Assumption Rolls

We wanted to celebrate Our Lady's feast day today, so I got creative with my raisin bread recipe. I make this recipe often (tripling it for our family of 10), but today I did a little something different. I just made little balls of dough, rolled them in melted butter and then in a sugar/cinnamon mixture. I put them side by side in my Pampered Chef muffin pan (I love PC!), and after rising a bit, baked them up. I told the kiddos that the bread is rising, just like Mary did today. It is sweet, just like the love between Jesus and Mary and the two pieces joined together are just like them going up into heaven, when Jesus came to get His mother and take her to be in heaven with Him, body and soul.

Raisin Bread: makes 2 loaves or 12 muffins and 1 loaf

1 pkg. active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

5 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1/3 c. sugar

3 Tbsp. butter or margarine - softened

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 cup raisins

In a small bowl, sprinkle yeast over 1/2 cup of the water. Stir and set aside to soften, about 5 minutes. In a large bowl, combine 5 cups of flour, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. Add the yeast mixture, remaining 1 c. of water, and the butter. Stir until all ingredients are moistened. Knead the dough in the bowl until it forms a ball. Sprinkle work surface with 1/2 c. flour. Turn the dough onto the board and knead until it becomes smooth and elastic, 3 - 5 minutes. Gently knead the raisins into the dough. Lightly oil a large bowl. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in the bowl, turning to bring the oiled side up. Cover with a clean cloth, and let the dough rise in a warm place until it is double in size - about 45 minutes. Form into loaves (or make the muffins, as described above), place into greased pans, and let rise again for 45 minutes. Bake in preheated oven at 350 for 50 - 60 minutes (30 minutes for the muffins).