Bonus Blog Post: Recipe for Pimiento Cheese Sausage Rolls

To all my regular readers, this is a bonus. One of my other loves is cooking and baking. This last Sunday, I cooked for Fellowship Hour at church and made several recipes that people loved. They asked for the recipes and I thought to myself--what's the easiest way to share?

Why, the internet, of course!

So here's one of those...come back next Wednesday for more (or not, if you're here only for the books). Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Breakfast and Brunch

Pimiento Cheese Sausage Rolls

(Prep time: 15 minutes, Total 1 hours, plus 40 minutes standing)

Ingredients:

2 packages fresh pizza dough (from Publix bakery or your own favorite local place or heck, make the dough yourself if you're so inclined)

16 oz. bulk ground pork sausage

6 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, plus more for sprinkling

6 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 jars (7 ounces each) diced pimientos, drained

2 tablespoons grated sweet onion

1 ½ teaspoon garlic powder

All-purpose flour, for work surface

(Original recipe called for fresh chives for garnish; I didn’t use)

Instructions:

1.      Let dough stand, covered, at room temperature, until no longer cold to the touch, about 30 minutes (or more).

2.      Place sausage, cheddar, cream cheese, pimientos, onion, and garlic powder in a large bowl. Use a heavy-duty wooden spoon to stir together and thoroughly mix. Cover and chill until ready to use.

3.      Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

4.      Roll out dough (combine the two packages) on a lightly floured work surface and stretch into a 16 x 12 rectangle (this took some work so be patient).

5.      Dollop the sausage mixture around the dough. Use a knife or spatula to gently spread to the edge. Starting with one long edge, roll up dough, jelly roll style, to create a log.

6.      Use a serrated knife, cut log crosswise evenly into one-inch slices…the original recipe calls for a 7x11 inch pan, but I didn’t have that so used a 9x13 (and increased the ingredients). I actually ended up with four slices in a second pan…great for a crowd.

7.      Lightly grease the glass or ceramic baking dish. Sprinkle tops of rolls with desired amount of Cheddar; cover with aluminum foil.

8.      Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove foil, and continue baking until tops of rolls are golden brown and a thermometer inserted into the thickest portion of the sausage registers 165 degrees, 20 to 25 minutes.

9.      Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes. Garnish with chives, if desired, and serve, or store, covered in refrigerator up to 3 days.

10. For church, I reheated at 350 for thirty minutes, transported, and it was still hot (in my carrier).  Got comments like “fantastic” and “wonderful.” Enjoy!

*I modified this recipe from Ivy Odom, Southern Living magazine, December 2023 issue, page 29.

Enjoy!!