Mom's Soft and Fluffy Dinner Rolls

A few weeks ago I made some nostalgic BYU mint brownies... and they were heavenly.

Well, this week, I decided to make something just as nostalgic and heavenly again. Except this time the recipe didn't include chocolate...

I made my mom's super soft and fluffy dinner rolls!

I seriously love these rolls! They are the best dinner rolls. Period.

And up until now, I have mostly left off cooking this recipe, preferring to leave them in the hands of the true master (my mom 😊) since she always makes them turn out amazing!

That, and the first two times I tried to bake them, I messed up and ended up with a weird blended loaf of rolls... oops. Turns out this recipe needed 1/4 cup of extra flour since I live in a much higher elevation than she does now. Who knew such a small fix could make such a huge difference?!

(P.S. The recipe I put at the end calls for 3 1/2 cups of flour for higher elevation. The original recipe calls for 3 1/4 cups of flour and works great if your house is basically sea level.)

One awesome thing about this recipe is that you can let the dough form in a bread machine which saves a ton of time!

First, add the water, softened butter and egg into the bread machine's loaf pan. Then dump the flour on top of the wet ingredients and use a spoon to create a small well (indent/hole) in the middle. Put the yeast in the well and spread the sugar and salt around the edges of the pan so it doesn't touch the yeast. Once all the ingredients are in, close the lid and start the bread machine on the "dough" setting.

When the dough is done, shape it into rolls and place them on a greased cookie sheet. I usually break the dough in half and continue to break the sections of dough in half (or sometimes thirds) until they are a good size. This way I make sure I get pretty even sized rolls.

Once that's done, cover them with a light hand towel and let them sit in a warm place for 30-40 minutes, until they are doubled in size.

Bake them at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 12-15 minutes.

The last part (that's optional but honestly shouldn't be) is to butter the tops of the rolls. I usually just peel the wrapper back a little on a stick of butter and rub the tops of the rolls with it. If you do this within a few minutes of them coming out of the oven, the butter melts perfectly over the top.

Having these soft rolls with dinner this week was wonderful. They definitely taste like home.

(P.S.S. Thanks Mom! ♡)

Update: A friend asked me for the recipe without using a bread machine, so here they are!

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Set aside. 

Mix together the butter, sugar, egg, salt and flour. 

Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture and combine. 

Knead the dough for 5 minutes. 

Set dough in a greased bowl and cover. Let it rise in a warm place for one hour. 

Punch down dough and let it rise one more hour. 

Punch down and shape dough into rolls and place them on a greased baking pan. 

Cover and let them rise another hour in a warm place. 

Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 12-15 minutes.