When I was a college freshman, dinner meant a bag of nacho cheese-flavor corn chips and a tube of raw cookie dough. But when a date came to call, I took pains to make my eating habits seem less like a raccoon rummaging through a trash bin.
I discovered the magic of a snack I’ll call Crescent Rolls Wrapped Around Things. My repertoire included chocolate chips, jam, cheddar cheese or cocktail wieners. If I really wanted to impress, I’d mix wieners and cheese while humming Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy.”
I’m 30 years older, but crescent rolls still hold the same enchantment: diminutive, doughy carb-packets posing as French pastry but with a distinct, preservative-based tang. They can be used as the instantaneous flaky crust for all manner of sweet and savory dishes — pies, filled rings, stuffed rolls, pastry cups, layered bars, filled pockets and twisted breadsticks. Find recipes for all these things — plus easy-to-follow video instructions — at www.pillsbury.com.
Pizza Braid
Start with a 375-degree oven, a greased cookie sheet and one container of refrigerated crescent rolls, unrolled and formed into a 13-by-8-inch rectangle with the perforations pinched together.
Down the middle of the dough, spread 1/4 cup pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce, then sprinkle on 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese and top it with 1/2 cup pepperoni slices. The filling should stay in a 3 1/2 -inch (or so) strip lengthwise down the center of your rectangle.
Make cuts 1 inch apart down each side of the rectangle on a slight diagonal, starting just outside the filling and continuing out to the edges of the dough. When you’re done, you’ll have a filling strip flanked by diagonal fringes.
Next, take each strip and fold it over the filling, alternating sides to end up with a crisscross braid.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until it’s a nice golden brown.
If you don’t like pepperoni, use ground beef or turkey, or even Canadian bacon. For a vegetarian option, use fresh tomatoes, olives and bell peppers, or get creative with sun-dried tomatoes, fire-roasted peppers from a jar, olive tapenade, pesto, artichoke hearts and fresh basil. Try provolone cheese or go crazy with Gouda.
Lemon Berry Cheesecake Bars
This summery recipe is from www.delish.com. You’ll need two containers of crescent rolls, an oven heated to 375 degrees and a greased 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Pop open one of the rolls and spread it out over the bottom of the pan, pinching the perforations together.
With a hand mixer, mix two 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, 2/3 cups sugar, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, 2 large eggs, 1/4 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt, 1 teaspoon vanilla and a pinch of salt.
Spread the cheesecake mixture evenly over the bottom layer of dough, then top with 1 cup of fresh blueberries, strawberries, raspberries or blackberries. Unroll the second container of crescent rolls and lay it on top of the cream cheese and berries.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool completely or refrigerate to firm it up a bit, then sprinkle generously with powdered sugar and cut into bars, or just count the pan as one big bar and serve it to yourself. Store in the refrigerator or in your mouth, whichever.
Marshmallow Delights
This easy treat is fun to make with kids, who will be delighted by the fact that the marshmallow filling magically disappears during baking. The result is a hollow puffball of buttery, cinnamon-y goodness. Many families make them for Easter as an edible reminder of the resurrection story (the disappearing marshmallow represents the risen Jesus), but they are yummy no matter what your beliefs.
The recipe is easily searchable online and is pretty much the same across the board, requiring only crescent rolls, large marshmallows, butter, sugar and cinnamon.
First, heat the oven to 375 degrees, lightly grease 8 muffin cups and separate a tube of crescent rolls into 8 triangles.
Next, dip 8 large marshmallows into 1/4 cup melted butter, roll in a mixture of 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 cup sugar, and place in the middle of a triangle. Pull the sides up around the marshmallow and pinch to seal completely, or the marshmallow won’t melt.
Dip the tops of each roll into melted butter and cinnamon-sugar mix, then nestle into a muffin cup with the seams on the bottom. Repeat with the rest of the marshmallows and triangles. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes.
Don’t eat all of them yourself; save at least one for your kids to fight over.
