Vegan MOFO: Cheese and Onion Rolls – Vegan and Gluten Free!

Welcome to day 5 of Vegan Mofo! How are we feeling? Still full of energy and excited to bake? Today’s daily theme is to make something with pastry so I thought back to what I used to love eating before my vegan and gluten-free days. Back when I was a vegetarian there weren’t as many vegetarian sausage roll options as we have now so I always had a cheese and onion roll instead. You know the ones, the anaemic looking 4 pack in every supermarket’s fridge (I’m particularly thinking of Iceland!). Now there are vegan sausage rolls everywhere (sadly they’re not gluten-free) but I have yet to see a basic cheese and onion roll. Well folks, time to make our wishes come true!

These cheese and onion rolls are super easy to make and are really good replacements for the cold cheese and onion roll of old! They are really nice warm with a melty cheesy filling and once they have cooled down the filling sets to a lovely creamy texture. I adapted this recipe from a recipe I found on BBC Good Food to make it suitable for vegans, coeliacs and any other cheese and onion roll fans!

I could be described as lazy here because I used ready rolled gluten-free puff pastry. Let’s be honest, this would never get past Paul Hollywood and I would never receive my coveted handshake! But while we’re being honest, who can make good gluten-free and vegan puff pastry from scratch and who has the time anyway? At £1.85 from ASDA, this stuff is a godsend. You’ll also need a 200g block of Violife, some potatoes, and an onion. I also used some Flora light margarine (which is now vegan), some nutritional yeast, thyme and garlic powder.

We start off by chopping the potato into small pieces and boiling it until soft. Then fry the onion in some margarine, thyme, and garlic before mixing it all together. I then added a good sprinkling of nooch! Cut the pastry into 6 pieces and add some filling to the middle of each piece before rolling them up. You’ll want to make sure the filling doesn’t go right to the edge so push it further in if it does! Use a fork to press down the edges and with a bit of water on your finger, press them together. I had no problem with these popping open in the oven, even without the BBC’s recommended egg wash! I baked for around 30 minutes, turning these babies over halfway through and then popped onto a cooling rack to cool down. Viola, tasty cheese and onion rolls! I had quite a lot of filling left so it’s in my freezer ready for next time I need a cheesy fix!

 

Cheese and Onion Rolls

Ingredients

• ready rolled gluten free and vegan pastry (ASDA or Just Roll do good ones)
• 200g violife cheese
• 1 onion, chopped
• a couple of potatoes, peeled and chopped
• some vegan margarine for frying
• thyme, salt and pepper to taste
• a sprinkling of nooch

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease two baking trays.
2. Peel and chop your potatoes into small cubes and add to a pan of boiling water until they are cooked through. This won’t take long so keep an eye on them!
3. While they are cooking, add a couple of tablespoons of margarine to a frying pan and fry the onions. I added a little sprinkling of garlic and thyme at this point.
4. Leave the onions and potatoes to cool slightly while you grate the cheese and then mix it all together with some nutritional yeast.
5. Cut the pastry into 6 pieces (see the photo above) and add some filling to the middle of each one. Roll the pastry into a sausage roll shape and use your finger to push the filling into the middle, leaving enough room at the ends to squash the pastry together. Use a fork to press down the ends and to prick the middle to let any steam out.
6. Place in the oven for around 30 minutes or until golden brown. Make sure you turn the rolls over about 15 minutes into the cooking time to give them an even colouring.

What have you all been baking today? Have you seen any great recipes in today’s MOFO? Please pop them below in case I miss anything good!