Thanksgiving Recap: Crescent Rolls & Cranberry Sauce

There are some items at the Thanksgiving table that are often "check the box" types of things.  Eating Thanksgiving day dinner as a kid, rolls and cranberries were definitely in that category.  The rolls were easy - open a tube of crescent rolls or biscuits and call it a day.  The cranberry sauce was also easy - open a can of gelatinous goo and listen to the slurping sound as it slides out of the can onto a plate.

I will not allow these things to happen at Thanksgiving any longer.  I refuse to let anything at the table to not be as good as it can possibly be.  Let's start with the bread.

I was very excited to be creating the classic crescent roll from scratch.  Making crescent rolls is very similar to making croissants - there's just less rolling and folding going on.

The yeasted dough comes together just like any other dough... mix it up, knead it and let it rest for a while.  To layer this version, softened butter is spread onto the dough and that gets folded up, rolled out and folded again.

The finished dough gets cut into triangles and then my photography skills went down the toilet as I started multitasking a little too much and completely forgot what I had documented.  Sorry.  Just imagine these triangles getting rolled up, brushed with cream and proofed. 

Here's where the trouble came in.  Looking back, I really should have baked these rolls ahead of time but, for some reason, I was convinced we needed to have rolls fresh out of the oven at dinner time.  I was also convinced that this would be possible even with six other things requiring the oven at the very same time.  I decided that the rolls would bake just fine sitting on top of all the other food.  It was a rookie move.  The rolls never rose very well, they took twice as long to bake as they were supposed to, some of them burned on the bottom and they ended up being too dry and dense.  I don't fault the recipe one bit, the downfall of these rolls is 100% my fault, so I'm determined to try these again under more ideal circumstances.  The recipe can be found at The Way the Cookie Crumbles.

I am forever in the debt of CA's grandmother for introducing me to cranberry sauce that is not fake and disgusting.  For 25 years I'd only ever seen canned cranberry sauce and although I'm sure I tried it once, I NEVER ate it again.  That stuff is not natural.  I'm sure we don't need to discuss, yet again, my aversion to fruits outside of their natural state.  CA's grandma's recipe is amazing and the perfect tart break in the carbfest that is Thanksgiving.

The recipe is pretty easy to execute - chop or grind up cranberries, apples, oranges, celery and nuts; add sugar and a little bit of jello and voila! you've got an amazing cranberry sauce (or is it a relish... either way).

Don't let this picture fool you... the picture sucks... the sauce/relish is freakin' delicious.

Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients
2 packages Cranberries
2 Oranges
2 Apples
1 stalk Celery
1 cup Pecans
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1 package Cranberry or Cherry Jello
1 cup Boiling Water

Instructions
Zest and peel the orange, reserving the zest.  Grind the cranberries, orange, apples, celery and nuts using a meat grinder or food processor (or coarsely chop).  We like ours chunky so either pulse it quickly in the food processor or chop it.  Add the reserved orange zest and sugar and set aside for 5 minutes to dissolve the sugar.  Dissolve the jello in 1 cup of boiling water.  Let cool and pour 1/2 - 2/3 of the jello into the cranberry mixture.  The purpose of the jello is to hold the mixture together, not to make jello salad.  Refrigerate until serving, can be made a day ahead.

Enjoy!
Julie