Homemade crescent rolls!

It's the time of year when you start thinking about certain foods. For me, I love crescent rolls. And I really only have them at thanksgiving. Once in a great while, I will buy a package and make a baked brie. Mmmm, baked brie. Anyways, I was flipping through another of my vintage cookbooks last weekend, this time Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book from 1950. There was a recipe for homemade crescent rolls. Wow. Obviously homemade will be better than store bought, right? Well, before we get to the rolls, take a look inside this book.

Anyone who knows me know of my love for 1950s interiors. And I'm not talking Mid-Century Modern (although I do enjoy it), I'm talking about everyday interiors of the 50s. Maybe it's because those items are cheaper to buy than MCM stuff. My house is full of furniture and items from the 1930s-1960s. And look, the kitchen in the upper right uses the same coral Formica that I have in my kitchen!!

I love these pages too. How to measure flour, sugar, liquids and other items. If only they had told me how to convert a yeast cake to granular yeast. Oh well.

Okay, now onto the crescents (pictured here at bottom)

This recipe in Betty's cookbook, states that it is taken from a Minnesota couple. There are two versions of this recipe given, I made the richer version. Here it is:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup lukewarm milk
2 cakes compressed yeast (I took this as 2 packets of yeast, 4 1/2 tsp total)
4 cups sifted AP flour

Instructions
-Preheat oven to 425 degrees
-Mix sugar, shortening, salt and eggs

-stir in milk
-add yeast
-mix in flour
-transfer dough to bowl, cover with cloth or plastic and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours (it's a dense dough)

-Shape as crescents. Roll dough into a 12-13" circle, about 1/4 inch thick.

-Cut into 16 pie-shaped pieces (I made 12 big ones).

-Spread a little butter on each piece. Beginning at widest end, roll the piece with end placed at bottom.

-Place on cookie sheet and bake 12-15 minutes. Don't these rolls look very Art Deco?!

-Try not to eat them all. (As you can see, three are missing. My mom was over so she, Ron and I each had to have one)

Now, these were perfectly good rolls, but there was something missing that didn't make them true crescent rolls. Butter!! They need more butter. If (who am I kidding, when) I make these crescents again, I will substitute some or all of the shortening for butter. I bet they will be tastier and flakier than these were.
Update! I found that the 1950 original edition was reprinted in 1998 and is still available on Amazon if interested! Hopefully they converted the yeast cake measurement into today's standards!