The temptation to eat all of these in one sitting.
If you’re Australian, then you’ve most likely tasted the heavenly combination that is a Vegemite and cheese scroll, or Cheeseymite scrolls as they’re more commonly known.
There’s just something about the savouriness of Vegemite, paired with melted cheese and fluffy bread that always hits the spot, whether you’re munching on them for breakfast, lunch or as a snack.
So when Green’s Baking teamed up with Vegemite and brought out a DIY kit to make these scrumptious morsels, I just knew I had to try them out to see how the homemade version would compare. Let’s get baking!
Now, before we begin, I need to give you some context about my baking experience. I’m no MasterChef, but I consider myself to be alright — if we’re ignoring when I completely botched up making homemade Monte Carlos. But for the sake of my mental health, that recipe does not exist to me, so I was confident that I could smash out these Vegemite and cheese scrolls.
Isha Bassi /
The majority of the ingredients needed were provided in the kit — all that was required were some kitchen staples like Vegemite, cheese (I chose the already grated kind for an extra bit of convenience) and butter.
First, it was time to prepare the yeast mixture. In a small bowl, I added yeast (which came in the kit), some warm water and a tablespoon of the Vegemite and cheese scroll mixture. Then, I gave it a good mix and set it aside for five minutes.
Isha Bassi /
It was kind of lumpy, but I just kept on mixing in the hopes that it would disappear (like the problems in my life that I choose to ignore).
After that, I combined the remaining Vegemite and cheese scroll mixture, some warm water and the yeast concoction I had just made. At this stage, I ran into my first deviation from the recipe, which I was slightly nervous about because even an amateur such as myself knows how important measurements and directions are when baking. But I decided to say “fuck it” and power on.
Isha Bassi /
Basically, the recipe asked for a wooden spoon and I didn’t have one, so I just used a regular one. Sorry not sorry for the dramatics. Anyway, nothing bad happened and our dough was formed. Yay!
Now was the time to get my hands dirty. I emptied the dough onto my lightly floured bench top (bonus points for the ~aesthetics~), gave it a good knead (very cathartic and would highly recommend to anyone that needs some stress relief) and set it aside to rise in a cling-wrapped, greased bowl.
Isha Bassi /
Rise my dough baby, rise.
Thirty minutes later and my dough had doubled in size, which is exactly what it’s supposed to do, but I still was pleasantly surprised. The magic of yeast, ya know? Anyway, the next step involved rolling out the dough into a wide rectangle.
Isha Bassi /
As you can see, I took some creative liberties when it came to the, uh, rectangular shape of the dough. Close enough.
Next, I added some softened butter, Vegemite (make sure to spread to the edges for optimal deliciousness) and shredded cheese.
Isha Bassi /
All this rising, kneading and mixing was exhausting, tbh. I had half of a mind to chuck this in the oven and call it Vegemite pizza (a delicious concept), but I was so close to finishing that I decided to keep going.
As a word of advice, keep some snacks around to make sure your energy levels are high and that you can power through to the end.
Then, it was time to wrap it up into a log, cut out the scrolls and set them aside to rise, rise, rise.
Isha Bassi /
Look, I’ll be completely honest — I was pretty damn chuffed with these. They actually looked like scrolls, which was already a huge tick in my book. But I also loved how you could see the Vegemite and cheese poking out. Now, to hope that it doesn’t completely screw itself up during the cooking process.
After another 30 minutes, it was finally time to bake these delicious morsels. I popped them in the oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes and crossed my fingers that nothing terrible would happen.
Isha Bassi /
Farewell, my little creations. See you on the other side.
So, without further ado, here’s the final result! And y’all, take a peek at these Vegemite and cheese scrolls — they look bloody delicious and like they came out a food magazine photo shoot.
Isha Bassi /
Keep in mind that my kitchen also smelled delicious from baking these bad boys!
In case you weren’t already drooling, here’s a close up.
Isha Bassi /
LOOK AT THOSE CRISPY BITS!!! The cheese was melted to perfection, the scrolls held up nicely in terms of their shape and…enough talking, let’s taste them.
Biting in the scrolls was absolute heaven, especially since they were still warm from the oven. They were light and fluffy, and would go beautifully with a cup of tea. The only letdown was that the Vegemite flavour could have been more intense (see my deep concentration face in the middle photo as I contemplated this), but I would definitely rate the scrolls as a success.
Overall, it was a lot of fun to make homemade Vegemite and cheese scrolls! I will say that although the recipe was easy to follow, it was a lot of work — I was exhausted after making them (I don’t know how you bakers do it, but kudos to you!). There’s nothing like eating homemade baked goods though, so I would recommend making these with some mates on the weekend.
Albert Heijn / Giphy / Via giphy.com
That way you’ve got an extra pair of hands to help with the baking and the dreaded washing up portion.
What do you think of these Vegemite and cheese scrolls and would you try making them? Let me know in the comments!
