Cheesy Parmesan "Bum" Rolls For Thanksgiving

So, I get up and make our Thanksgiving turkey and meal. By this point with the girls being as old as they are, I figure they know how to make most of the food I made while they were growing up.

For at least the last 16 years or more, we have always had Parmesan Cheesy Rolls for the holiday. I make rolls without cheese sometimes but the cheesy rolls are so much better that when I ask, they all want the cheesy rolls. 

I had Princess Three in the kitchen watching me prepare the turkey and asking questions. I KNOW I have showed them all how to make the turkey and really, here is a link to that post about how I cook the turkey upside down to keep it moist. I was surprised that she had questions, but was impressed that she was interested in learning how I do it. 

I learned this favorite of ours from my sister-in-law years back. I loved them so much that I asked how she made them. When she told me how EASY it was to make them, we were HOOOKED! 

Being gluten free, one thing I miss is rolls. I don't miss many things as I never enjoyed most flour products, but rolls and fresh bread have always been one thing I have enjoyed! 

I am sorry I didn't show the entire process but didn't think to post about it until I had already let the rolls rise. It isn't hard and you will really love how simple these are. 

If you make your own dough or choose to use frozen dough, it is the same. Once you have your dough rolled into balls, you spray the muffin tins with lots of non-stick coating and make sure you get the entire top of the muffin tin and NOT just the hole. 

Get a bowl, I use a dessert cup, and pour in either the shredded parmesan or the powdery "stinky cheese" type of parmesan cheese. I usually pour a small amount in and then refill it as needed so I don't waste the cheese. 

Take THAWED dough that is already rolled into balls and then just roll it into the cheese! If you use the chunky shredded, you can just mix it into the dough or dip it in an egg white or moisten it will a bit of water first so that the shreds will stick to the dough. Then place TWO of the balls into each muffin tin hole! 

I use Rhodes frozen rolls and put them in the fridge the night before I want to bake them so that they thaw some, making them easier to handle. 

Once they are rolled in cheese and you have two balls in the muffin tin, SPRAY the top of the rolls with non-stick cooking spray, or brush with melted butter! This step is important as two things will happen if you don't do this step. One, the tops of the rolls may dry out and crack or get hard and the rolls don't rise as well if they get hard.

The second, is that I have issues with not having things covered in the kitchen. I am a firm believer on never covering food with dish towels or fabric of any kind other than in the bread bowl and use only cloth napkins used only for that purpose. The food is baked by that point. So, to keep the rolls clean and moist, I cover the rolls with plastic wrap. If you don't put the non-stick spray on the top, the rolls rise and the plastic wrap sticks and when you pull the wrap off, the rolls fall and you have flat rolls! If you don't cover them, they can dry out. 


I have done all of the above mistakes and once I started using this method, I have perfect rolls every time.

Once the rolls have risen to the right height, I bake them at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes depending but I set timers for 10 minutes and check them and bake them in the center of the oven. If one side is getting darker at ten minutes, I rotate them and cook the last few minutes on the flipped side so they brown evenly if possible; I also do this when they are rising if one side is closer to a heat source and is rising faster, I will rotate them on the stove or counter so the other side will rise quicker making them more even. 

Check them frequently! I set the timer for 1 min at this point and constantly check and when they look golden, I pull one out and pull the two sides apart and make sue they are fully cooked in the middle.

When they are cooked, they look like a "bum" so they girls call them "bum" or "butt" roles which is totally rude, but take a look for yourself, they really do look like that once they have risen so take it with a grain.... 

Once they are out of the oven, you need to get them out of the pan quickly so they can breath and dry on the bottom. I pull them out and put them right into the bread basket and the ones that are extra, I pull out and turn sideways on the tin until they cool. If they are sticking as they do with the cheese on them, use a butter knife and gently slide it down the side and use it to ring the tin so the cheese unsticks and then you can pull the roll out without breaking it. 

I didn't even have all the rolls out of the tin before the girls were eating them and feeding them to each other in dramatic fashion so I had to stop what I was doing and take a picture because it was so funny they couldn't wait the two minutes for me to get them all out before eating one. That should tell you how much they enjoy these rolls! It looks as if it was steaming up her glasses! 

One of the girls asked during dinner "How many rolls each do we get?" as we have had to ration them in the past so that each would get even amounts as they go fast. I loved her reaction when she as told she could have SIX rolls!

Truly though, I asked about three times at the store yesterday if they thought that one bag of rolls was enough as I know they like to snack and pick at them through the day and several following days. I never throw them out, they always go. She was OVERJOYED to know she could have a full muffin tray just for herself!

I joked while making them that it was rough that I have to cook food I love but can't eat and the girls told me how terrible they will come out and I wasn't missing anything just to make me feel better! It was cute.

I just notice that Princess Three is borrowing Princess Five's apron I made several years ago for Christmas. Here is a link to that post.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving face-timing the little treasured grand children and their amazing parents many times throughout the day. It was so fun to see their cute little faces and now Grand-Prince One is recognizing us and interacting with us and today, I got him to jump with me. It was SO wonderful! Of course we missed Princess Four who is serving as  a missionary in Japan but are excited she is on the downhill side and will be home in six months! 

We are truly blessed and grateful for so much, after all, the "Secret" is Gratitude! Have a BLESSED and ABUNDANT Day!