2 Ingredient Dough Stuffed Bagel Balls
2 Ingredient Dough Stuffed Bagel Balls- A quick and simple yeast free dough surrounds small bites of cream cheese for a deliciously easy, portable breakfast.
February 16, 2021 by Nicole Collins
Déjà vu!
Yes, that’s what it must be. Because, my favorite magical dough is making an appearance today!
You know what I’m talking about. It’s 2 Ingredient Dough!
I was chatting about dinner with my friend the other day, as we usually do daily; and she was telling me of her plans to make deep dish pizza skillets for her family. So she went to make her dough, realized her yeast was expired, and decided to go for it anyway.
Guess what, folks? There’s a lot of things that we can get away with using past their expiration dates, but yeast is not one of them.
So, not surprisingly, her dough did not rise. But, she was committed to the cause at this point. So, she took a little sample of the dough, made a 1 bite pizza sample, and popped it in the oven the oven to see what would happen.
No dice.
So, I went through a whole list of potential things that she could pizzafy. French bread pizzas. Frozen garlic bread pizza. Pizza totchos. Pizza quesadillas. And after an extensive brainstorm, I was out of ideas to help save her dinner.
Until I wasn’t!
When all else fails, 2 ingredient dough is always there to save the day. She didn’t have Greek yogurt, but she did have sour cream (which also works!). And, she was able to easily make her own self rising flour by adding a little baking powder and salt to regular all purpose flour.
CRISIS AVERTED!
So, now that we’re covered how this truly magical dough can save family dinner for 6 in a pinch, let’s talk about how it can save breakfast.
Today, we’re making 2 Ingredient Dough Stuffed Bagel Balls!
Here’s how this is going to go down…we’re going to whip up a batch of the infamous 2 ingredient dough. Then, we’ll stuff the dough with cream cheese, roll the dough into cute little balls, flavor the tops with whatever our hearts desire, and throw them in the oven to become perfectly golden and delicious. It’s the absolute perfect plan!
Let’s start with the dough. It’s a very simple mix of self rising flour and plain Greek yogurt. I like to add a little extra pinch of salt to this bagel dough to help balance out some of that tanginess from the yogurt. But once we have our dough mix, we’ll knead it a couple of times, divide it out into 8 equal portions, roll them flat into round discs, and get them ready for stuffing!
To stuff our bagel balls, we’re going to use little dollops of cream cheese that we plop right in the center of our dough rounds. I like to start with cold cream cheese, because I find that it helps prevent the cream cheese from melting into the dough while it bakes. This way, we have a nice and profound bite of cream cheese when we bite into our balls.
After we have our cream cheese divided out, we’ll wrap our dough around the cream cheese, pinch the seams, and gently roll it into a perfect little ball. Then it’s time to brush it in egg wash, and choose our flavorings!
Now, there are a couple of ways that we can flavor our bagel bites. We can use any and everything to sprinkle on top of our little bagel balls before the go into the oven. We can use everything bagel seasoning. We can use flaky salt. We can use sesame seeds. We can go sweet and use cinnamon sugar. But, we can also flavor our bagel balls from the inside too. Feel free to swap out plain cream cheese for the flavored cream cheese of your dreams. The possibilities and flavor combinations are truly endless!
Once our bagel balls have been brushed and flavored, into the oven they go to get perfectly golden brown. They will rise a little bit in the oven as they bake, so make sure you give them a little breathing room on your sheet pan.
When our bagel babes finish baking, it’s time to eat! The bagels get a light chewy coating on the outside, reminiscent to traditional bagels. And, the insides are light and fluffy with that warm gooey cream cheese oozing at the seams. They could not be a more perfect, poppable, on the go bite.
And, bonus! If you’re not serving all of these at once, you can store leftovers in the fridge and reheat them in the toaster oven (or even the microwave) for a few minutes to bring them back to life. These are best served warm, but they can totally be eaten chilled in a hurry.
Ok, everyone! What’s next on our 2 ingredient dough journey? Maybe deep dish pizza skillet???
Stay tuned, and let’s eat!
2 Ingredient Dough Stuffed Bagel Balls
Serves: 4 Print
Ingredients:
1 cup self rising flour, plus more for dusting
1 cup non-fat plain greek yogurt
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg, well beaten
everything bagel seasoning, sesame seeds, flaky salt, and/or dried minced onion, for topping
4 oz cold cream cheese, divided into 8 equal pieces (about 1 tbsp each)
olive oil cooking spray
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lightly spray with olive oil cooking spray. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, add flour, yogurt, and 1/8 tsp salt. Mix with a spoon until ingredients start to come together, then use your hands to fully combine the mix and form a dough. (It will be a little tacky.) Dust a clean surface with flour. Turn the dough out on to the floured surface, and move it around in the flour to help reduce some of the stickiness of the dough. Knead the dough two times, turn the dough a quarter of a turn, and repeat until you've kneaded the dough 16 times total, adding more flour as necessary. The dough should not be sticky. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions.
Take one portion of dough, and flatten it into a circle that's roughly 3-3 ½ in round. Place 1 piece of cream cheese in the center, and wrap the dough around the cream cheese to form a ball. Pinch the ends together tightly to completely close the seam. Place on prepared baking sheet, seam side down. Repeat with remaining dough.
Brush the bagel balls all over with beaten egg. Sprinkle 1/8 tsp of your desired topping over the top of each bagel ball. Bake for 25-27 mins until the bagel balls are golden brown. Remove from oven, and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Recipe notes:
*These bagels balls are best served warm. If you have leftovers, store them in a sealed container in the fridge once cooled. These can be reheated in the oven at 400 degrees for about 5-6 minutes.
*This recipe is easily doubled! There's enough egg wash to make at least 2 batches.
*I find that starting with cold cream cheese helps prevent the cream cheese from melting into the dough while the bagels are in the oven.
*To help close the seams on the balls and keep the ball shape, I like to treat these like I'd handle little pizza dough balls. Once you've pinched the seam closed, place the ball seam side down on your floured surface. Using both hands, gently spin the ball in a clockwise motion for a couple of rotations. So, you're basically twisting the seam shut against your floured surface. Then, transfer the ball to your baking sheet.
*The stickiness of your dough can depend on the water content of your yogurt. Don't be afraid to add more flour a little at a time as you're kneading and rolling your dough. The goal is to make sure the dough isn't sticking to any surfaces. I used about an additional ¼ cup of flour.
*If you want to try a flavored cream cheese, mix ½ tsp shredded cheddar and ½ tsp minced fresh chives into 1 piece of cream cheese before adding it to your dough ball.
*The topping possibilities are endless! Make these savory or sweet. Stuff them with store bought or homemade flavored cream cheeses. The world is your oyster!
