This is a traditional recipe from Northern Dobruja (Romania) which consists of crescent rolls filled with cheese and herbs. We call them „kerdele” and they are a savory form of cheese pie. These „kerdele” are delicious, rich and nourishing. House wives from Dobruja bake them often, when they make homemade bread. Actually they keep a small quantity of bread dough to make these little savory cheese pies.
Ingredients Cheese Stuffed Crescent Rolls
► For the dough:
- 250 ml warm water
- 25 g active yeast (fresh)
- 500 g all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 20 ml vegetable oil
► For the filling:
- 200 g salted cheese, grated
- a bunch of green onions, chopped
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 bunch fresh dill, chopped
- 2 large eggs (or 3 smaller eggs), beaten
►For finishing:
- 50 g butter
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 2 tablespoons milk (optional)
Directions Cheese Stuffed Crescent Rolls
►Preparing the dough: Ground the yeast, mix it with sugar. Pour warm water, whisk to combine, sprinkle a pinch of flour, cover and leave to rise for about 20 minutes. After that period, combine the yeast mixture with flour and knead until all flour are incorporated. Place the dough into a large bowl, cover with a plastic wrap and let rise until doubles its volume.
► Preparing the filling: Heat a tablespoon of oil into a skillet, add the chopped scallions and cook until tender; then mix with grated cheese, parsley, dill and eggs. There’s no need to add salt, as the cheese is salted enough.
Grease a baking tray with butter. Divide the dough into 5 cm diameter balls. Powder the table with flour. Take each of the balls, stretch them into a rectangular shape (about 15/10 cm), place 2-3 tablespoons of cheese filling in the middle and bring the edges together. Brush the edges with egg white as a glue. Divide each roll into 3 or 4 smaller rolls (pies). Place the pies into the greased tray, at a distance of about 1 cm from each other. Continue until all the dough is used and the tray is full. Cover with a fabric towel and leave the rolls to rest for about 20 minutes at room temperature. Meanwhile, turn on the oven at 175 Celsius.
►For finishing, divide the butter into small pieces and place them on top of each pie from the tray. Put the tray into the oven and bake until the pies are slightly golden brown (about 30 minutes).
Meanwhile, beat the eggs with sour cream (if the cream is too thick, add some milk). When the pies are golden brown, take off the tray from the oven, pour over the egg-cream mixture (be sure to cover all the pies) then insert the tray back in the oven and continue to bake until the pies are nicely browned (another 1-15 minutes).
Serve immediately, with red wine (adults) or fresh yogurt (children).
YUMMMY!!!! I LOVE the way these rolls look Simona! I’ve got to make them soon. Question about the slated cheese: is that just any kind of hard cheese, like a cheddar? Or is it a brined cheese, like a feta?
Karrie, the cheese I used in this recipe is a traditional type called „telemea” and it’s a kind of brined cheese 🙂
Nice! I make sandwich bread frequently and I think my dough would work in these. Thanks for the info on the cheese. I think a feta would be similar (and available in my supermarket) for the filling.