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!

Birthday in Quarantine

My birthday was yesterday, and I can unequivocally say it was the most boring birthday EVER. This is especially so compared to last year when I went to Las Vegas with my sister and had a day full of parties at home a few days after that (and two years ago I was traveling in South Carolina with my mom).

Yes, I turned 31 and still insisted on wearing a tiara, my "birthday girl" pin, and a unicorn sweatshirt.

 But my birthday is my favorite holiday, so I wasn't going to let it pass by without some sort of celebration. My parents did buy me some gifts, so I opened my presents over a pancake breakfast. 

My gifts included a NYC-themed toiletry bag, a set of unicorn magnets, and a mini emery board (with llamas!)

I did appreciate the random birthday emails I received from the Junior League of Washington, Fitzgerald Hyundai Rockville, and Bank of America. And it was fun to see which of my friends actually remembered my birthday without having to be reminded by Facebook (I don't have one!), or LinkedIn (where I only received birthday wishes from people I haven't spoken to in years or people I don't know). More people knew my birthday than I thought!

After the mail arrived, I received some more birthday cards and presents from my aunt:

Are you seeing a theme here?

 That night we enjoyed Moet champagne and Funfetti cupcakes, which was the highlight of my day. Food is an important part of any celebration!

Cards from family and friends

Okay, so my birthday really wasn't that bad (I've changed my mind since the beginning of this post.). Plus, I realize that during these scary, uncertain times, I need to remember the true blessings I have, birthday or not: my family, my health, a roof over my head, food in my belly, electricity, literacy...the list goes on and on. I am very blessed, and am looking forward to my 31st year of life!

Recipe: Cherry Pie Bars

Image found here

My mom and I wanted to bake something, and we were thinking about what ingredients we already had at home. We had some canned pie filling, but no pie crust. So I Googled recipes that used pie filling in anything other than pie. And I found this recipe from Cooking Classy.

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1.75 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 1.5 cans (21 oz) cherry pie filling

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 2.5-3 tbsp half-and-half

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13x9-inch baking dish (for thinner bars, use a 15x10-inch baking dish).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, use a mixer to whip together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
3. Mix in eggs one at a time, then blend in vanilla and almond extracts. With the mixer set on low speed, slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Reserve and set aside 1.5 cups of the batter, then spread the remaining batter evenly into the prepared baking dish.
4. Top with cherry pie filling, spreading it into an even layer. Dollop small spoonfuls of the remaining batter evenly over the top.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 30-37 minutes (near lesser time for 15x10 and greater time for 13x9). Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. 
6. For the glaze: In a small mixing bowl, whisk together all glaze ingredients, adding enough half-and-half to reach your desired consistency. Pour into a resealable bag, seal bag and cut a small tip from one corner, then drizzle over top of the cooled bars. Allow the glaze to set (to set it quicker, chill in the freezer), then cut into squares.

I will admit that I took the liberty to type up the directions to allow for more clarity, including adding articles to nouns. But I did leave #5 the same, because I thought those directions were a bit obvious (although perhaps not for inexperienced bakers, like I wrote about in my last blog post!).

Okay, so it doesn't look quite like the original...

I used a large can of raspberry filling instead of cherry, since that's what we had on hand. And my mom didn't want to use her Teflon-coated 13x9-inch pan in fear of us ripping the Teflon while cutting the squares. So we used a 9x9-inch pan, meaning these squares were THICC. (Also, it needed to cook longer [as expected due to the thickness], so it was in the oven for 42 minutes.) In the end we didn't even cut them into squares: we just ladled ourselves a piece! I wouldn't recommend using the smaller pan like I did, but I'm glad they still tasted good; the ratio of dough fruit filling was just a little off.

And just like my last blog post, I didn't bother to make the glaze/icing. This dessert already has so much sugar; it doesn't need more! Plus, it tastes delicious just as it is.

Recipe: Cinnamon Roll Bread

Just like everyone else, I have been baking during the quarantine (I've already made chai-spiced banana bread and confetti bars). I saw this recipe from Jennifer Fisher while scrolling through Twitter and thought I'd give it a go. The list of ingredients and the directions were pretty short, so I thought it would be easy, too.

