Sweet Potato and Honey Dinner Rolls.
I think I need bigger bowls.
Actually, wait… I also think I need a bigger brain. Listen.
On Tuesday night before I was going to bed, at uh… midnight, I took out my contacts to sterilize them, washed my face, brushed my teeth, slathered moisturizer on my skin and then… put my contacts back in my eyes. You know… for bed?
This may not seem like a huge deal, but if you have to sterilize your contacts like I do, then you know that they absolutely cannot touch your eyes for at least 6 hours once they hit that solution.
Ouch ouch ouch.
As I was screaming in pain with no one to help me since my husband was out of town, I managed to claw my eyelids open and practically scrape the contacts from my eyes.
I don’t know what had gotten into me, but it was like when you wake up feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with boatloads of energy, take a shower, eat breakfast, get dressed, put on makeup, then get in the car to go to work and notice that the clock says 1:54.
AM.
We’ve all be there, right?
WHY DID I STUFF MY CONTACTS IN MY EYES AT 12:07 AM?! It wasn’t like I had just woken from a deep sleep. Or a deep bottle of wine. Or rum! I know what you think of me.
Then I couldn’t fall asleep because my eyes were on fire. The only thing that kept me alive (drama!) was blinking 436 times per minute. And for the last two days, my eyes have appeared as though I’ve been ingesting large amounts of questionable substances… like all day long.
By 3AM that night, I was starrrrving. I was past the point of exhaustion and still couldn’t comfortably keeps my eyes opened or closed, so I hoofed it downstairs and sank my teeth into one of these fluffy rolls. I had made them on Saturday in between my pajama wearing, wine drinking, and related laying around, and they still tasted fresh in the middle of the night three days later. They soothed me enough to eventually pass out and forget about the flames under my lids until about 6AM, when I simply wanted to shove my head into a barrel of ice.
Even though I crammed way too much dough into a little bowl, seeing dough rise still makes me giddy. Especially when it spills over the dish and makes the kitchen smell all yeasty. In a, uh… good way.
I’m not even a bread person (much more of a consume-an-entire-cheesecake person) and I couldn’t stop with these rolls. We ate them with chicken chili and spread them with butter and drizzled them with honey and shoved them in our face and made them our… you know. They were like sweet potato pillows. I want to bounce up and down on them.
Sweet Potato and Honey Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 large sweet potato, once peeled, mine was 12 ounces
- 2 packages of active dry yeast
- 4 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup warm water, about 110 degrees
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
- 4 teaspoons sea salt
- 6 cups of all-purpose flour, plus more for workspace
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
Instructions
- Peel sweet potato (or potatoes – you just want about 12 ounces), chop into chunks and place in a pot with cold water. Bring to a boil and and cook until potatoes are fork tender, about 20-25 minutes. Drain potatoes, then place in a bowl and mash.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine water, yeast, 2 tablespoons honey and olive oil. Mix with a spoon and let sit until foamy, about 15 minutes.
- Once foamy, add potatoes, remaining honey, 4 tablespoons melted butter, buttermilk and salt. Gradually add flour with the mixer on low until a sticky dough forms, then knead with the dough hook for about 2-3 minutes. Brush a large bowl with melted butter, then place the dough in the bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 2 hours.
- Using a bit of flour, knead dough until silky then divide in half. Roll into a long rope, then cut off pieces of dough (about 2 ounces each) and roll into a bowl. Place them into a greased 9×13 baking dish – you should be able to fit about 15 in there (using 2 pans). If desired, you can freeze dough at this point for up to 2 months. If baking immediately, cover the baking dish and let sit in a warm place to rise for about 30-45 more minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush rolls with beaten egg, then bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden brown. (If you want to bake both pans at once, set one on the lower rack and one on the upper rack in the oven, then switch half way through baking.) Let cool for a few minutes, then serve warm with butter and honey.
Notes
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I appreciate you so much!
You can eat all that butter in that bowl there. Because I said so.
257 Comments on “Sweet Potato and Honey Dinner Rolls.”
Picture perfect and really should be in mah belly!
Quite the story – you poor thing! I’m more glad every day that I don’t wear contacts. My boyfriend and his mom have re-occuring nightmares that they have to put dinner-plate-sized contacts in their eyes.
