This savory bacon cheese roll is adapted from a cinnamon roll recipe. It's flavorful, gooey, cheesy and filling but you won't be able to stop at just one. Great as an appetizer, picnic, breakfast, hangover or using up Christmas ham leftover. (Cinnamon roll recipe included at the bottom)
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Cook Time15 minutesmins
Total Time1 hourhr35 minutesmins
Course: Snack
Cuisine: Baking, Western
Servings: 24Rolls
Author: Choochoo-ca-Chew
Ingredients
For the Dough:
1Cwarm milk105-115 degrees F
2 1/2tspactive dry yeast
2large eggs at room temperature
1/3Cbutter melted
4 1/4Call-purpose flour
1tspSalt
1/2Cgranulated sugar
the Filling
1lbBacon or ham of your choicediced
1/4CPacked brown sugar
1TBspCinnamon
4CCheese, Shredded or slicedMozzarela, Cheddar, Monetary Jack, Havarti, Gouda are all great!
Make the Rolls Gooey!
1CHeavy creamhalf and half also works, but heavy cream has the best result!
Instructions
The Dough
Pour the 1C warm milk with 1/2C sugar in a mixing bowl and sprinkle 2-1/2tsp yeast on top and let sit for 5 minutes or until foamy.
Add 2 large room temp eggs, 1/3C melted butter, and 1tsp salt, mix well. (With a whisk or with a fork!)
Add the flour one cup at the time until the ingredients are just combined.
Scrape the dough off the sides of the bowl if necessary and start kneading the dough until the dough is smooth and elastic. About 8 minutes. *The dough will be tacky and maybe stick to the sides of the bowl, but that's how you know your rolls will be soft and with smaller air bubbles, so don't be tempted to add too much flour. Only 1TBsp at a time if it's really too sticky to knead.
Grease a large bowl with oil.
Use a rubber spatula to remove the dough from the mixer bowl and place it in the greased bowl.
Cover the bowl with a towel or wax paper.
Set the bowl in a warm place and allow the dough to rise until double. Roughly 40 minutes. (Try not to let the dough rise for too long as it will start developing bigger air bubbles and the rolls will become airy and dry) The oven is my go-to place for letting a dough rise. I have a gas oven that has a pilot light so it's always warm. You can also turn the oven on for a minute then turn it off and place the dough to rise in it.
The filling
While the dough is rising, prepare the filling. Shred or slice the cheese if needed. Cook the diced bacon or ham in a pan until it's done. I usually leave it soft instead of crunchy bacon bits. Remove from heat and add 1/4C Brown Sugar, 1TBsp Ground Cinnamon and mix well.
Sprinkle a pastry mat generously with flour. Turn out the dough onto the pastry mat and sprinkle the top of the dough with additional flour.
Flour a rolling pin and roll the dough to about a 15x20" rectangle.
Spread the bacon filling over the dough and sprinkle/lay the cheese on top evenly.
Starting on the long end, roll the dough up tightly.
Cut into 24 slices and place in 2 greased 9x13 baking pans.
Cover the pan and allow the rolls to rise for 25 minutes or until nearly double. It's ok if they don't rise to double the size as they will still expand when you bake.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Warm 1C heavy cream until warm to the touch.
Once the rolls have risen, pour the heavy cream over the top of the rolls, allowing it to soak down in and around the rolls.
Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until the rolls are lightly golden brown and the center rolls are cooked through. I like it slightly under cooked so the center is very gooey, about 17 minutes.
Serve warm!
Notes
For cinnamon rolls, change the ingredients of the filling to: