In honor of the NFL kicking off tonight (and Dad’s birthday), here’s another tailgating recipe. These were a hit from the housewarming party (I think there were 3 varieties there), they’re easy to make, and they’re quite delicious, so I wanted to share the recipe!

The first time I had them was actually at a Clemson tailgate, when Lindsey made them.  I knew they were somewhat common during football season, and googling “tailgate sandwiches” provided the results I was looking for.  One website included “sassy” in the name, so I decided to keep that trend going..

Sassy Tailgate Sandwiches

Ingredients:

• 

  24 small Hawaiian sweet rolls (2 large packages), cut in half crosswise

• 1 lb ham (we got black forest)
• 1/2 lb provolone cheese
• 1 8-oz. container spreadable cream cheese
• 1/2 C (1 stick) butter, melted
• 1 T yellow mustard
• 1 T Worcestershire sauce
• 2 T dried minced onions
• 1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese
• Poppy seeds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray.  Cut the Hawaiian rolls in half, crosswise, so there’s a top and a bottom.  Line the bottom of the dish with the bottom halves of the rolls.  My 9×13 pan held about 18, so I got a smaller pan and put the other 6 bottoms in there — I wanted to cook all of them.

Top the rolls with ham and then provolone cheese.  I folded the ham instead of just laying it flat so it looked prettier and gave each sandwich more meat.  Spread the cream cheese on the bottom of each top of the roll.  I didn’t end up using the whole package, but probably half of it.  Put the tops on top of the provolone cheese layer, in the same formation as the bottoms.

In a medium bowl, combine the butter, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, onions and Parmesan cheese. Mix well and spoon evenly over tops of the sandwiches. Again, I didn’t use all of the mixture.  I basically spooned some on each roll’s top, and made sure it was spread evenly, without being excessive.

Then just sprinkle some poppy seeds over the top, to your liking.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until the sandwiches are warmed through and the cheese is melting. Cut at the seams and serve warm!

Results: These were seriously super fast to make (like in 10  minutes before people came over), delicious and great to eat later.  I’m sure I’ll be making these several more times for future football games..