Butter Semmels Recipe

Judy asked for the recipe so here it is.


Butter Semmels
3/4 C. milk
1/4 C. sugar
2 1/4 tsp. salt
4 ½ T. Mazola oil
1 pkg. yeast
3 1/4 C. warm water
4 ½ C. flour

Scald milk and stir in sugar, salt and shortening. Set aside to cool to lukewarm. Sprinkle the yeast into water; stir to dissolve. Combine milk and yeast mixtures. Add and stir in half the flour; beat until smooth. Stir in remaining flour or enough to make a soft dough.

Turn out on a lightly floured board and knead 8-10 minutes. Put in greased bowl and brush lightly with soft butter or oil. Cover. Let rise until double, about 1 ½ hrs.

Punch down, turn out on floured board and roll to 1/4" thickness. Cut into 3" squares; put ½ tsp. hard butter into center of each square. Bring diagonal corners of each square together and pinch edges to secure. Arrange on greased baking sheet, folded side up. Let rise and bake at 425º about 20 minutes or until nicely browned. Yields about 1 ½ dozen rolls.

These are very, very light. I usually let mine rise a lot longer..just keep punching down and let rise 3 or 4 times at least..just my personal perference. I think I get a more tender bread or roll. The original recipe (which I’ve had about 30 years or longer) said to put folded side down, but then all the butter leaks out so I do just the opposite.

You can also roll the dough into circles, spread liberally with soft butter, cut wedges and form into crescents. You could also make the dough into just about any shape you prefer.

My husband has named these his favorite rolls..but that rotates with my rohlicky (Czech poppy seed crescents) and garlic-ricotta bowknots. Whichever I make is his favorite that day..however he almost swooned over these Thanksgiving so it must have been an extra good batch.

Hope you enjoy if you make these. Definitely worth a little extra time preparing.

I Don't Enjoy Marking

I have done the quilting on all of my quilts except one. Since I hand pieced that one I had it hand quilted by my friend, Elaine. But normally I do my own quilting on my Juki (not on a frame).

My Amish Dahlia top is very special to me. I'll tell the story of how it came to be and what it represents another day. For now I'll just say that since the dahlias are hand pieced (the background pieces were set in by machine and the blocks joined by machine) I want it hand quilted also. I don't hand quilt, aside from a couple of small pieces. So I've asked the ladies at our church to quilt it for me.

That means it has to be marked, something else I'm not used to doing...I usually quilt free motion without marking. This is a slow and back breaking process..makes me glad I don't have to do it often. I did a good chunk yesterday and have to finish it today so I can take it with me to church tomorrow.

I'm using a stencil for the flowers and free-handing vines and leaves. Other dahlias and inner petals will be outline quilted. Don't you just love the old fabrics? Many have special memories for me.

What do you think?

ABC'S

No, I'm not returning to school..nonetheless it's been a day of ABC's.

I started off the morning making yet another table runner..this one with Apples...

Finished a sample Block for our guild's 2009 BOM..this one will be January's ...Bees in the Barnyard



Even though we're having pretty much a deli supper since it's only Tom and I, we had to have homemade Bread....so I made Butter Semmels and formed half the dough into Crescents.

And I discovered this morning that the reason our grandson hadn't received the cookies I shipped him on November 8, just might be because this senile grandmother sent the box to his old Iraqi address instead of Afghanistan. When I printed the online shipping label I cut and pasted from my OE address book, which had never been changed after he returned from Iraq a year and a half ago ....duh.............So that would explain why they haven't made it to Afghanistan.


Nothing I could do now except spend the afternoon Baking more Cookies......

Happy Thanksgiving To All

Memories of times gone by....nearly 30 years ago:

Second Production Run

Day two making table runners and I pieced five more. That's nine runners in two days and about 15 yds used from my stash....not a bad deal except the shelves don't look any emptier. How can that be?

