Quick Easy Pull Apart Garlic Buns - No Waste Here

 

Do you struggle to use up all the bread that you bring into the house? I know I do. It is especially challenging when you are a person who lives all on their own. The birds in my back yard probably eat more of the bread that I buy than I do!  

I have tried freezing it, but in all honesty, that only works in the short term. I have found that it just doesn't keep as well as I would like it to. The quality is not the same, and so I just end up throwing it out to the birds anyways. There are some things you can do with it such as make breadcrumbs or croutons, but again, you can only use up so much of those as well.

  

It is hard to buy dinner rolls where I live in an amount any less than one dozen.  I always struggle to use them up while they are still fresh. Inevitably I end up having to get rid of most of them after a day or two when they go stale.

I stumbled across a recipe the other day on Brown Eyed Baker which repurposed dinner rolls in a novel and delicious looking way! I immediately bookmarked it to try the next time I had rolls that needed using up.

I made them today. Easy Pull Apart Garlic Buns. I found myself wondering why I had not thought of this myself! DUH!  I make garlic bread all the time with sliced bread or French bread, but why NOT use dinner rolls!

These are created by making diagonal cuts into the rolls almost all the way through and then applying a rich and delicious melted garlic butter and some cheese before wrapping them in foil and toasting them in the oven. The end result is a garlic dinner roll that has an abundance of crispy buttery crevices loaded with savory garlic and cheese.

Can you spell D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!!  (This is a small batch recipe which makes only six buttery, delicious, garlicky rolls. You can easily double it to make more.)

 

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE EASY PULL APART GARLIC BUNS

The main thing you will need is the rolls. Aside from them you probably already have everything you need in your kitchen!

• 6 dinner rolls, homemade or store bought
• 1/4 cup (60g) butter, melted
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 TBS minced fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup (45g) grated Parmesan cheese

 

I had store bought dinner rolls.  They usually come 12 in a pack, folded in half in the middle so that when you look at the package, you see full rolls on both sides. They are all joined together.

I used salted butter.  That is all I keep in the house.

I use ready minced refrigerated organic garlic. It comes in a small jar and keeps for quite a while in my refrigerator. I found that when it came to fresh garlic, I just wasn't using it like I used to as there is only me in the house. I was throwing a lot of it away, so I moved to the jarred garlic.

I confess I did not have fresh parsley in the house today. I used freeze-dried parsley flakes. It worked fine.

Try to grate your own Parmesan cheese if you can and use a good one. There is not a lot of cheese in these and so you want to use one that tastes good and will have a greater impact flavor wise.

HOW TO MAKE EASY PULL APART GARLIC BUNS

These only look complicated. Trust me when I tell you that they are a lot easier to make than they look!

Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Line a 7 by 11-inch baking dish with some aluminum foil, leaving a large overhang of six inches on both long edges.

Using a serrated knife, cut across the tops of the dinner rolls at 1-inch intervals in one direction, stopping short about 1/2 inch from the bottoms. Turn the rolls 180 degrees and repeat so that you have 1/2-inch squares cut through the rolls, whilst leaving them intact on the bottom.

Place onto the center of the foil in the baking dish.

Whisk together the melted butter, garlic, salt and parsley.

 

Gently pry open the cuts on the rolls and drizzle some between each of the cuts, dividing it as equally amongst the rolls and reserving some for the end.

Push some Parmesan cheese down into the cuts. Drizzle the remaining butter over the tops.

Pull the foil from the sides up over top of the rolls and seal shut on all sides.

Bake for 15 minutes. Pull open the foil and bake for a further 5 to 8 minutes until the rolls are lightly browned and the cheese has melted.

Serve immediately to your appreciative family!

You don't have to use stale rolls to make these. You can use fresh rolls as well. I used the ones that you buy at the grocery store that are baked all together that you just pull apart to serve.  They usually come 12 to a pack. At least they do here.

You could also use dinner rolls that you have made yourself. I have an excellent recipe for Pull Apart Dinner Rolls here. They are excellent! I highly recommend!

 

These were really, really nice.  The cuts got all crisp, buttery and golden brown. Quite moreish really. It was an excellent way to repurpose some dinner rolls that might have otherwise been thrown to the birds.

I highly recommend. I think chopped pepperoni would also be nice between the cuts, or is that going a bit too far??? You decide!

 

ADDITIONAL GARLIC BREAD RECIPES YOU MIGHT ENJOY

I am one of those people who thinks the addition of bread of some sort turns just about any meal into a celebration. I am awfully fond of garlic bread, especially with pasta.  Here are a few other garlic bread options that are simple to make and that you might also enjoy! 

GUY FIERI'S GARLIC BREAD - This is quite unlike the usual garlic bread. It is loaded with texture and flavor. Two secret ingredients, chopped spring onions and hot sauce, take it over the edge to create one of the most delicious garlic breads you could ever want to eat!

GARLIC PARMESAN PULL-APART BREAD - This is a simple garlic pull-apart bread created with biscuits.  I have given you the option of using either a refrigerated brand of biscuits or a homemade one from scratch. Either way it is delicious. Excellent served with soups, stews and salads, but they also make a fabulous side dish on Italian nights, or even game nights, with hot marinara sauce for dipping them in!

Yield: 6 garlic rolls

Author: Marie Rayner

Easy Pull Apart Garlic Buns

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 23 MinTotal time: 33 Min

These tasty garlic rolls are a delicious way to refresh stale dinner rolls. They are a fabulous alternative to the traditional garlic bread. This is a small batch recipe which can easily be doubled for a larger crowd.

Ingredients

• 6 dinner rolls, homemade or store bought
• 1/4 cup (60g) butter, melted
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 TBS minced fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup (45g) grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Line a 7 by 11-inch baking dish with some aluminum foil, leaving a large overhang of six inches on both long edges.
2. Using a serrated knife, cut across the tops of the dinner rolls at 1-inch intervals in one direction, stopping short about 1/2 inch from the bottoms. Turn the rolls 180 degrees and repeat so that you have 1/2-inch squares cut through the rolls, whilst leaving them intact on the bottom.
3. Place onto the center of the foil in the baking dish.
4. Whisk together the melted butter, garlic, salt and parsley.
5. Gently pry open the cuts on the rolls and drizzle some between each of the cuts, dividing it as equally amongst the rolls and reserving some for the end.
6. Push some Parmesan cheese down into the cuts.
7. Drizzle the remaining butter over the tops.
8. Pull the foil from the sides up over top of the rolls and seal shut on all sides.
9. Bake for 15 minutes. Pull open the foil and bake for a further 5 to 8 minutes until the rolls are lightly browned and the cheese has melted.
10. Serve immediately to your appreciative family!

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