Honey Dinner Buns

I'm going to apologize and tell you that I didn't take any process photos or anything special for this recipe. Heck, this picture was taken at dinner time in my poorly lit kitchen because I was just so excited at how they turned out.

The recipe is simple and in fact, I mixed it and let it go through the first rise in the bread machine while I was busy doing other things. While I was waiting for them to raise, I mixed up some honey butter, because what is a hot, fresh dinner roll without honey butter? Or maybe we are the only people who enjoy their bread that way. I don't know. What I do know is that while I was mixing it I got the most wonderful idea.

What if I put the honey butter ON the dinner roll and baked it on? Think of what that could be like....the butter pooling in melted puddles around the buns spilling down the sides. The honey would get slightly crystallized and crisp on top. No too much, just a little something extra. 

I couldn't hold myself back. When the rolls were browned, I took them out and spread them with honey butter. Back into the oven they went for a few minutes until they achieved a mahogany sheen. It was perfection.

My family loved these little suckers so much that they have demanded them for Thanksgiving dinner! I'll be happy to oblige, they were fantastic!

The recipe is here, on The Baking Banter, at King Arthur Flour. They do a far better job of explaining it and showing you how it is done. Follow their directions up to the part where they take the dinner rolls out. Then come back here for further instruction.

Go ahead, I'll be waiting.

So the dinner rolls are out and golden brown now? Ok, here's your next step. Mix up some honey butter by smooshing together 4 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons honey with the tiniest pinch of salt. Slather that mixture all over the top of the rolls and stick them back in the oven. Watch them closely, they will burn after a while. I let mine go for another 10-15 minutes. I didn't time it (see paragraph 1 for my explanation why), just watched them until they were deeply browned. Let them cool for a few minutes and use any extra honey butter for buttering up your delicious rolls.

I wonder if there are any leftover still......writing this out made me hungry!