The earliest known cookbook recipe for cheese rolls dates from Dunedin's Roslyn Church Jubilee Cookery Book in 1951, with numerous other South Island community cookbooks listing the recipe in the decade that followed. Cheese rolls were not found in any North Island cookbooks, however, until the late 1970s, and the food is still little known north of Waitaki River.
A recipe for cheese rolls first appeared in Dunedin's Roslyn Church Jubilee Cookery Book in 1951, with similar recipes appearing in other South Island community cookbooks over the next decade. It wasn't until the late 1970s that cheese rolls began to appear in North Island cookbooks, and they remain a relatively obscure food north of the Waitaki River.