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Recipe

Cheese and Vegemite savoury scrolls

Prep time
20
Cook time
40
Skill level
Medium
Serves
12
A tray of freshly baked cheese and Vegemite scrolls, with three scrolls on a plate, a tasty savoury snack.

Enjoy freshly baked savoury scrolls at home, it just takes an hour. (ABC Everyday: Hetty McKinnon)

Hetty Lui McKinnon

Hetty Lui McKinnon is a food writer and cookbook author with a passion for vegetables. She's the author of five vegetarian cookbooks, and won the James Beard Award for Vegetable-Focused cooking in 2024.

Originally from Sydney, Hetty is currently living with her family in Brooklyn, New York.

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There is something incredibly comforting about local shopping centre bakeries and their particular brand of treats.

Pillowy finger buns streaked with pink icing and showered with coconut, soft rolls dotted with bacon bits and blanketed with melted cheese, perfectly rectangular loaves of white bread, and of course, the ubiquitous "cheesymite" scroll.

These joyous coils of bread, encasing a salty filling of Vegemite and melted cheese, is an enduring snack I still crave today.

Recently, feeling homesick for this childhood treat, I embarked on my own cheese and Vegemite scrolls.

The dough is incredibly simple, but it's a soft dough so don't be tempted to overwork it. The butter is pinched into the flour with your fingers, as you would for shortcrust pastry, so the presence of some larger pieces of butter in your dough is fine … these will make your scrolls crumblier.

Tips:

  • It's a sticky dough: Once you mix the flour, butter and milk, your dough will look sticky and you'll be tempted to add more flour, but resist. Flour your work surface well, and after you plop your wet dough on it, flour the top of your dough well again. Knead it gently, and soon enough, it will come together and look smooth. Of course, if it sticks, add a bit more flour but just in small amounts.
  • Make pizza scrolls or sweet ones: Where there is Vegemite, there should also be butter, so I employ these in equal amounts in the filling. If you're feeling adventurous, you could use this dough to make sweet buns such as cinnamon scrolls, or Nutella with jam, or experiment with different savoury fillings such as pesto, tomato and mozzarella, spinach and feta, or even roll up your leftover roasted veggies (finely chopped) along with your favourite melty cheese. The possibilities are endless, but cheese and Vegemite is a pretty good place to start!
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Cheese and Vegemite savoury scrolls

Prep time
20
Cook time
40
Skill level
Medium
Serves
12

Ingredients

For the dough:

For the filling:

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 180˚C. Take a large rectangular baking pan that's about 32cm x 22cm and spray with oil or grease with butter.
  2. Place flour, bicarbonate soda, sugar and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine. Cut the butter into small rough chunks and add to the flour. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour, squeezing the butter and tossing together, until the flour looks like chunky coarse sand – it doesn't need to be uniform and chunks of butter are fine. Add the milk and stir gently with a wooden spoon or spatula until a soft, sticky dough forms and there is no more dry flour.
  3. Generously flour your work surface. Transfer your dough to the floured surface, scatter more flour on top, and gently knead, just until the dough is smooth. Don't overwork it as you don't want tough scrolls.
  4. Soften the Vegemite by warming it in the microwave for 15 seconds. You can also do this in a small saucepan, over a low heat. This just makes it more spreadable.
  5. Roll out the dough into a large rectangle, about 50cm x 30cm, and about 1cm thick. Position the dough so the longer side faces you. Spread the softened butter all over the dough, followed by the Vegemite. Top with 2 cups of the cheese, spreading it over the Vegemite in an even layer, leaving about a 1cm border around the edge.
  6. Starting from the long edge closest to you, gently but tightly roll the dough into a log. Pinch the seam together.
  7. Using a knife, create some indents onto the dough, to create 12 equal pieces, and then cut the slices. Arrange the 12 rolls, cut side face up, into the pan, in a 3 x 4 pattern. Brush the tops and sides with melted butter, and scatter over the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.
  8. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the scrolls are golden. Eat warm or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. Rewarm in a low oven for about 10 minutes.
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