Pepperoni Rolls

Get ready, seriously. This recipe is so simple, yet so darn good, you, your kids, and your neighbors are going to be coming back for more. Let me just say, you cannot just eat one. This was justified by my family tonight. Here is the deal. I grew up with two really good cooks, my mom and my dad. I should not classify them as cooks as I should parents, as they both held full-time jobs, however figured out to make time for family meals. Dinner was important, and it is something I try to bring to my family; to sit down and have dinner together as a family. This can be a difficult task, depending on the variables (how many kids, work schedule, etc), however my parents always pulled it off, and we are doing ok ourselves.

Back to the topic, pepperoni rolls. I cannot tell you enough how killer these are. Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

• Rhodes Dinner Rolls (make as many as you want)
• 2-4 Sticks of Pepperoni (depending on how many rolls you make)
• Block of mozzarella cheese, or cheddar cheese
• Butter
• Appetite

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Then grease it with the butter, approximately one tablespoon or so. Take the frozen dinner rolls and place onto the sheet. I placed mine in a non-heated oven for approximately one hours and thirty minutes. Keep in mind this is a thaw process. Once the dough starts to thaw, cut your pepperoni sticks into 1 to 2 inch thick chunks, this goes the same with the mozzarella. Keep in mind that when you are cutting the meat and cheese to take a look at the size of the roll. It is not that big, however it does form pretty easily.

Once you are ready to embed the pepperoni and cheese, take one dough ball and with cheese going down first and the pepperoni stacked on top of that, push it down into the dough roll. Then begin to work the dough around the filler. This sounds weird, and I had to call my mom just to make sure, but no worries, it is pretty simple to do and only took me like six minutes to complete. Repeat this process until all dough is formed. I made a full baking pan, approximately twenty rolls. 😉

Now is where you need to be patient. Not because the dough itself is a thing of beauty, but you have to let this rise, three times its size. Place a towel over the baking pan, and let rise in a warm room. Being that I am in Wisconsin, and there is no warm room, I placed back into the oven, covered for nearly six hours. Trust me, the time is worth it.

Once the rolls have risen, remove the towel, and remove them from the oven, then preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Let bake for nearly twenty minutes or until a light to medium golden brown. Let them sit for five minutes or so (I confess, I ate them right away), then go at it. For one of my kids who complains about pepperoni being on a pizza, he did not complain about eating three huge chunks of pepperoni out of the rolls. Go figure. I had these with a vegetable soup, then as a snack, however these things will rock as an appetizer at a party. Look out for another post or update to these as I have my own ideas as to handle these morsels of love. P.S. Keep in mind I did not shoot the last picture as to what is inside, it is truly a treat, and hence why only a small plate full are left. 🙂