The Pillsbury Bake-Off Winner For 2019 Is A Dublin Cheeseboard-Stuffed Appetizer Bread

We've all had a life-changing meal, but for Melissa Jollands, a simple cheeseboard she had at her hotel in Dublin, Ireland, truly was life altering. Her Dublin Cheeseboard-Stuffed Appetizer Bread, inspired by her trip abroad, beat out thousands of entries and three other finalists to be dubbed the winner of the Pillsbury Bake-Off 2019.

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The Michigan native told The Daily Meal about how a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Dublin helped to inspire her appetizer.  After flying across the ocean and exploring the sights of the city, she and her husband were exhausted and sought respite in the restaurant attached to their hotel. "We just wanted a small bite and we ordered the cheeseboard, which came with different Irish meats, cheeses, nuts and jams. It may sound silly, but it was the best meal we had all trip." 

To translate those flavors into her winning dish, the mother of three replaced some of the Irish meats and cheeses with American favorites like salami and cheddar, along with goat cheese for a bit of a tang. "I took all of the ingredients that I would use in a bread and put them in Pillsbury's refrigerated French bread so I could focus on the flavor."

The result is salty, creamy, cheesy, crunchy and just a bit sweet thanks to a garnish of dried apricots and fig preserves. Basically, it is what is says it is: all of the deliciousness of a cheeseboard rolled into one portable slice of bread.

It only took one time for Jollands to test out this recipe before she nailed it, though she admitted that keeping the number of ingredients to eight was her biggest struggle. But tying the recipe to a personal story really helped her to develop her entry. While she had entered the Pillsbury Bake-Off before, this one was finally the winner for her.

As a part of her prize, Jollands will receive a kitchen makeover from GE appliances, $50,000 in cash and a feature in an upcoming issue of Food Network Magazine. And along with other home renovations, she and her husband are planning to go back to Dublin. Will they revisit the hotel restaurant that inspired it all? "Of course," she laughed.

The iconic Pillsbury Bake-Off, which has been running on and off since 1949, returned for a second straight year in 2019. The Dublin Cheeseboard-Stuffed Appetizer Bread now joins last year's winner, the Bejeweled Cranberry-Orange Rolls, baked by Amy Nelson of Zionville, North Carolina, as one of the latest additions to every winning recipe ever from the Pillsbury Bake-Off.