Wiener roll-ups

Husband and I, for all of our cooking skills, were not being taken seriously at family holidays.

"Oh, if you really want to bring something, you could bring the relish tray," we'd hear biannually.

And bring the relish we would, god dammit. We'd bring the world's best relish trays, overflowing with carrots with the tops still attached, stuffed olives, marinated peppers... a rainbow of organic goodness complete with homemade dips.

Last year we decided to corner the roll market. No one on my side of the family made rolls, so we were going to stake our claim in baked goods.

That year we were up to 2 a.m. the night before making three batches of rolls at once, a complicated schedule of rising and resting times scrawled all over our white board. Our criteria were 1: rolls that raised properly and 2: tasted good, and we succeeded.

This year, several other experiments with yeast successfully behind me, I decided to up the ante and add in 3: look pretty.

My first attempt (one batch honey wheat cloverleafs, one batch butter crescents) reminded me what I didn't like about the crescents last year.

They looked... well... wiener-y.
















Eww.

As we'd decided to make two batches of the crescents, I tried again Thanksgiving morning. (Tactic: decrease size, make crescent shape more pronounced, omit egg glaze).

And despite my poor photography skills, you can see I was successful.
















Yummy rolls. Not at all wiener-y.