The rolls on the other hand look incredible. I haven’t made bread in a while but I enjoy it so much, these are next on the list! And a must for Thanksgiving!!
I use Clear Care for my contacts and it happend to me as well, so I am veryyyy sorry for you! I love potato rolls very much, and I have 2 sweet potatoes I planned to bake them today, but since I have all the ingredients I will make the rolls, after all I am a bread girl :)
I actually had to stop using sterilizing solutions (like Clear Care) entirely because I kept burning my eyes with it…even on days when I had made absolutely certain that my contacts had been in the case for more than six hours with plenty of time to neutralize. I guess I just shouldn’t be allowed to handle harmful substances.
My eyes just teared up reading this post. But I love the rolls so I’ll have to try those too!
These sweet potato rolls sound ah-mazing, and I definitely need them in my life very soon. I want to dive into the roll in that last photo!
These look so fluffy and thanksgiving perfect! (Canadian, its this wknd :)) Love bread, fresh bread smell is the best.
I have totally fallen asleep with contacts in and went around the next 2 days with those suspiciously red puffy eyes!! Haha.. contacts are such a pain sometimes!
Ohhhh I could so eat the entire pan for myself!
I want that bread-yeast smell in my apartment, immediately! The past two times I’ve tried making bread, the dough didn’t rise properly… It was in a warm, draft-free environment, but still… failure. Is there anyway you could do like… a kneading tutorial?! I’m not sure I’ve ever learned the proper way and I think that’s where my problem lies! Kneading can’t be the only thing in the way between me and these Sweet Potato and Honey Dinner Rolls!!
I honestly have no idea how to knead with my hands – do you use your mixer/dough hook? That is the only thing I use and just let it go on medium for like 5 minutes!
I only have a hand-mixer! Ah, the sad life of a college student… Well, I’m going to have to borrow someone’s stand mixer and make these for Thanksgiving they look too delicious!
if you want to e-mail me, I can tell you how I do it, does not make it the right way…???!!!
Looks delish, as always!
My brother probably sterilizes his contacts the same way as you. With the solution that has the peroxide in it, and the bottle has the little red tip to WARN you not to use it like a normal solution? I didn’t know what the red tip meant. I thought it was just a new design.
Over the summer, before heading to the beach, I cleaned my contacts with the nearest available solution, and even rinsed my hands down with the stuff. The stuff with the little red tip. Put those babies in my eyes, and wow. Just wow. So I know your pain.
Second worse was a few weeks ago when I made salsa with fresh jalepeno and didn’t even think to use gloves. Used my hands to mix the stuff. All up in the stuff. My hands burned for days, but being as bright as I am, on the second day (the worst), I put in contacts with those hands. And ouchie-mama!
Ouch! That sounds like no fun!! But your dinner rolls look absolutely amazing!
These look absolutely fantastic! I really can’t wait to make these. I might cheat & use canned sweet potato puree as making bread already tests my very thin patience, but these are on the top of the weekend to-do list. Thanks! Also, I did your elliptical HIIT workout this morning. My legs are still wobbly. HELP!
Girl. I know you’re pain, I’ve done that before and it seriously takes like DAYS to even attempt putting them back in. OUCH. It inspired me to get lasik because I did it often enough. hahaha Now I just try to take out imaginary contacts (hey, 20 years of habit is hard to break), which while horrid, isn’t quite as bad as freshly sterilized contacts.
I must stuff these rolls in my face, stat. and maybe roll around in that dough.
I was cringing all the way through this post. I never use that stuff — I just clean my contacts up with a saline solution every night — but I can imagine the pain! Despite the cringing, I now truly want to make these.
YUM! These look SO good. I love bread/rolls soft enough that you can rip pieces off, squish them up into little tight balls, cover them with butter, then eat them, one after the other after the other…That probably sounds really weird, but bread tastes so delicious that way (um, to me anyway) and these look like they would work beautifully.
I did the same thing this past weekend with that solution! Now I know what it would feel like to drop straight bleach into my eyeballs. They were not right for days. I have been your blog stalker for a while now, I love all the recipes and have made quite a few! Thanks for keeping me entertained (and hungry) during my work day!
Thank you for reading!
I used that kind of solution by accident instead of my regular contact solution so I too have experienced the burning! It makes you do crazy things – I went to Target and bought clothes meant for a 15 year old girl. an entire outfit. The rolls look amazing!!
