Baking for one

For some time I’ve had a taste for these onion rolls. I used to make them all the time, and they were a particular favorite of Mr. Ex’s. The cookbook in which they can be found is an old copy of Ratner’s Meatless Cooking. So old that the cover price is $1.50.

So old that the book itself is a reminder of my beginnings with Mr. Ex. When he and I got engaged (at the ripe old age of, um, twenty), this book was a gift from a sorority sister. At that time there weren’t a lot of vegetarian cookbooks, especially Jewish ones. Named for the once-famed dairy deli in NY, Ratner’s cookbook provided me with many meal ideas early in our marriage. But the best was the onion roll recipe.

I used to make them all the time. Warm from the oven, dotted on top and filled with a tasty mixture of chopped onions, breadcrumbs and spices, Mr. Ex and I would make meal of them with a bowl of soup. Just tasting them brings back years of memories.

Which is probably why I haven’t made them for quite some time. The memories, and the fact that the recipe makes 24 of the delicious – but hardly low calorie – suckers.

But I’ve wanted them.

So, today, with plans for making a hearty soup over the weekend in the works, I braved the kitchen ghosts and mixed, chopped, kneaded and folded the dough. I waited for the dough to rise and contemplated what to do with 24 (okay, maybe 21) rolls at the end of the evening.

Then I saw the note on the recipe, right before the part about letting them rise before baking: rolls can be frozen at this point.

Frozen?

Frozen and ready-to-bake on demand?

Hot damn.

Better yet, hot rolls.

So there are now 18 frozen rolls just waiting to thaw, rise, bake and be eaten. And, lest you think I ate six tonight, three in the fridge for dinner Saturday night.

Kitchen ghosts be gone.