Cute and Quick Clover Leaf Rolls

The title of this post might be misleading. I made these rolls the old fashion way, with yeast, and rising, and kneading, and baking, but I made a lot of them, and then I froze them. Now when I need a handful of cute, and delicious clover leaf rolls, I pull out a few, put them in a hot oven with a pat of butter on top of each one, and bake them until they taste warm and fresh all over again (about 6 minutes).

Clover leaf rolls are probably the easiest of all the "fancy" yeast rolls. There isn't a whole lot of rolling, twisting or shaping. To being you'll make a yeast roll recipe (see below).

Once you are ready to make your rolls. Divide your dough in half. Each half should make twelve rolls. Each roll is made of three evenly sized balls, pinched together and baked in a lightly greased muffin tin.

To get my balls roughly the same size, I use kitchen shears to cut each half of original dough in half, and each of those halves in half again. This should give you four pieces of dough. Then cut those into thirds. Now you'll have the base for 12 rolls. Cut each of those into three equal pieces. Roll the pieces into a ball shape and pinch the three together on the bottom and place in your pan. If you don't pinch them together, it is likely that your rolls will fall apart after they bake. Once baked, eat a few fresh, let the rest cool, and store in a freezer Ziploc bag, or other freezer container.

Do not try to use the Food Saver or other vacuum bag system. They will suck the air out of your rolls, and will not make for a tasty treat.

Yeast Rolls
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour (give or take to make your dough the right consistency)
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1 tsp salt
2 beaten eggs

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together 2 cups of the flour and the yeast. In a saucepan, heat milk, sugar, butter, and salt until just warm, about 120 degrees. Be careful not to overheat your liquids. You butter should be just melting, you might still have solid butter at 120 degrees and that is okay.
2. Add warm milk mixture and beaten eggs to the dry ingredient and mix with an electric mixer on low to medium for 30 seconds. Beat on high for 3 minutes. Using a spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as possible.
3. Turn dough on a lightly floured surface and knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a a smooth and elastic dough. *I always knead in too much flour*
4. Shape dough into a ball. Please in a lightly greased bowl, turning once. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about an hour.
5. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and divide dough in half. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. You can use this time to grease your muffin tins.
6. Prepare your clover leaf rolls, as described above. Allow rolls to rise in their tin, covered with a towel for another 30 minutes.
7. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. Immediately remove from pans and cool on wire racks.

Enjoy!