The Savory "Cinnamon Roll", Part I

A couple of weeks ago, Robin Sue of Big Red Kitchen, had mentioned getting together sometime to cook. I couldn't have been happier because I know what a great chef she is. She was actually my Biology teacher back in ninth grade, and since then, I've had plenty of chances to try out some of culinary creations. And I must say, she makes some especially yummy Italian food!

She surprised me with a neat idea, creating a savory "cinnamon roll". So we put our heads together, not literally, and had some fun experimenting. Instead of a sweet dough, we were going to be using the 5 minute artisan bread. And for the filling, instead of a cinnamon and sugar mixture, we went with a herb and cheese mixture. We were thinking of making a cheesy Alfredo type of sauce to drizzle over the finished product, and really give it the "cinnamon roll" look. That however didn't quite work out, but we are going to work on that. In the end we made two batches of "savory cinnamon rolls", each slightly different.

The First Batch
The first batch we made was more simple then the second. It reminded me a lot of garlic bread, but more fancy. :) Robin Sue also whipped up some homemade marinara, with lots of yummy herbs from her garden to go with it.

We started by rolling the dough out into a large rectangle, and then let it rest while we went to cut the herbs.


Then then there was the garlicky herb spread. Robin Sue minced the garlic up Emerald Style. :)


The garlic was sauteed and then added to some melted butter, along with the chopped herbs, salt, and pepper. We let it come to a simmer and then spread it over the rolled out dough.


Next, we sprinkled some yummy Italian mixture of cheeses:mozzarella, Romano..., over the dough and then some red pepper flakes, which added a tad bite. Then everything was rolled up inside to keep all the delicious gooeyness inside while it baked. We cut the roll into eight individual rolls and placed them in a round spring form pan. We didn't put a pan under it, so we had a smokey mess when the butter spread started dripping out. So if you make these, make sure you have a second pan underneath them. :)

They baked at about 350 F. for 25 minutes and were then ready to be enjoyed!!

Although these were amazing...we didn't get the desired cinnamon roll look on the inside. Everything kind of fused together. I'm not sure how we could get that look with this one without adding more cheese, and making it too greasy.