When life gives you massive, weird looking rolls...

I took a break yesterday, but decided to make "Ring a Ling" today. While I was reading the recipe, I seriously thought about printing a picture of Lottie and hanging it up in my kitchen, so I can vent my frustrations every once in awhile. This recipe sounds simple enough, but once again, there was a lot of guesswork involved. I had no idea if this was one large roll, or if they were supposed to look like cinnamon rolls. IAnd if it was the latter, how many? How thick is the dough supposed to be? Help me out here, Lottie. had no idea what kind of nuts to use. I had pecans on hand, so that's what I used.  And the lesson of the day: Don't cook when you're irritated, literally or figuratively. While I cooked, I listened to the Cincinnatti Pops Broadway Concert, streamed live on Facebook. During which my cell phone died a slow death. Ironically, Lottie's daughter Evelyn (my great grandma) was one of Orrville's early phone operators.

 

Evelyn, front row center, around 1922

This is what the dough and the filling looked like.  These are the only picture

s, because the phone died before I could take pictures of the process.

They turned out so/so.  I realized too late that I didn't put enough pecans in.  I blame that on the fact that I had to bake while wearing my glasses instead of my contacts.  I had an unfortunate incident with a poblano pepper while I made dinner.  Actually, that may have been a good thing, because it took some skill to twist the strips of dough without letting the filling fall out.  I didn't let them rise after I made them into pinwheels, and they were fine.  If I had let them "double in size," they wouldn't have fit in the oven.  They tasted ok, the glaze gave them just a little bit of orange flavor.  They were a little too plain, so I thought about making some kind of icing, then I found an easy bread pudding recipe.  I may chop them up and make a Sunday brunch for myself tomorrow.  For now, I'm going to watch Stell Magnolias and try to cry the rest of the olive oil out of my eyes.  

Ring-A-Ling

Add 2 tsp. grated orange rind to basic dough recipe.  Roll out to a rectangle on floured surface, then add nut filling on half of dough.  

    Filling

        1/3 cup butter or margarine

        1 cup powdered sugar

        1 cup finely chopped nuts

        Blend all together.  Fold uncovered dough over nut filling.  Cut into 1 inch strips.  Twist each strip 4 or 5 times.  Hold one end on greased sheet for center of roll.  Curl strip around center of roll as for pinwheel, tuck end of strip under.  Let rise until double in size.  Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

    Prepare Glaze of 

            1/4 cup orange juice

            3 tbsp. sugar

            Brush top of rolls and bake 5 minutes longer.  Remove from pan immediately.