Almost Thanksgiving and still cooking

Yesterday I deboned the turkey, made stock, baked all the cake layers for the torte, made chocolate buttercream (mmmm....chocolate....), made more rolls, started the dark meat marinading and the white meat brining. Lots of cleaning going on around here as well. Today I'll braise the dark meat, prepare the mashed potatoes up to adding butter, blanch the green beans, make the stuffing, and get all the odds and ends together. Also trimming a tree skirt for a friend of my sister, so there will be a bit of sewing as well. All in the holiday spirit (of insanity, that is).

Here's the recipe I use for cranberry jezebel sauce. I think it came out of Food & Wine magazine years ago, though I can't remember exactly. It's wonderful with pork and beef, but equally delicious with turkey, especially as a dipping sauce the next day. I like to give mine a whir with the immersion blender and strain, but it's good chunky as well.

Thought I'd share my roll recipe as well. These are rich, buttery, and perfect for just about any holiday meal. My family used to beg my Grandma to make these for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, any chance we could get our hands on them. Now she isn't able to cook any longer due to a series of strokes, so the recipe has been passed down and it's my turn. Thanks, Grandma, for the recipe and for inspiring me to be even half the cook you were.

Grandma's Rolls

Makes 36 rolls, enough for ~ 12 people

3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup warm water
1 Tb. yeast (a bit less than 2 packages of yeast)
2 eggs
5-6 cups flour

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease baking sheets.

Scald the milk (heat over medium flame until small bubbles appear around the edges); stir in sugar, salt and butter; cool to lukewarm. Measure the warm water into a large bowl. Sprinkle the in the yeast; stir until dissolved. Stir in the milk mixture, eggs and 3 cups flour; beat until smooth. Stir in additional flour to make a soft dough.

Turn dough out onto a floured board; knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Place the dough in a bowl and cover. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 30 minutes. Punch the dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured board.
Split dough into 3 pieces. Roll each piece into a 12 inch circle. Brush with melted butter, then cut into 12 wedges. Roll each wedge from the wide end to form a crescent, then place on baking sheet with the pointed end underneath. Squeeze sides together to form a "C" shape (the funky looking one was rolled out by one of the boys)
Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes, or until lightly golden. Brush with more melted butter and cool on racks.
These rolls freeze beautifully, which is a good thing - there are never enough!