Chicken Croissant Roll-ups

MY FAMILY LOVED THIS RECIPE! 

We sincerely loved it.  I made it a second time just to be sure.  Yep, we loved it.  The second time I made the dish, I doubled the filling and used the extras for sandwiches made on Hawaiian Sweet Rolls. ~Good stuff~. 

 Pinterest...love Pinterest...my new go-to (P)inspiration site!
This recipe came from a pin I saw...

 Chicken Crescent Roll-ups

2 (8 oz.) cans Crescent Roll dough

1 ( 10.75 oz.) can condensed cream of chicken soup

3 c. shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1/2 c. milk

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 Tbsp. butter, softened

3/4 tsp. garlic powder

3/4 tsp. seasoning salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

2 Tbsp. milk

2-3 green onions, thinly sliced

2 c. chicken, cooked, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sauce:

Mix together the 1/2 c. milk, 3/4 c. grated cheese, and canned soup.

Filling:

In a large mixing bowl combine the cream cheese and butter. Add in the garlic powder, seasoning salt, and pepper. Add the 2 Tbsp. milk, chicken, green onions, and a 1/2 c. shredded cheese. 

Roll out the crescent dough, separate into triangles, and then place a heaping tablespoon of the filling in the center of the wide end of the triangle. fold the two corners over the filling, toward the center of the dough triangle, then roll from the widest part of the dough toward the point. Pinch ends closed.

 

In a 9 x 13 baking dish (which has been lightly coated with non-stick spray), spread a small amount (about 1/4 c.) of the sauce mix on the bottom.

Place the rolls, seam side down in the pan. Repeat with the remaining dough/filling.

Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the rolls, and sprinkle with the remaining shredded cheese (lots of "remains" in this recipe, bwaaa haaaa).

Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly in the center of the dish.

Note:  The second time I made these, I used the large size can of crescent rolls, and only needed 1 can instead of 2.
I did make minor changes to this recipe to suit my own family's tastes, but you can see the original recipe here:  Recipe adapted from: PlainChicken.coml

KENTUCKY-Bourbon Balls

I don't really think it's surprising that the favorite cookie for the state of Kentucky is Bourbon Balls.  After all, Kentucky is famous for their bourbon, right? Fabulous! As part of Our Cookie Nation Series, this is another simple recipe, and we liked the outcome, but this cookie does take extra time to make..3 days! Gaaaahhh!!!!

KENTUCKY BOURBON BALLS 

GRADE: B
1 c. chopped pecans

5 Tbsp. Kentucky bourbon

(you can substitute 5 tsp. vanilla extract & 10 tsp. water, combined)

1/2 c. butter, softened

1 lb. (16 oz.) pkg. confectioners' sugar

18 oz. semi-sweet chocolate

2 c. pecan halves, for decoration (optional)

Day 1:

Place the chopped nuts in a seal-able jar. Pour the bourbon over the nuts, stir, seal, and allow to soak overnight.

Day 2:

Mix the softened butter and sugar together. Fold in the soaked nuts, including any left over liquid. Form into 3/4" balls, place on a baking sheet, and refrigerate overnight.

Day 3:

Line another baking sheet with waxed paper. Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over just-barely simmering water, stirring often, and scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula to avoid scorching.

 Roll the balls in the melted chocolate to coat. Place on the waxed paper. If using pecan halves for decoration, press one into the chocolate on top of the ball. 

Store in the fridge until serving.

 I liked this "cookie"-I would really consider this a candy-they make a pretty addition to dessert plates. I sent some of these to a friend, and her entire family are in love with them, she will be making them often, I think.
Although I didn't try making these with the vanilla extract substitution for the bourbon, my girlfriend did, and she loved that version as well.  Hope you enjoy them too!

Recipe Source: Kentucky Bourbon Balls

IOWA & KANSAS-PEANUT CLUSTERS

I spent a Saturday in January trying to make up for lost time by whipping up several recipes for OUR COOKIE NATION series here on the blog.  I've been such a slacker for over 3 months that I'm now compelled to get my act together, and get caught up, at least a little!

In the Readers Digest article on 'Our 50 States Favorite Cookies', Iowa and Kansas had the same results.  The most popular recipe at ALLRECIPES.COM for these 2 mid-west states is PEANUT CLUSTERS!

I don't really see how Peanut Clusters qualify as a cookie, but hey, I'm not complaining because I love chocolate candy too! 

