This recipe was created as an excuse to use up some frozen bread rolls I had in the freezer. I have experience with frozen pizza dough, and sure it rises, but nothing like these little rolls. My, they exploded right out of the pan. When I brought them out of the freezer they look so puny, and they were hard as a rock. “Give them 2-4 hours,” the package says, and they will double in size. Well they lied. These little bread rolls just about tripled in size, and so to my eyes, they were ripe for stuffing. I had some frozen meatballs on hand along with some marinara sauce. So I popped the meatballs inside the rolls, and then tucked them in real nice. I also tried a technique to create my own meatball butterflake poppers, using scissors to snip the tops, and they turned out so pretty and yummy, I just had to share.
- 24 yeast dinner rolls Frozen
- 24 ounce marinara Sauce
- 12 meatballs Italian Style - Fully Cooked
- 3 Tablespoons butter Melted
- 4 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese
- 2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning
- Roll frozen rolls in butter and place 2, flat sides together, in a muffin tin. Let raise in a warm place for 3 to 4 hours, or until doubled in size. Mine took 3 1/2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350°. Combine meatballs with 1 cup sauce. Place in microwave safe dish, cover, microwave on high for 3 minutes. Stir, microwave for 2 more minutes. Reserve the remaining sauce for dipping.
- Pull apart dough at seams, careful to separate dough almost, but not through the bottom of the dough. Place on meatball inside. Pinch the dough tightly together, and roll slightly down.
- Using kitchen shears, snip the top pinched area about 1/2" deep at the halfway point across the pinched dough. Then do the same two times on either side of the halfway point. Brush remaining melted butter in between the snips on the dough. Sprinkle with parmesan and italian seasoning. In the photo on the left I show the meatballs placed in the separated dough. The second colomn shows the dough being pinched tightly and somewhat rolled. The third column of rolls shows the pinch being snipped in 5 places and buttered.
- Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve with remaining marinara.
These rolls were great dipped in marinara, or by themselves. If there are any leftover, make sure to pop them in the refrigerator to keep cool.