LOL!
These look even better than regular potato rolls. That last pic is especially inviting. I love breaking open a roll, seeing the pieces pull apart, and then eating each piece. Heavenly.
My eyes were burning just hearing your story about the contacts! These rolls….wow…look sooo good. I am so hungry for them now. Your pumpkin butter know is so cute too!
YUM – love bread and these look delicious. I also like that little pumpkin knife :)
Haha I am cracking up at the steep contrast between the happy descriptions of the rolls, and the burning situation with your eyes. I totally feel you though.. I was once cooking something (wearing glasses) that involved jalapenos, and then had to slip my contacts in so that I could head over to work…….never thinking about the fact that, even though I had scrubbed with Dawn dish soap after cooking, there would STILL be fire on my fingertips. It was like the end of the world when I put the first contact in and realized my dumbness.. and even worse when I tried (while screaming to my mother who was at the house at the time) pulling the contact back OUT. Long story short- I hope your eyes are better. ;-)
K next time… cut two lemons and just mash your fingers inside of them for like 10 straight minutes. That is the ONLY way I can remove the jalapenos. I don’t wear gloves.
oh the fluffiness of those rolls! looks delicious!
I am so impressed with your bread baking lately! I am still a bit intimidated to try it. To be honest, I don’t know if I have the patience that is needed from start to finish. LOL
P.S. I hate you had to go through all that eye pain. Not too long ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and took my two restless puppies outside, noticed how well I could actually see and realized I had not even taken my contacts out of my eyes before going to bed! I think sometimes we all have way too much on our minds… ugh.
The only time I’ve fallen asleep in mine (they are NOT disposable, but they are soft) is the night of my bachelorette party… yeah.
im a new follower of this blog… gets better every day:) obsessed!
Thanks for reading!
WOW! These look heavenly. Warm buttery goodiness….I love bread but have never made it (lame I know)..this may be my first bread recipe :)
I use Opti Free Supraclens. and while I have made the same mistake, it does burn but not nearly as bad as what your experience sounds like. Maybe try a switch…
Yummy! My grocery store doesn’t carry the packets of yeast anymore. Do you know how many teaspoons that would be?
I believe that 1 packet is 2 1/4 teaspoons!
Oh god. I accidentally squirted that stuff in my eye when I was at my in-laws house. I thought it was just saline. I took my contact out and rinsed my eyeball with water for like 10 minutes but yeah. It was shockingly unpleasant. :(
Oh em gee… ouch.
I’m terrified of yeast. Otherwise I would run home right now and make these because YUM!
Ok so… I tried to make these this morning. I got the dough all made and into the oven to rise. I started to clean up and realized with horror I had forgotten tonadd the buttermilk. Re-reading the recipe I see buttermilk in the ingredients list but not in any of the steps. Was it omitted? Am I a crazy person? ( no wait…don’t answer that).
They’re already rising so I’m going to let them go and see what happens.
I’m in the process of making them at the moment because I had a sweet potato that I needed to use. I was also wondering about the buttermilk.
Ah! Guys I am so sorry. I just fixed it – goes in with the potatoes and stuff. Sorry!
Thanks so much. I can’t wait for these to come out of the oven!
Glad to know that I am not, in fact, crazy – just a forgetful idiot :)
These actually turned out surprisingly good considering I left out major ingredient. They’re a little dense (duh) but still tasty. I also overcrowded the pan… I really should just go back to bed and call it a day.
Woohoo – glad they still turned out! :)
I use the same contact solution and this is one of my biggest fears. Aaaaahhhhh!!!!!!!
Sorry to hear about your contacts…OUCH! :( Hope your eyes are feeling way better.
These rolls look FABULOUS. Super delicious…definitely need to make them! :)
Just stumbled upon your blog & wanted to say…YOU ARE HILARIOUS! :) Trying this recipe tonight! Looks & sounds YUMMY! Thanks for the morning giggle as well! Tabitha :)
Glad you found me! ;)
Question about freezing: Could I just flash freeze and then store in a zippy bag? I can’t imagine potting two baking dishes in the freezer for two months, and we probably only need a few rolls baked at a time. If I baked in round baking dish like cinnamon rolls, would that be acceptable?
