cheater dinner rolls

It never fails.  Every time I decide that the meal I am cooking should be accompanied by dinner rolls, I no longer have the two to three hours available to make them.  I have a hard time thinking ahead sometimes.

On one of these nights a few months ago, I came up with this recipe for cheater dinner rolls.  It's super quick and they taste amazing straight out of the oven with soup, salad or just on their own.  It's essentially my pizza dough recipe baked as rolls!  Shhhhh!  I won't tell if you don't.

Cheater Dinner Rolls
Prep time 2 min, Rise time 15 min, more prep 5 min, Bake time 11 min (beats the 3 hour traditional dinner roll recipe any day)

Dough
2 cups flour (I like to use 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour)
2 1/4 teaspoons instant dry yeast (1 packet)
1 cup water
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp salt

Topping
2-3 cloves fresh garlic minced
olive oil
coarse salt

Mix the flour and dry yeast in a large bowl.  In another microwave safe bowl nuke the water for about 30-40 seconds.  Should be slightly warm to the touch.  Add honey, salt and oil and stir.  Add wet to dry and using a wooden spoon stir the dough until you see stretchy dough strands. Just 1 minute.  Place a towel over the bowl and let it sit at room temp until it's risen and doubled for about 15 min.   Prepare the topping by mincing the garlic and set aside.

Turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead in a bit of flour until the dough is soft and not sticky.  Cut the dough into 12 chunks (I cut the dough in quarters, then each quarter into thirds so the rolls are even).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, Spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray.  Roll each chunk of dough into a ball or pull the corners to the underside and set in a muffin tin.  Poke a bit of the minced garlic into the middle of each roll (once baked the garlic pops out on top-see photo).  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the rolls are crusty on top and just a tiny bit browned.  Remove from the muffin tin and serve immediately with dinner.