Honey Butter Rolls

These  were delicious and well received by my family. That honey butter mixture slathered over warm rolls was so yummy. They were sweet, tender, and a perfect accompaniment to a grilled chicken salad. They reheat pretty well in the oven too, but they didn't last very long at our house! 

I don't make homemade bread nearly as often as I would like to - so I was very happy to get the chance to make these yummy dinner rolls recently. There is something so incredibly comforting about homemade bread - not to mention the smell as it's baking! They should turn that into a Yankee Candle! :)

So here it is, end of September - and the first day of Fall I might add! Welcome fall, welcome cooler weather, and welcome excuses to bake yummy fresh bread.

Honey Butter Rolls from Sally's Baking Addiction

Ingredients
1 cup whole milk, warmed to about 110°F
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
1/4 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups bread flour (leveled)

TOPPING
1/4 cup butter, very soft
2 TBS honey

Directions

1. Pour warm milk into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Sprinkle yeast and 1/2 teaspoon sugar on top of the milk. Stir gently to combine and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes, or until the yeast activates and gets bubbly and frothy.
2. With the dough hook attachment, turn your stand mixer on low speed and add in the honey, egg, egg yolk, melted butter, salt, and 3 cups of flour. Allow to combine on low speed for 1 minute, then add remaining 1/2 cup of flour. Beat on low speed for 1 minute as it all combines. The dough should be thick, yet soft and only slightly sticky. It should pull away from the sides of the bowl as it mixes. When it does, it is ready to knead. If, however, the dough is too sticky to handle then add more flour, just a little at a time. (Don't add too much extra flour, you want a soft dough).
3. Form the dough into a ball and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 2 minutes, then place into a greased bowl (I typically reuse the bowl I mixed the dough in, dump dough out, add about 1 tsp olive oil to the bottom and replace the dough, flipping once so it is lightly greased on both sides). Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and place it in a warm environment to rise until doubled, about 2 hours. 
4. Once doubled in size, punch down the dough to release any air bubbles. Remove dough from the bowl and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Punch down again to release any more air bubbles if needed. Cut the dough in half. Cut each half into 8 equal pieces for a total of 16 pieces that are about 1/4 cup each (large golf ball sized roughly). Roll each piece into a ball and arrange in a greased 9x13 baking pan. Loosely cover with a kitchen towel and allow to rise until doubled in size and puffy, about 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake the rolls for 18-21 minutes until the tops are golden brown and the edges of each roll look cooked. While the rolls bake, mix the topping ingredients together to make a creamy honey butter. Remove the rolls from the oven when they are done spread a generous amount of honey butter onto each warm roll. Serve with any remaining honey butter (I used pretty much all of it along the tops and let it drip down the sides while in the pan so the honey butter could soak into the warm rolls).
6. Cover leftovers and keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week (reheat in the oven for best results).