Oh yeah, I definitely think so! I’m no expert when it comes to bread/yeast/freezing things but I agree – I think that would be better.
Just curious on whether you used sweet potatoes or yams (yellowish in color or orange)? I know that in different parts of the country they are refered to differently….
I actually did use sweet potatoes (at least they were labeled that at the grocery store) – but I think yams would work too!
Well, I had made a batch of potato rolls (slightly different recipe) this weekend using yams and it was a little “squashy” tasting to me. I’ll have to try sweet potatoes this time.
Currently making these….but I’m missing something in the instructions….when do I add the buttermilk? It’s on the ingredient list but not in the instructions LOL!
Fixed – sorry!
That sounds painful! So glad I don’t have to deal with contacts b/c I’m sure I’d do something like that too. Dough rising is pretty much the most satisfying thing to watch in the kitchen. Your little bowl is cute :)
How do you take pics of butter before it melts? xDD
Oh boy! I have absolutely no self-control when it comes to sweet potato anything…but dinner rolls?! OH yes, come to me!
These sound amazing! I have also had a contact debacle just like this. I took mine out, put them in their special case with the shiny, silver, activator, thingy (tI’m pretty sure that’s the technical name for it) in the bottom, put on the cap and for some reason (that I’ve never figured out) I threw it in my makeup bag. Where it landed upside down with all of the solution at the top of the container. I don’t know about the kind you use but my solution has to come in contact with the aforementioned shiny, silver, activator, things for a solid 6 hours to neutralize the solution and make it safe and non-chemical burn-ish for the eyes. The next morning I grabbed the case, and popped one in my eye. Big mistake. I could not open my eye and I’m pretty sure I ran around my bathroom like a chicken with it’s head cutoff. I had to turn on the bath tub faucet, stick my face under, and pry my eye open to let the high pressured water flush the contact out. Lesson. Learned.
Oh man… totally get that.
This is why I have my eyes set on getting lasiq. It’s just gotta happen. I’m so over wearing contacts. These rolls look perfect for that holiday I don’t want to mention. You know the one where a turkey is involved.
After wearing contacts for many (MANY) years.. (Okay my first pair when I was 12 were HARD contacts), I never understood why ppl were always crying and complaining over onion and jalepeno. After eye surgery, I found out why, and want to wear goggles when cutting onions now (I am such a baby when it comes to pain). Long story short, ..too late! I wish you quick recovery of your eyes (they are one of the fastest healing parts of the body), because i would hate to miss even 1 day of your funny stories, and wonderful recipes.
I will have to check to find if you have ever made chicken enchilada soup….I have a fairly awesome recipe
I have made a tortilla soup before but am always accepting recipes. :)
These look absolutely perfect. Gotta make these for Thanksgiving dinner!
Hee on your contacts — hope your eyes are feeling better!
If I could reach into my computer and steal one of these puppies I would. I think these rolls just made it onto my Thanksgiving menu!!
I must say- my favorite part of this post is the ridiculously cute pumpkin spreader.
Omg was it Clear Care?? I made the mistake of using it one night in place of my regular contact lens solution..Oww!!
Hahah yes it was…
YES PLEASE – I would like two dozen!
Holy Yumballs, Batman!
These look perfect for Thanksgiving! Yay! Except I’m deathly afraid of breads+yeast+rising! Yikes… Oh! I voted for you at Foodbuzz… I never vote for anything! But I think you’re HI-larious+awesome+the bomb dot com, so I scooched on over there and did that. Good luck, Lady!
You are so sweet… thank you.
Oh my goodness! That sounds terrible! I get migraines and peppermint oil can help for that so one night at like 3 am I was in so much pain and put a ton of oil on my head and some ended up on my eyelid. I felt like acid was burning out my eye! I forgot about my headache for a while…
aaaand several times a year I’ll get up and get ready for school, leave the house, and wonder why it’s still dark outside. Oh maybe because it’s 4am. Gah!
These rolls look amazing!
I use Clear Care for my contacts and I once put them back in my eyes after only three hours in the solution… What a horrifying experience! Yours sounds ten times worse though :(
These rolls look so so so good!
those look PERFECT for thanksgiving! I am so showing my mom this and making these…she is obsessed with you just about as much as I am because whenever I make a delicious recipe she asks if I found it from your site hahaha…she is stil in love with the mac and cheese cups I made last year!!