Savory Spiral Stuffed Rolls

I know you all think I'm a pessimist sometimes, and I guess I am. But I can't remember the last time I made something that totally lived up to my expectations. I browse food blogs, watch cooking shows on TV from time to time, pour over cookbooks, and find recipes that look so good that I can't wait to try them. I have a fairly long list of recipes that fall into this category (sometime next week I am going to attempt homemade french onion soup which I have always wanted to make but never tried). Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that a couple weeks ago I found these rolls on this food blog: http://www.melskitchencafe.com/ and have been anxiously waiting to try them. This is partly because the author's description makes them sound so irresistable. Don't get me wrong, they were still good (Brian really liked them, sans broccoli), but just not as good as I was expecting with the way she wrote about them. With my leftover pumpkin from the pumpkin cinnamon buns, I even made the pumpkin bars "Mel" has in her "Best" category. I'm not even going to post that recipe here because they were so disappointing. I am glad I made these though and I recommend them if you have all the ingredients here, a little bit of time, and want something slightly different for dinner. If you want it really healthy, you could probably use fat-free cream cheese, or they might even be good without the cream cheese at all.

Makes 12-16 rolls

1 recipe roll dough (that yields about 12 rolls), I used the recipe Mel recommended (the french bread roll recipe)

12 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened

2 cups chopped ham (leftover ham or deli ham works great here)

1 1/2 cups finely chopped broccoli (I only used broccoli on half the rolls b/c Brian hates it)

2 cups shredded cheese (Swiss, Cheddar..options are limitless)

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup finely chopped green onions

Follow the recipe for your roll dough until the dough has risen. Punch down the dough and roll the dough out into a large rectangle about 1/2-inch thick.

In a small bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese. Spread the rolled out dough with the butter/cream cheese mixture. Top with the ham, broccoli, cheese, Parmesan cheese, and green onions (see the pictures below). Roll the dough up, pinching the seam to seal.

Slice the roll into about 1-inch segments. Place the rolls on a lightly greased baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Let the rolls rise until nearly doubled and then bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, until lightly browned and bubbly.

*Personally, I think the rolls tasted better cool rather than right from the oven. The cream cheese mixture was too gooey and almost made the rolls taste doughy, but after they cooled it didn't have that effect.