Homemade Dinner Rolls

No recipe blog of mine would be complete without my go-to dinner roll recipe. I loooove these rolls, and I love that I can bring a little bit of happiness to family and friends just by making them. I've made them so many times that I have them down almost without having to consult the recipe. They are simple too and they always impress people, which is fun. :)

First, pull out your bread maker or dough mixer (or your good old fashioned bowl and wooden spoon).
Next, get out your ingredients:

1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
1/2 cup warm milk
1/3 cup white sugar
1 t salt
1 egg
1/3 cup butter, softened
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I use whole white wheat flour for ONE of the cups but if you don't have it just use white)
2 1/4 t (or one .25 ounce package) active dry yeast
1/4 cup butter, softened

Place all ingredients (except for final 1/4 cup butter) into bread machine, mixer or bowl. At this point I just run the dough cycle on my breadmaker. If you're using a mixer you can mix until a soft dough forms, and then let it rise in an oiled bowl for about an hour. (Or, if you're using a bowl and wooden spoon/your hands, do the same. And let me know how it turns out!)

Here is my dough after rising for an hour:
Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and divide it in half:
Use a rolling pin to roll each half into a 12 inch circle, then spread with the 1/4 cup butter (I usually save some of the butter to spread on top after the rolls bake).
Dee was helping me and as you can see her dough is not in a perfect circle. This is perfectly ok - don't stress about it. The rolls will still taste just as good.

Then, use the blunt side of a butter knife to carefully cut each circle into 8 wedges (obviously this is only partway into the process):
Roll each wedge starting at wide end. Use both hands, not like me in this picture:I always make my rolls in crescent shapes like this because I get the best results this way. If round rolls float your boat, by all means make circles instead.

Place crescents point side down on a cookie sheet:Cover with a slightly dampened clean kitchen towel or sprayed plastic wrap. Let rolls rise double. Toward the end of rising time, preheat oven to 400 degrees. The rolls should look something like this after rising:
Bake 10-15 minutes, until golden. Oven temperatures vary, so if you're making these for the first time, just keep an eye on them so they don't burn. My old oven cooked hot and fast, so I used to have to cook them on 375. They bake just fine at 400 on my new (more accurate) oven.

Take a moment to stop and appreciate the beauty and the mouth watering smell that has entered your kitchen.
Go ahead and take a bite. Try not to burn your tongue.