Good idea, Bad execution

For this year's Christmas goodies that would be delivered to our neighbors and friends, I wanted to give something home-made. I thought it would be a good idea to make something out of our home-grown pumpkins. My sis-in-law Jen gave me a recipe for Amish pumpkin butter last year that sounded delicious. So back in November, while I was thinking of what to make for Christmas goodies, I found that recipe and decided to make it. And I thought home-baked rolls would go perfectly with the pumpkin butter. Sounds like a wonderful idea, right?! Canned pumpkin butter and home-baked rolls?! Yeah, I thought so too.

So, in preparation, I bought half-pint size canning jars, giant packages of frozen Rhodes rolls, coordinating paper plates & plastic goodie sacks, and I made gift tags. And in a month's time, that's as far as I ever got--thinking and preparing, but not actually making the food.

For over a month, I thought about making the pumpkin butter. And every time I thought about doing it, I stressed myself out. Part of the instructions were to put the pumpkin butter in hot jars and let it sit in a hot boiling bath to seal the jars. I had no idea how I was going to get the jars and the lids and the rings all hot at the same time after boiling the pumpkin butter and making sure that it all sealed properly. I only do freezer canning; the only time I've ever done any real canning was the one time that my friend Hailey came over and helped me do applesauce. One day in December, I was talking to my friend Gina about my anxieties, and she offered to come over and help me make the pumpkin butter. I'm SOOO thankful she did! I was grateful for her supplies, her guidance, and her companionship in the kitchen for the several hours it took to make it all. We made the pumpkin butter in two rounds, and it produced enough to fill 23 half-pint jars. I was super happy with the results! The cans looked so beautiful, and the pumpkin butter tasted delicious, too! So, with the pumpkin butter made, I focused on making the rolls. Because there were over 20 families on my list, and since I only have 3 jellyroll pans to put rolls in, I knew that I'd have to split my roll-making and goodie-delivering into two different days. The first day went wonderfully: the frozen rolls thawed and raised and baked beautifully, I packaged them all up nicely and I delivered them that night with Jonah, Micah, and Kanyon.

Two days later, I started thawing the second set of rolls. By that afternoon, they hadn't risen far enough to bake, but I had to go to town for an appointment. That appointment ended up being twice as long as I'd expected, and by the time I got back home, the rolls had risen too far and had already fallen. They weren't any good. I still baked them, but I made our family eat them over the next week since I didn't want them to just go to waste. I bought more rolls, and a few days later, I tried the "speed method" where you boil some water, set it in a preheated oven, and put the frozen rolls in the oven with it. They rose within 1 1/2 hours, and looked great. But, when they were cooking, they got burnt, even though I was checking them over and over. I was furious with myself. I'd ruined about 100 rolls by this point, and I didn't know what to do. So...I threw a crying tantrum on my bed. And my awesome husband came to the rescue while I was in time-out. He started another round of roll-making, and his batch turned out great. I picked some of the lesser-burnt rolls out of my last batch and combined them with his, and it was enough to finish all the deliveries. And the job was finally accomplished! Yay! Although, next year, I think I'll go back to delivering something easy and NOT home-made!!!