DJ O’Connor’s Mom’s Squash Rolls

Thanks DJ, for sharing your mom’s recipe for squash rolls. DJ writes in an email that his mom makes these every Thanksgiving: “Oh and they don’t really end up tasting like squash, which is a major plus because they’re made from freezer squash, which is a cheap replacement for syrup of ipecac if you don’t have any handy.” Had to look that one up too–syrup of ipecac is a gag-inducing serum. Thanks!

Now if I were in a slightly more experimental mood, I might try his mom’s recipe using fresh squash, perhaps roasted and mashed. But since this is my first submit-your-recipe post after all, I decided to be faithful.

Well, almost. It turned out yours truly had no milk in her fridge, so she ended up using a little more butter than called for, and the whole package of frozen squash to make up for missing liquid (rather than half, keeping with her formula of making half the recipe that DJ described). This was, as I had been warned, a time-consuming task because of the 1 hour and 45 minutes spent letting the dough rise before baking. So I took the liberty of leaving the house, going to see a friend perform a gig in the city, and coming back home to a well-risen (and slightly dried out) ball of dough. But enough ado, here is the original recipe.

DJ’s Mom’s Squash Rolls
(Makes about 20 rolls)

1 package frozen cooked squash
1 cup milk
1/3 cup butter or margarine
1/3 cup sugar
1 tspn salt
1 package (about 2 1/3 tspn) yeast
flour (see below for amount)

Put butter/margarine, milk, sugar and salt in a microwaveable bowl and heat until scalded. (I brought to a boil on a stovetop since I don’t have a microwave.) Add thawed, but cold and drained package of squash to the milk mixture to cool it down. Add about two cups of flour and stir thoroughly. In a small cup or bowl, combine 1/2 cup very warm water with yeast and a pinch of sugar. Add yeast and stir thoroughly. Continue adding flour (3 cups or so depending on how moist squash is) until you can no longer stir with a spoon. Knead dough on a floured surface, adding flour until no longer sticky. Place in a well-greased bowl and turn over once so grease gets on both sides. Cover with a dish towel and let sit in a warm place for 1 hour until risen to double.

Punch down dough and form into small balls (I made eight of them using half of this recipe). Cover again and let rise for 45 minutes. Bake in 400-degree oven for 15 minutes or until tops are golden.

Cost Calculator
(for 20 rolls)

1 pkg cooked squash: $1.29
1 cup milk: ≈ $0.40
1/3 cup butter: ≈ $0.25
1 pkg yeast (at $2.59 for pack of 3): $0.86
About 5 cups flour, salt, sugar: ≈ $0.30

Total: $3.10

Health Factor

Three brownie points – Even though it was frozen, the nutritional information on the back of the squash package indicates it has 100% Vitamin A for the day, and 30% Vitamin C. That’s a lot of orangey goodness.