Cheesy Pesto Rolls

I've been loving on recipes from How Sweet It Is for years now, and once again find another winner with this delicious pesto bread.  They're packed with flavor, an amazing balance of soft with crispy cheesy tops, and just right for sprucing up any dinner.
On a side note, this recipe makes the rolls from scratch.  You could easily use store-bought rolls and top them with the pesto and cheeses, but you won't get anywhere near the rich flavor and amazing texture you get with the from-scratch approach.

Cheesy Pesto Rolls

Makes: 14 large rolls  Total Time: 3 hours

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm milk
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 packet (2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided, plus more for work surface
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons plus 1/3 cup basil pesto, divided (I bought a jar of pesto, but you can easily make some by blending fresh basil and olive oil in a blender or food processor)
• 1/4 cup finely grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, plus more for topping
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 6 ounces fontina cheese, freshly grated
• Chopped fresh basil for garnish

Directions

1. Mix the warm milk and water in the bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment.  Add the yeast and honey, then the olive oil.  Let stand until foamy (about 15 minutes).  Note: The foaming will be obvious.  If the mixture looks the same as when you started, your yeast may not be good.  If so, start again with another packet of yeast.
2. Add 2 1/2 cups of the flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of the pesto, and 1/4 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese.  Mix on medium-low speed until just incorporated.  Switch to the dough hook, knead on low speed, and slowly add the remaining 1 cup of flour.  Mix on low speed for 5-6 minutes.  The dough should be slightly sticky but still pull away from the sides of the bowl.  If it's too sticky, slowly add more flour until silky in appearance.
3. Oil a large bowl.  Turn out the dough into the oiled bowl, cover with a damp dish cloth, and set in a warm place (such as on top of a warm oven).  Let stand 1 1/2 to 2 hours until dough is roughly doubled in size.
4. Lightly flour a work surface, gently turn your dough out onto the surface, and knead a few times.  Tear off 12-15 equal pieces of dough.
5. Preheat oven to 350°.  Brush a large oven-safe skillet with melted butter.  Roll your pieces of dough into balls and place in the skillet.  Brush with the melted butter and sprinkle with the grated fontina cheese.  Spread the pesto on top and between the rolls.
6. Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden and cooked through.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with some more parmigiano-reggiano cheese and chopped fresh basil.  Serve warm.

Little dough balls waiting for the pan.

Nestled in, topped with cheese and pesto.  Already smells great!

Loooook at that golden amazing wonderfulness!

Pro tip: Whenever you make something with a skillet in the oven, put an oven mitt on the handle when you take it out.  This way, when you inevitably reach for the handle, you touch the mitt and not the blazing hot handle.

Beautiful!

I don't care that I'm writing this at 9 am.  I want some RIGHTNOW.

Parmesan Garlic Breadsticks

Well hello there. It's been a while, hasn't it?  Both my blogging and my cooking took a right turn to nowhere during the month of August.  My summer class was tough, and summer is the busiest time of year at work.  Perfect storm to lead to quick meals and a neglected blog.

Anyway, trying to get back in the saddle a bit, I'll share my experience with these tasty but a bit tricky breadsticks.  My friend Sarah pinned these ages ago for a Pinterest party and they've been lurking on my recipes board for ages now.  I finally made them and wonder where to rank them in my ever growing list of garlic-flavored bread sides.  They have the garlic monkey bread, knots, and Domino's bread bites to contend with!

Ingredients

• 1 tube refrigerated pizza dough (like Pillsbury's)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (from the can; not freshly grated)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon parsley, minced
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter
• Black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Mix Parmesan, garlic, and parsley in a small bowl.  Set aside.
3. Roll out dough to full rectangular shape (about 12" x 9").  Brush with the melted butter.  
4. Sprinkle half the dough with the Parmesan mixture and pepper.  Fold other side of dough on top and gently press together.
5. Use a pizza cutter to cut 1" strips of dough.  Twist the dough strips tightly and set on the baking sheet.  If you look at my picture against the one in the original post, you can see that I wound up with some fatty breadsticks.  I think that I cut them larger than 1" wide, and didn't twist too tightly so I got these floppy ones instead of the crispier looking ones in the original recipe.  Just some advice depending on the texture you want.
6. Bake 8-10 minutes or until puffed and golden.
7. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then serve warm.

Domino's Parmesan Bread Bites

Ok guys, this one is a work in progress.  Ever since Domino's came out with their Parmesan bread bites, I've been in love.  A few weeks ago, my husband dared me to recreate them at home.  Sure enough, I was able to find a recipe on Pinterest.  I didn't have have the patience to make my own bread dough, so I cheated and got the Pillsbury pizza dough in the blue can.  No shame here.  Mine came out really tasty and I thought they were really close to the real deal, if a tiny bit garlicy.

Ingredients

• 1 can Pillsbury pizza dough
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (use the green can for this one, not the fresh stuff), plus 2 tablespoons for sprinkling
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425°.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Roll out the dough into its rectangle shape.  Using a pizza cutter, cut into thick strips.  Roll the strips to make 1" wide snakes of dough (like you're playing with Play Doh again!).  Cut the snakes into 1", bite size pieces.
3. Arrange dough onto prepared cookie sheet, and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese.  Bake until golden and puffy.  I used the dough baking guidelines and mine were at that point after about 11-15 minutes I think.  
4. While bites are baking, mix remaining ingredients in a large zip top bag.  When bites are done baking, add to bag and shake to thoroughly coat the bites in the seasoning mix.

If you make any modifications, please share!  I plan to modify this recipe as I try variations.