Olive Oil Rolls with Caramelized Onions and Gorgonzola

Wow! All hail the dinner roll, this is a whole new take and it's absolutely delicious. While searching for Thanksgiving recipes for a group, I came across this recipe on the White on Rice cooking blog. These are surprisingly easy to make and over the course of dinner they acquired the name "Super Rolls," because they are pretty much super. Also, after a few glasses of wine, it's a lot easy to ask for a super roll rather than a caramelized onion and gorgonzola roll. Eaten alone, dipped in soup, sauce, gravy, sliced open and stuffed with some turkey and cranberry, there is no wrong way to eat these! My boyfriend takes to drizzling them with Sriracha sauce - so take my word, they are very versatile! Also, the recipe makes 36-40 so I froze some of the already cooked rolls and I have been heating a few up for dinner and lunch daily! I made the dough the night before which really helped. It was a million times easier to work with and form into small rolls when it was chilled over night. The dough can actually be kept chilled for up to a week. The original recipe calls for regular milk but I decided to use soy milk and if anything it added to the richness. Also, be generous with the toppings, it's divine and your eaters will love it. I will for sure be making these again and for every family/friend function to come.

Olive Oil Rolls with Caramelized Onions and Gorgonzola

(Makes about 36)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 1/2 cups soy milk

1/4 cup olive oil

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

1 tablespoon kosher salt

6 1/2 cups all purpose flour

For topping:

2 lbs onions (about 7 medium) thinly sliced

1/4 cup olive oil

1/3 cup butter

1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1/2 lb gorgonzola, crumbled

Directions:

1. Pour the water in a large bowl. Warm the milk slightly and add it to the water. Add the olive oil, yeast and salt. Whisk gently to dissolve

2. Mix in the flour just until everything is evenly moist. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise, about two hours. Then chill for a couple hours, preferably over night or a few days

3. Melt the butter with olive oil over medium-low heat in a large pan. Add the onions and gently saute until caramelized, about 40 minutes. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar on the onions at the end, set aside to cool

                                                                                    Before

                               

                                                                     40 minutes later

                               

4. Line a few pans with parchment paper and sprinkle some flour on them. Dust your hands and the dough mass with a bit of flour. Gently pull a little chunk of dough and roll it into a golf ball size mound on the paper. One helpful trick for smooth rolls is to form a little disk in the palm of your hand and then bunch all the edges together so you have one smooth rounded side and one side where all the edges meet.  Place them twelve rolls per a pan and set them in a warm part of your kitchen for about 45 minutes.          

                               

5. Pre heat the over to 425 degrees. Gently top your rolls with the caramelized onions and the gorgonzola.

                               

6. Bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes or until the rolls start to brown and the onions start to singe. If you have more than one sheet in the oven at the same time, you will want to switch the sheets half way through cooking. Remove and place on a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. (You can freeze any left over cooked rolls and bake them for 7 minutes at 425 to re-heat)