Boogers on the Wall

I did it! I cooked 9 warm, fluffy, delicious dinner rolls in my 6-quart slow cooker.

I’ve wanted to do this for a really long time. I’ve thought about it, dreamt about it and wondered if it was possible. And since I’m banned from using the oven in the summer (you can read about that here and here) I’ve been craving rolls for months.

Finally on Monday I could take it no longer. I searched online for others who have used their crock pots as roll cookers and found someone else who had tried it.

That gave me inspiration. With the help of my boys, and a bag of Rhodes frozen dinner rolls, I was able to cook a bunch of rolls without heating up my entire house.

We tried them Monday and they got a little crisp on the ends so we did them Tuesday too. It was two nights of back-to-back-roll-eating goodness.

I’m so excited. Here’s how we did it.

First we greased the bottom of my crock pot with vegetable oil. We rubbed it onto a napkin then rubbed it onto the bottom of the pan.

Then we placed 9 rolls in the base of the crock pot – one in the center and eight around it in a circle.We made sure that the rolls weren’t touching the edge of the crock pot pan.

Then we put the lid on and turned the crock pot on low. We cooked it on low for 1 hour and 20 minutes which allowed the rolls to thaw, rise and begin to cook.

Then we turned the crock pot to high and cooked the rolls for another 10 minutes. (The first night we cooked them for an hour on high. I think that was a little too long and some of the roll edges got burned. You may have to play around with this time and adjust if need be.)

They ended up like this.

They may not have turned out as fluffy or round as other peoples’ rolls, but to me – someone who really struggles cooking normal-looking rolls – they looked beautiful.

If you want them with golden tops, I suggest popping them into the oven after they are done in the crock pot and broiling them for a minute or two. I was so happy with our rolls I didn’t bother with the broiler.

They may not have risen as high as they would have if I had baked them in the oven and they may not have been as golden, but they tasted great.
My husband pointed out that fall is coming and soon I will be able to cook in the oven again. But even then I’m sure I’ll use my crock pot to cook rolls every once in a while – especially when my oven is occupied cooking a casserole.

So there you have it – a fast, easy way to cook rolls in a slow cooker. It’s so easy my 7-year-old could do it. And he did, Monday night, which is his new night to help me cook dinner.