Bacon Swirls Recipe

By SimonFernandez (@theferdie)

These - amongst other excellent pastry thingies - are something me mum used to make for us at Christmas, I made them for Uyen one time and ever since I quite often hear her chanting "bacon swirls! bacon swirls!!" This weekend we had a lovely group of people who also commented not only on the swirls but also about loving to cook so here's for you guys Keith and Kate : ) this will make around 16 swirls.

Ingredients:
400g flakey pastry
150g soft cheese,
12 rashers bacon, (smoked or plain)
1 onion shredded,
1/2 bunch (20g) parsley coarsely chopped,
150g cheddar grated,
1 clove garlic – crushed and mixed in to onion
1 egg - for shine

Method:
Flour your surface and rolling pin so pastry doesn't stick to either.
Roll out the pastry (click here for recipe) into a rectangle 30cm x 45 about 2mm thick.
Spread a thin layer soft cheese onto all the pastry using a palette knife, leaving an inch clear at the top.
Cover the cheese with the bacon and then sprinkle the cheddar, garlic and onion mix and parsley on top.

Use a brush to wet the top inch of pastry so it seals, and roll the pastry from the bottom until sits onto of the clear inch.
You should now have a 45cm roll of bacon cheese loveliness (and naughtiness!!)
Oil the base of a baking tray then cut your roll into approximately 2.5 cm slices and place them side ways into the tray.
Coat the tops and sides of the rolls with beaten egg to give a shiny finish.

Tip: remove the rind from the bacon this makes the rolls easier to cut, and use a very sharp large knife using long strokes to get a nice clean cut.

Tip: don't place the rolls too close together, they need room to spread as they cook, at least 3 cm between rolls.

Tip: for a veggie version, you need to adjust the pastry recipe to use butter, and take out the bacon, these are quite nice with some cajun spice added too!