These were a huge hit with my husband and mom.  I mean HUGE. They loved them, and so did I.  In fact I hid a few so that I would have a little treat when the "others" weren't looking... My girlfriend Beth Anne was the guinea pig taster and she said they were fabulous too, so this one is a WINNER!

 Grade: A!

PEANUT CLUSTERS

1 (12 oz.) pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 (12 oz.) pkg. peanut butter chips

12 oz. raw Spanish peanuts

(I used cocktail peanuts-I'm not a fan of the Spanish variety)

Combine the chocolate chips and peanut butter chips in the top of a double boiler. Stir frequently over low to medium  heat until all the chips are melted and completely combined.

Pour in the peanuts and stir well to make sure all the peanuts have been incorporated.

  Drop by tablespoon onto waxed paper, allow to cool, and for the chocolate is set.  Store in the fridge or a cool place.

These took maybe 15-20 minutes to make, and if you drop them onto a baking sheet that you can move to the fridge for quicker set-up time, then they would be ready to go in less than 60 minutes!  Awesome! 
I got about 40 candy clusters from this recipe.

THANK YOU IOWA AND KANSAS!

The one small thing I wish I could change about this particular recipe is the storing temperature.  I found that if I left them out, the chocolate was soft and got all over my fingers, and if I stored them in the fridge, then the chocolate was solid and harder to bite thru... sad, sad story, right? hahahahaha!

Recipe source: ALLRECIPES.COM

February 5th is National Chocolate Fondue Day!

Yep, today is National Chocolate Fondue Day (it's also Superbowl #46 Sunday, but that's not important)!

I don't often make fondue, mostly because my hypoglycemia gets all crazy out of whack, I have no self-control. None.  So what I've done is compile a list of fabulous fondue recipes for you to try. Some are savory, and some are sweet.

I found many of the links via Pinterest.com, and a few I already had on hand, so follow the links and celebrate FONDUE!

This first recipe is from The Family Kitchen, and they have a lot of recipes for fondues, so be sure to browse around... 

Beer and Swiss Cheddar Fondue

Next we have:

Gouda Cheese Fondue

Slow Cooker Pizza Fondue

The Melting Pot Cheese Fondue

Now for the Sweet Fondues...

Here is a basic, go to recipe for chocolate fondue;

Chocolate Fondue

Caramel Fondue

Salted Caramel Fondue

Vanilla Dessert Fondue

I hope you try all of these recipes, and that you find a couple of keepers for your recipe box!

ILLINOIS-CREAM CHEESE KOLACKY COOKIES

Here is the next installment from our series: 

OUR COOKIE NATION.

  This was a simple cookie to make, with only 5 ingredients (love this), but a small heads up, it takes 2 days to make...you pull together the dough, refrigerate overnight, and then roll out and bake the next day.

 Grade: D

 CREAM CHEESE KOLACKY

3 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. butter, softened

1 c. all purpose flour

1/2 c. any flavor fruit jam

1/3 c. confectioners sugar, for decoration

Mix the cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Add flour slowly until well blended.  shape into a ball and chill overnight or for several hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Roll the dough out to 1/8" thickness, on a floured board.  Cut into 2 1/2" squares, place 1/2 tsp. jam in the center. 

 Overlap opposite corners of the dough and pinch together. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

 Cool, then dust with confectioners sugar.

Makes approx. 24 cookies.

I used Blackberry Jam, a favorite with my family

My family were not fans of this cookie. They all mentioned that the cookie should be a little sweeter.  I thought the cookie was OK, and it might be nice with a cup of tea or coffee.

A few notes from me:  let the dough stand 15-20 minutes before rolling out.  It will make the process so much easier. Work quickly to form the cookies, or the dough becomes very soft and is harder to transfer to the baking sheet. 

Be sure you pinch the corners together well, so that the cookie retains it shape during baking (notice that most of my popped back open).

And, my cookies took about 15 minutes to bake, and after eating a couple I realized they could have baked a little longer, as the dough was a little under done in the center of the cookie.

As a final note, I will probably not make this particular recipe again, but if I find a cookie that is similar (because any recipe with cream cheese in it, is my kind of recipe), with a bit sweeter dough (for the "others"), it will go on the "to make" list, because I likec the combination of cream cheese dough and blackberry jam.

Recipe source: ALLRECIPES.COM