Checkerboard Dinner Rolls

Checkerboard Dinner Rolls are delicious and pretty! Rolls are baked with poppy/sesame seeds and garlic alternately with cheese topped rolls.

Checkerboard Dinner Rolls

I was initially drawn to this recipe for checkerboard dinner rolls because of the attractiveness of their visual appearance. It’s easy to create the look since seeds and cheese have opposite coloring. These easy dinner rolls happen to be be buttery and delicious too!

🛒 Ingredients Needed:

• milk
• granulated white sugar
• butter
• salt
• active dry yeast
• warm water
• egg
• all purpose flour
• sesame seeds
• poppy seeds
• dried minced onion
• dried minced garlic
• yellow cornmeal
• Romano or Parmesan cheese

✏️ How to make Checkerboard Dinner Rolls:

*The complete, printable recipe with all ingredients and instructions is at the end of this post.

1. In a small saucepan, heat and stir the milk, sugar, ¼ cup butter and the salt over medium-low heat just until warm (105℉ to 115℉) and the butter almost melts. Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine the yeast and the warm water; stir to dissolve the yeast. Add the milk mixture and the egg to the yeast mixture. Gradually stir in enough of the flour to make a soft dough.
2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic (3 to 5 minutes total). Shape the dough into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease the surface of the dough. Cover; let rise in a warm place until double in size (about 60 minutes).
3. Grease a 15x10x1-inch baking pan; set aside. Punch the dough down; turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Shape the dough into 24 balls.
4. In a shallow dish, combine the sesame seeds, poppy seeds and dried minced onion. In another shallow dish, combine the cornmeal and cheese. In a third dish, add ¼ cup melted butter. Working quickly, roll 12 of the dough pieces in butter, then in the cheese mixture. Next, roll the remaining 12 pieces in butter and then the poppy seed mixture. Alternate the rolls setting them in the prepared pan- the result should remind you of a checkerboard. Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400℉. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden. Remove from the pan, and serve warm.

➡️ Recipe Tips:

• It’s helpful if you use an instant-read thermometer to help you measure the correct temperature of the milk, butter, sugar and salt. If it’s too warm, it will kill the yeast when combined. If too cold, the yeast won’t activate.
• Don’t use old yeast for this recipe. If it’s too old, the yeast won’t bloom when combined with the warm liquid.
• To create a warm place for rising, turn on the heat to your oven to 400 for one minute. Then TURN OFF the oven. Turn on the oven light. And you have a warm place for rising your rolls. An active laundry room is usually another good place for rising rolls.

Make Ahead Instructions:

These rolls will taste best when made and baked the same day. If you want to start making them the day before, you can prepare them through step 4 where they are covered with the plastic wrap and read for rising. At this point, you can place them in the refrigerator overnight. Take them out in the morning, and let them rise in a warm place. They’ll likely take a bit longer than 30 minutes to rise since they’ll be chilled. Rolls may also be made completely and warmed up later before serving.

❤️ What I Love About This Recipe:

1. This recipe pleases those who like seeds (the seeded rolls) and those who don’t (the cheese rolls).
2. I love the look of surprise and delight from those who get to see these rolls baked.
3. Warm, puffy rolls are so delicious spread with even more butter!

Favorite Dinner Roll Recipes:

• Soft Yeast Rolls
• Roasted Garlic and Rosemary Cloverleaf Rolls
• Sea Salt Rosemary Dinner Rolls
• Flaky Dinner Rolls
• Parker House Rolls