Trunk Show

Working on some more Christmas table runners today.. a great stashbusting process. While I do that here's some eye candy. Our guild historian shared some pictures from our meeting this month. Enjoy!

A couple pics of some of the Mariner's Compass wallhangings made in Cynthia's workshop. Various degrees of completion but all of them GORGEOUS!

The following pics are from Cynthia's trunk show.

Check out the size of the English paper pieced Grandmother's Flower Garden.

My quilt "Playin' With My Friends", made from Cynthia's pattern. It's the current BOM on her website.

The rest of these are all Cynthia's patterns and most can be found on her website .

Zig-Zag 9

Potluck Pinwheels

Whirl-A-Jig

Red Hot Leftovers

Scrap-O-Rama

Aren't trunk shows great?

Production Line

Got a lot accomplished this afternoon..four tablerunners pieced. It's such a simple pattern.. one I found here . You can easily piece a runner in an hour or less. Now to get them all quilted and bound.

Before Quilting Took Over My Life....

......I used to do other things...like designing and making fabric dolls. It's when I really started my fabric stash. All of these are my original designs, no patterns.

These are some of my Pilgrim Dolls.

And some turkeys.

A Harvest Raggedy Ann

I sort of miss making these. So many ideas... not enough hours in a day.

Corrected Recipe

It was pointed out to me that it helps if I post the directions with the recipe. Oooops. Sorry about that. I've corrected the Pumpking Crunch recipe.

The Oldest One

The two posts earlier today gave you a look at sons two and three, so it's only fair I post a recent pic of son number one (that would be in birth order..they all know I love each of them best..at least I hope they do!).

Mike is career Army...28 years in January. A couple weeks ago he and his wife, Lindy, attended a Marine Birthday Ball. Yes...he's Army..but has soldiers from all branches of the military in the brigade where he serves as Command Sgt. Major.

We won't talk about how old I feel seeing so much grey hair on my son. Until recently he shaved his head for several years..so the grey thing is something I'm still adjusting to. Actually I think it makes him look distinguished. Mark is only slightly behind in turning grey. Jeff keeps his short enough it's kind of hard to tell.

Pumpkin Crunch

If you are looking for a change from the usual pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving, give this recipe a try. It was served last month at coffee fellowship following church and I had to have the recipe. It might be the best pumpkin recipe I've ever tasted.

PUMPKIN CRUNCH

1 pkg yellow cake mix
1 large #6 can pumpkin (or 2 small cans)
1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
3 or 4 eggs (depending on size) I used 3 large ones
1 ½ c. sugar
4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice or 2 tsp cinnamon + ½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp. salt
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup melted margarine (2 sticks)
Whipped topping

Mix pumpkin, eggs, sugar, spices, milk. Pour into 9 x 13 greased pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over pumpkin. Top with pecans. Drizzle with melted butter. Bake 350 degrees 50-55 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with whipped cream.


Since then I've been seeing the recipe all over blog-land so maybe I'm the last person on earth to learn of this recipe. Anyway...you should try it...it's yummy!

Wedding Number Two

A week after the Iowa wedding we celebrated the marriage of our granddaughter, Ashley. This time the setting was a beautiful little park in Neosho, MO. The day was perfect, the bride was beautiful, and her two young sons from a previous marriage were just as cute as they always are.

Instead of lighting a unity candle , Ashley, Bart, Jeramiah and Maison combined four vials of colored sand into a larger vase to represent the formation of a new family. The boys were thrilled with their participation (they also walked Mom down the aisle).

Maid of Honor was younger sister, Caitlin.

Proud parents, Stephanie and Mark (our middle son).

Masion & Jeramiah

Pics from the reception. Jeramiah insisted Great-Grandma Mary needed to dance with them, and he tried so hard to move very slowly so Grandma could keep up. Tom and I at the guest book.
Finally, Ashley and Bart's quilt..which I call with much originality, Wedding Stars.