The Sweet Dough Recipe

I’ve seen some pretty bizarre things this week.

Like a thousand people riding unicycles around campus, and that girl walking around in a tank top in sub-degree weather. Okay, it was 47 degrees Fahrenheit …but still, it was FORTY SEVEN DEGREES!

I also saw a lady playing her violin for money. She was a great violinist, yet her choice of venue could not have been worse. This older lady decided to play in the middle of the bridge connecting East Bank to West Bank. Between the somber music and the frigid cold water beneath me, I could have sworn I was sitting on the revitalized Titanic. To make matters worse, she didn’t ‘have a single coin in her case. Yet, what could she expect??? She was on a campus, surrounded by students equally as broke as her.

At this point, you would rightfully think I was living with The Ringling Brothers’ Circus. Lions and elephants and homeless men, oh my!

Yes, there was also a homeless man. I saw him while I was driving home. He had a cane but then failed to actually use the cane as he ran towards a car offering him change. He literally burst out in full sprint, probably with as good of form as I have on any given run. So while I commend him for his running abilities, I can’t help but laugh at the total absurdity of faking the need for a cane. What’s the point of an awesome prop if you’re not going to use it?? 

As I was driving home last night, I recapped this series of ridiculous events. Some made me laugh, some kind of bothered me. Then I started thinking of other things that have bothered me lately, and then I thought about the terrible tow-truck driver, which made me think of how equally heartless I’d be if I didn’t share this recipe!

I told you I think too much.

Sweet Dough Bread

-2 cups warm water

-1/2 cup vegetable oil

-2 eggs

-6 cups of flour (roughly)

-1 1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup dry milk

-3 packes yeast

-tad of salt

Directions

1. Mix the dry ingredients (not including flour) and wet ingredients separately; then combine

2. In a standard mixer, using the hook attachment, add flour until the dough comes off the walls of the bowl

2.  Put a towel over the bowl and allow the dough to rise/double in size – this should be done in a warm area and can take anywhere from 45 minutes to several hours. I tend to wait overnight. The bigger the better.

Makes 2 pounds of dough; bake at 325  ~12-15 minutes with filling of choice

Sound like a lot? Wait till you fill it with peanut butter or cherries and almonds and dark chocolate. If it weren’t for the few crumbs left, you won’t even know you made it.

Peanut Butter Twists

My life sort of resembled a movie this week.

You know, one of those movies where everything seems to go completely and utterly wrong until the very last ten minutes, when the greatest of greats triumphs the worst of all evils? Getting a second parking ticket this month, having my car towed, losing all internet connection for five days, bombing a statistics assignment, and writing a grant two days before the deadline sum up the evils of my week.

So what could possibly triumph this atrocious list of terribleness? Well these oooey goooey peanut butter-infused sweet dough twists, of course.

Peanut butter solves all problems.

Spread it between walls of sweet dough and sugar……and what? A car was towed?? I had no idea.

In all seriousness, I really had no idea. I was sort of hoping/assuming the tow-truck man would leave me a note, something like “Dear Rav Owner, we have taken your car. Don’t fret, come find it at this address! Oh, and here is some cash for a cab to get you here.”……wishful thinking, I know.

What I actually found was no Rav, no note, and a Volkswagen in the Rav’s place.

By Friday night, I was ready for a mental vacation. I plopped on the couch, closed my eyes, and let my mind wander. After ten or so minutes, my thoughts led me to my favorite childhood destination, Nelson’s Resort. Nelson’s Resort is located in northern Minnesota along the shores of the Crane Lake. Cabins, without televisions or appliances, are unadorned. The resort is remote and relaxation is equivalent to fishing, swimming, hiking, and basking in the sun.

When I was a girl, my family ventured to this resort every August. As the summer trips trickled by, we became very close with the resort owners and staff. Eventually, it was not unusual for my siblings and I to be in the gardens helping the staff pick fresh vegetables or to be back in the kitchen, watching the chefs prepare fresh meals for the other guests.

One Sunday evening, the owner and her daughter invited us girls in the kitchen to help make a Nelson family specialty. It was this night that I saw/fell in love with a Kitchen Aid Mixer for the first time and it was also this night that I learned the sweet recipe for Peanut Butter Twists.

Five years later, and peanut butter twists still put me at ease.

Every last bite.

P.S. I will be sharing this sweet dough recipe with you soon. I would be heartless, much like the tow-truck driver, if I didn’t.

Peanut Butter Twists – A Norwegian Specialty

-2 pounds of sweet dough

-1 container of peanut butter (28 oz)

-1/4 cup vegetable oil

-1/2 cup sugar

Almond Glaze

-1/2 pound powdered sugar

-1/2 stick butter

-1/2 teaspoon almond extract

-1/8 cup milk

Directions

1. Roll the dough into a large, thin rectangle. Roughly 1/4 inch thick

2. Mix the peanut butter with the oil. Spread on 2/3 of the dough

3. Spread sugar over the entire dough surface – feel free to adjust the amount at your own discretion

4. Fold one side of the dough over and then the other (Before folding, make sure dough is “hot dog style”. And yes, I did just use a second-grade terminology)

5. Using kitchen scissors, cut the dough into 1-1 1/2 inch slices. Twist and press the ends into pan

6. Bake 12-15 minutes at 325

7. Brush with sugar water, then top with almond glaze.