Kind of looks like any other, nondescript bread. And that's cinnamon on top; it's not burnt!

I will admit that I didn't read them that closely, though, so that was a bit of a mistake. For one, I didn't have any milk, so I went with half light cream, half Lactaid. Also, the directions themselves from a baker's standpoint aren't very good (see my comments below). So this was a gamble recipe.

Ingredients

For Bread:

• 1 c. organic sugar
• 2 c. organic flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 organic egg
• 1 c. milk
• 1/3 c. vegetable oil

For "Swirl In" :

• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/3 c. organic sugar

For Topping:

• 4 tbsp. butter, softened
• 2 c. powdered organic sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3 tbsp. milk substitute

Directions

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees - I think you mean oven, right? And are we talking Fahrenheit or Celsius?
2. Combine the "swirl-in" ingredients
3. Combine the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt - No Oxford comma. *judging*
4. Beat the egg, milk and oil
5. Grease the loaf pan and pour half of the mixture, followed by half of the cinnamon sugar mixture to swirl in - Notice at no point are we told to mix the wet and dry ingredients together. After seeing some of the baking "fails" from quarantine, some people need true step-by-step instructions!
6. Pour in the remaining batter (the pan should only be 3/4 full) and swirl in remaining cinnamon sugar
7. Bake for 1 hour
8. Allow to cool and remove from the pan
9. Drizzle the icing on top

Along with my milk situation and the fact that my pan was only about half-full instead of 3/4 full, I wasn't sure how it would turn out. In the end, the bread (cake) tasted good, but it was a bear to get out of the loaf pan. I guess I didn't spray it enough, especially in the corners. I might recommend lining the pan with foil and then spraying it, just so you'll have an easier time getting the bread out (and it helps with faster clean-up, too).

I didn't bother to make the topping/icing since I figured the bread would last longer without it (and the bread would be easier to store). I can always heat up some store-bought icing and drizzle it on top when I feel like it. Oh, and I probably don't need to say this because I'm a no-BS, practical kinda lady, but non of the ingredients I used were organic. Nobody has the time (or the funds) for that!

Recipe: Confetti Bars

My mom and I wanted to make a festive dessert for Easter (yes, my  celebrate both Easter and Passover. Read my Seder blog post here). When I came across this recipe from the Chelsea's Messy Apron blog, I thought it looked so fun and yummy!

Ingredients

• 12 tablespoons (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups + 2 tablespoons white all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 and 1/4 cups white chocolate chips, divided
• 3 cups miniature marshmallows
• 3/4 cup spring-colored M&M's
• 1-3 tablespoons spring-colored sprinkles

Instructions

1. PREP: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13-inch pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper (I don't recommend lining with foil). These bars are sticky so you do want the parchment paper.
2. WET INGREDIENTS: In a large bowl, combine 12 tablespoons room-temperature butter with the 1 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup light brown sugar in a medium sized bowl. Beat with hand mixer (or in a stand mixer) until light and creamy. Add in the egg, egg yolk, and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix until combined.
3. DRY INGREDIENTS: In a separate large bowl, combine the 2 cups + 2 tablespoons white flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. With a wooden spoon, stir in 1 cup of white chocolate chips and stir until combined.
4. BAKE: Press the cookie dough into the prepared 9x13-inch pan. Bake the bars for 22-26 minutes or until the top is no longer glossy and edges are ever-so-slightly browned. Remove from the oven and immediately top with the miniature marshmallows. Return to the oven for 1 minute and 30 seconds.
5. FINISHING: Gently press the marshmallows down a little. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup white chocolate chips evenly over the bars. Sprinkle the 3/4 cup M&M's evenly over the bars. Scatter the sprinkles evenly over the bars.
6. SERVE: Let cool completely (these bars take 1-3 hours to really set up) and then cut with a hot, sharp knife (run the knife under hot water, dry, make a slice, repeat). Confetti Bars are best enjoyed within 1-2 days; after that the marshmallows become unpleasant.

I didn't have white chocolate chips, so I used regular ones instead. And on top of the marshmallows I used sprinkles and crushed up Robin's eggs. These bars taste really good and are pretty easy to make! I definitely recommend this recipe!