Saturday Morning Baking Class

So, as mentioned previously, we had some superbly delicious rolls at the widow's dinner hosted by my class at church, and after eating these rolls decided I must know how to make them and so I got in touch with the lady who prepared all the food for the dinner. Her name is Christy, and she and her husband live at and run Shannon's House of Compassion, which is a ministry of Mayfair Church of Christ. Shannon's House is a ministry which provides a place to stay, free of charge, to family members who have loved ones staying at the hospital for extended periods of time. If you live more than 25 miles outside of Huntsville and have a loved one in the hospital here, then you can stay at Shannon's House at no cost. Christy and her husband prepare breakfast for those that are staying at the house and if they are cooking dinner that night, the families are welcome to eat dinner there as well. It's a really great ministry.

Shannon's House is located close by the hospital and the entire house has been renovated and it is gorgeous! Erika and I were in awe at all the loveliness of this home. the house was purchased by Mayfair and the furniture was paid for by the church as well (thanks to a special contribution). All the dishes were donated by a long time friend of my family's, Peggy, and a shower was held at the church to stock the house with all the other essential items. They have in the past year or so added a garden out back with a water fountain in memory of a young girl who died in a car accident and there is some lovely furniture out back made by Mennonites. It is really such a cozy and comfortable place and I'm sure that Christy and her husband make it feel like home to all the people who stay there. They have a web site in case you want to take a look and feel free to pass the information along to anyone who may need to make use of Shannon's House. The web site link is here. On the Saturday we learned how to make rolls, there were no guests staying so we had the house all to ourselves.

On to the roll making.... when I mentioned on the blog last week that I was going to learn to make these, Erika left a comment saying she would like to come along as well. So, I asked Christy if Erika could come and she said it would be just fine. After much emailing, we finally decided on the time of 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. I arrived a few minutes before Erika and when Erika arrived, we got right to work. The recipe was super easy to make - a lot easier than either one of us realized it was going to be -and it only took about 15 minutes, or maybe less to mix up a batch of dough. Christy had made a batch the night before so it had already risen and when she pulled it out, it was like the magic of television. She showed us how to pinch off the rolls and told us the best type of pans to use and also showed us how to roll out the dough and make cinnamon rolls. We made three pans - one pan of regular rolls, one of cinnamon, and one mixed - and after 30 minutes of instruction we were done with our lesson. Yes, it is truly that simple.

We tried to help clean up but Christy said her motto is if you clean up she won't have you back and so she refused to let us help clean up - which, quite honestly, was a-okay by me. I took home the regular and cinnamon rolls and Erika took home the mixed pan. I cooked the cinnamon rolls that evening for me and Justin - he had two, I had one, and saved one for breakfast the next morning. I also cooked the rolls and kept two but sent the rest home with Justin. Christy also sent us home with some amazing caramel corn and I may just have to ask her for that recipe as well. It was a fun morning and now I have a great recipe in my arsenal.

Erika adding in the yeast

Stirring up the bread

Adding in some oil

Kneading the dough

The finished product