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8 Remove the rolls from the oven and quickly brush their tops with butter. Cool the rolls in the pans for about 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack in one piece. Cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature in one piece or pulled apart as individual rolls.

Kitchen Note: After the rolls are formed, placed in the pans, and covered, they can be refrigerated overnight. The next day, allow extra time for them to rise before baking, about 1½ hours.

Mashed-Potato Biscuits

Makes 18 biscuits

This tasty biscuits also can be made with leftover mashed potatoes. Just use 1½ cups mashed potatoes instead of cooking the raw potatoes, and reduce the salt to 1 teaspoon. Like all biscuits, these are best served hot out of the oven.

¾ pound russet (baking) potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

2 tablespoons baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

½ cup (1 stick) butter, chilled and diced

1 egg

½ cup buttermilk

Milk, for brushing

1 Cover the potatoes with salted water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil until completely tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain well, then mash or run through a potato ricer.

2 Preheat the oven to 450°F.

3 Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a food processor and process briefly to mix. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the potatoes and egg and process until well blended. Add the buttermilk and process until the mixture comes together in a sticky ball.

4 Transfer the dough to a generously floured work surface and knead until the dough holds its shape. With a rolling pin or by hand, roll or pat to a thickness of about ¾ inch. With a biscuit cutter or water glass, cut into 3-inch rounds and transfer to a baking sheet. Brush the tops of the biscuits with a little milk.

5 Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until the biscuits are golden. Serve warm.

Applesauce

Makes 4 cups

Every fall when apples are plentiful and bargains are to be had, I make applesauce in quantity. But I also make small amounts with older apples that have gone past their prime. Applesauce makes a wonderful dessert, especially if accompanied by homemade cookies. It also makes a fine side dish with roasted meat. Extra can be frozen. The apples used can be any type at all, peeled or unpeeled. Red skins will result in pink applesauce. Yellow or green skins, or peeling the apples, will make a yellow sauce. If you make applesauce with peeled apples, you can mash the apples by hand to leave a chunky texture. If you leave the skins on the apples, the applesauce must be run through a food mill to get rid of the skins. The advantage of using unpeeled apples is that you can also leave in the cores, pits, and stems—it will all be removed by the food mill. The recipe can be halved, doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled.

2½–3 pounds apples

3 tablespoons light-colored fruit juice, such as apple, white grape, orange, pineapple, or mango, or water

Sweetener, such as white or brown sugar, maple syrup, or honey

1 Either peel, core, and quarter the apples or simply quarter the apples and put them in a large pot. Add the fruit juice.

2 Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the apples are falling apart and very soft, about 45 minutes.

3 For chunky applesauce with peeled and cored apples, mash the apples with a potato masher until you have achieved the desired consistency. For a smooth applesauce made with unpeeled apples, run the apples and any liquid through a food mill, discarding the skins and pits.

4 Taste and add the sweetener of your choice, if needed. Serve warm or chilled.

Kitchen Note: For longer-term storage, freeze or process in a boiling-water bath (see the box on facing page).

Applesauce in Quantity

Apples that you don’t really want to eat out of hand (too tart, too soft, too bruised, too many!) can be made into applesauce for enjoying throughout the winter. Applesauce is the perfect accompaniment to many pork and lamb dishes. It can be served as