Butterhorns

  • 1 tablespoon yeast
  • 1 teaspoon white sugar
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 egg (room temperature)
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1½ tablespoons white sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup of butter

Measure 2 cups flour (spoon into cup and level off), 1½ tablespoons of sugar and the salt into a bowl. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender until you have very small pieces of butter when you are done, it should look like oatmeal.

In a small dish, mix the yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar; stir in ¼ cup of warm water and let it sit for 10 minutes so that the yeast can start to bubble or activate.

Warm the milk until the chill is off (I used my microwave) and then add the slightly beaten egg. In a large bowl, add the (milk-egg mixture) and the (yeast-water mixture) to the dry ingredients. Stir well until it is all blended together. It will be a very soft dough (not a kneadable dough). I used my heavy duty electric mixer to mix everything together.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight (I chilled it overnight). The next day, sprinkle your counter with some flour and turn the dough out onto the counter. Sprinkle the top of the dough with more flour and roll the dough around until all sides are coated with a little flour so its not so sticky anymore. Roll (or pat) the dough out to ½” thick rectangle. The dough will be sticky during this stage, but don’t give up, just keep lightly flouring your counter and rolling pin.

Cut the rectangle in to ¾” strips. Pick up a strip and dust the excess flour off of it. Twist the strips a bunch of times and then place one end on the counter and wind the twisted strip (in a single layer) around and around (tuck a tiny piece of the “tail” under the pastry)

Place the rolls on a lightly greased baking sheet. Very lightly, spritz the tops of the rolls with vegetable spray so the plastic doesn’t stick to them. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let them raise for an hour (or until they are doubled in size. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

Ice the Butterhorns with a simple glaze made out of 2 cups of powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and ¼ teaspoon of almond extract and enough milk to make the glaze the right consistency.