Recipe: Cheesy Garlic and Broccoli Crescent Wraps

I used this recipe from "The Night Owl Mama" blog very loosely. I knew I already had broccoli, Pillsbury crescent rolls, and shredded cheese on hand, so I figured I could pull it together. The website and the recipe itself were not laid out well, so I'm going to break it down for you and insert my thoughts and comments among them.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 Pillsbury Crescent roll
• 1 pkg of Birds eye Broccoli florets
• 1 1 pkg of mild cheddar cheese (our your favorite cheese)
• 1 garlic and extra virgin olive oil (spice world)

Don't even get me started on the use of "our" instead of "or," or the intermittent use of capitalization. Anyway, I just used salt and pepper with the olive oil and forwent the garlic.

Step 1:

First I began by spreading out the Pillsbury Crescent roll. I wanted to make a larger pocket so I used 2 and sealed the lines together by pinching together the dough. Then separated the last 2 crescents for single bite sized portions.

I made four treats, each one using two of the crescent roll triangles.

Step 2:

I then headed up the Birds eye Broccoli in the microwave on 3 seconds. I love using this because it makes quick tasty fresh vegetables in no time flat. After the Broccoli was done I poured it into a bowl minus the water. I then took 1 table spoon of the Garlic and extra virgin olive oil mix and added it to the bowl. Next I took a chopper and went to work.

I think she means heated up as well as three minutes. I love those frozen, toss-in-the-microwave bags for veggies, but even they can't cook that fast. I steamed regular broccoli florets in the microwave (in a bowl, ahem), and then chopped it up into tiny pieces with a knife (no special "chopper"). After cutting the broccoli up, I mixed in the shredded cheese, olive oil, and spices.

Step 3:

Next you want to spoon out the mixture into the middle of the crescent. Use your best judgement on how much to place and make sure your still able to cover it with both sides of dough. Next you’ll want to put shredded cheddar cheese over the top of the mix.

Blergh, she doesn't know the difference between "your" and "you're." What is the world coming to? But I digress... I spooned in about three tablespoons of the mixture into each of the four rectangles of dough I had laid out.

Step 4:

Fold up the sides to cover and pinch close. You’ll want to repeat the steps and finish up the rest of the crescents as I did. Place them on a pan or tray and get ready to bake. I used a pizza stone from Pampered Chef that I got last year. I love baking on this because the crust comes out almost perfect every time. Before this I used to always burn the crust on everything. Follow the directions on the Pillsbury container although I only baked mine for about 6-7 minutes when the crust looked done. Your oven time may vary.

I then folded the corners of the dough into the middle to make the tarts (one didn't really work out like that, so I just folded it upon itself). I will admit I missed the earlier direction to sprinkle cheese on top of the mix (I suppose it would have acted like a glue to hold the corners together), but I don't think it was really necessary. I used an ungreased cookie tray to cook mine; the bottom of the dough did stick a little bit, so perhaps her pizza stone idea would have been better. My treats took 10 minutes to cook. I don't know how hers were finished in 6-7 minutes when the package itself says to give them at least 9 minutes to cook. I figured it would actually take longer because the broccoli was wet and might delay the cooking of the inside of the dough.

Step 5:

Slicing into your beautiful creation. Slice into strips if you want to share or dig in with a fork if your eating it alone.

Mine were small enough to be handheld. No slicing or forks needed!

These were good, but not great. Crescent rolls are so delicious as they are, and I'm not really sure the filling actually made them any better. The bottoms got a bit soggy, and I think these treats could have been more flavorful, maybe with more and different spices. An okay snack, but I would have been just as happy with regular crescent rolls.

Recipe: Raspberry Brownies

Image found here

Another item my mom has a lot of in her pantry is raspberry pie filling. I found this recipe for raspberry brownies on the Live Well, Bake Often blog. While it calls for fresh raspberries, I thought I'd just substitute them with two heaping tablespoons of pie filling. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with aluminum foil (making sure to leave some overhang), spray well with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
• Add the melted butter and granulated sugar to a large bowl and mix together until well combined. Mix in the eggs and vanilla until fully combined.
• Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Mix until just combined, then gently fold in the raspberries and chocolate chips.
• Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake at 350°F for 30-40 minutes. Check at the 30 minute mark and bake longer if needed, mine were perfect at 35 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before slicing.

I was afraid to use too much of the pie filling, since it's wetter than fresh raspberries. But with only a few tablespoons, I couldn't even taste it (my dad said he could, though). If you decide to make this same substitution, use more of the filling; I am going to spread the filling on top of my brownies for now to add more berry flavor. Along with switching the raspberries, I also realized I didn't use enough flour. Usually when a recipe calls for an extra tablespoon of something, I figure it's for dusting or coating the pan or something like that. While making this dessert, I assumed the instructions would tell me later when to add in those extra tablespoons of flour. But it never did, and I forgot about them. Oops! If I were to make these brownies again, I would use more pie filling as well as more flour to balance things out. I also never wait for the melted butter to cool (who has the patience for that?), but I'm not sure what kind of impact that would have on anything anyway.

In the end, these brownies are very fudge-like and dense. Great for chocolate lovers!

Recipe: Peanut Butter Banana Brownies

My mom realized we had three jars of peanut butter at home, so she suggested we bake something with it. And I knew we had two over-ripe bananas, and what better combination than peanut butter and banana? Peanut butter, banana, and chocolate. So peanut butter banana brownies it was!

I found this recipe on the Tasty website, and it is so easy. I mostly loved how the website goes right into the recipe without the need for tons of photos or a backstory on where the bananas came from, how the baker grew her own peanuts, etc. So let's get to it!

Ingredients

•          2 ripe bananas
•          1 cup sugar
•         ½ cup unsalted butter, melted, plus 1 tablespoon
•          1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•          ¾ cup flour
•          ¼ cup cocoa powder, plus 1 tablespoon
•         ⅛ teaspoon salt
•         ½ cup creamy peanut butter

Preparation

1.    Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).

2.    In a bowl, use a fork to mash the bananas. Add the sugar, ½ cup of butter, and vanilla, and whisk until combined.

3.    Add the flour, salt, and cocoa powder, and whisk until fully incorporated.

4.    Use the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter to grease a 9x9-inch baking tray.

5.    Use the remaining 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder to dust the sides of the baking tray.

6.    Pour batter into prepared baking dish.

7.    Use a spoon to add dollops of peanut butter on top of the batter. Use a butter knife to swirl the peanut butter into the brownie batter.

8.    Bake for 25-30 minutes, until center no longer jiggles when pan is shaken.

9.    Allow brownies to cool completely before cutting.

10. Enjoy!

The only changes I made were using cooking spray instead of butter on the pan, and I didn't bother coating the pan with that little bit of cocoa powder (I've never needed to do it before, so why start now?). This dessert is very good! Rich though, especially with the peanut butter just sitting on top instead of mixed in. A little square goes a long way; this recipe says it makes 8 servings, but I think you could stretch it to last longer!