

Scrape dough from sides of bowl. Cover with damp cloth. Let rise until double. Shape as crescents. Cover, let rise until double. Bake in a 425 degree oven until golden brown. *Brush with butter before baking*

My modifications: I mixed everything in my mixer. Made the work practically nil. As I mentioned before, I used two packages of active dry yeast. Once mixed, I placed the dough covered with a damp towel in front of the register since the house is chilly today. It gave it just the right amount of heat.

To shape the rolls, I rolled the dough out on a floured cutting board and cut triangles with a pizza cutter then rolled them up. It worked perfectly.