Strawberry Cream Cheese Danish

 

My husband and I love cream cheese danish, when I was a kid and the family would go to Cannon Beach during the summer.  We would always stop at this cute little bakery in town and I always go the cream cheese danish.  I love the buttery, flaky pastry and the creamy cheese filling.  While I was looking at some of my favorite blogs the other day I popped into “The Country Cook” and she had made shortcut apple danish that look so tempting to me, I knew I would just simply have to make my own version at home.  I wanted to take her fruit idea and mix it with my favorite part of the danish, the cheese filling. These make a great morning breakfast with some coffee, a wonderful afternoon snack with some milk or a simple dessert after dinner.

  

Danish:

• 2 Tubes - Pillsbury Butter Flaky Crescent Rolls
• 1 Can - Wilderness Strawberry Pie Filling
• 2 Tbs. - Butter (melted)

Filling:

• 1 8 oz - Cream Cheese (soft)
• 1/2 C. - Powder Sugar
• 1/4 C. - Milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Separate the dough into eight rectangles.  Seal the perforations.  Using a pastry brush spread the butter over the rolls.  Roll up the dough from the long side: pinch the edges to seal.  Hold one end of the dough loosely coil into a circle.  Make an indentation in the center with your fingers and create a crater for the filling and fruit.

In a mixing bowl add the cream cheese, powder sugar and milk.  Mix until fully, blended and smooth.  Place about 1/2 tbs. of cheese filling into the center of the Danish, then top with about 1/2 tbs. of strawberry filling.  Bake these for about 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Once cool you can serve them plain, drizzle with a powder sugar glaze, or add a little more milk to the cheese filling to thin it out and drizzle across the danish.

Makes 8 

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Holiday Treats

We went and spent the evening with my sister and her kids last weekend to make some holiday goodies. My sister had been longing to make some chocolate dipped pretzels and my niece who claims she can’t bake wanted to make some rice krispies treats. I packed up all of the needed items and we went over the river and through the woods to Molalla to have some Christmas baking fun.

Rice Krispies:

3 Tbs. - Butter
1 10 oz. - Bag Marshmallows
6 C. - Rice Krispies Cereal
1/2 C. - Mini Chocolate Chips
Food Coloring (we used red)

In a microwave safe bowl heat the butter and marshmallows for about 3 minutes; stop to stir about every 30 seconds. When the marshmallows are melted, stir in a few drops of food coloring and mix to combine. Then quickly stir in the cereal, when the cereal is mostly mixed in add the chocolate chips and combine well. Press the mixture into a lightly greased 13x9 baking pan, firmly press into the corners of the pan until it is all even. Let cool and cut into squares or as I did by using a cookie cutter for Christmas shapes.

Chocolate Dipped Pretzels:

12 Oz. - Bag Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 Tbs. - Shortening
2 - Dozen Pretzel Rods
Sprinkles

Prepare a parchment lined baking sheet. In a microwave safe dish place the shortening and chocolate chips, microwave until the chocolate starts to melt but stir every 20-30 seconds. Try to not over heat the chocolate or it will burn or get stiff and unusable. Using a spoon lower the pretzel rod into the melted chocolate and spoon it over the pretzel about half way up. Once coated with chocolate lay the pretzel onto the baking sheet then use the sprinkles. When all pretzels are done place into the refrigerator to set for 30 minutes or do like we did and place them into the garage since it was colder outside then it was in the fridge.

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Mini Garlic Dill Flat Bread

My husband wanted to create a mini flat bread to be eaten either alone or alongside our Spicy Artichoke Dip or one of our Hummus Dips. He really loves to make things out of pizza dough, this coming from the many years he spent working at several of our local Beaverton Pizzeria's when he was younger. He toyed with many ideas of what to top them with, I think his final outcome was the perfect choice.

1 Lbs. - Pizza Dough (homemade, store bought, or local take & bake pizza place)
4 Tbs. - Butter
1 Tbs. - Johnny's Garlic Seasoning
1/2 Tbs. - Dill Weed
Kosher Salt

Roll the pizza dough out to your desired thickness, use a biscuit cutter to cut into small rounds. Lay the pizza rounds onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Mix the butter, garlic season and dill together in a small dish. Spread the butter mixture evenly over the pizza rounds then sprinkle with less than a pinch of kosher salt. Bake on a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

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Bacon Wrapped Hogs

With Super Bowl XLV just around the corner we needed to find another awesome recipe for game day....I think we found a real winner with this one, if you like pigs in a blanket and you like bacon you will love this dish.

1 - Kielbasa (cut into 4)
1 - Sheet Puff Pastry
4 - Slices Maple Cured Bacon
1 - Egg (beaten)
1/3 C. - Brown Sugar
Toothpicks

Sauce

1/3 C. - Honey BBQ Sauce
1/3 C. - Honey Mustard

Wrap each piece of kielbasa with bacon and secure each end of bacon with a toothpick, pan fry over medium high heat just until brown and crispy. Place the brown sugar onto a plate and roll each side of the cooked kielbasa in the sugar then place onto a baking sheet. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, until the brown sugar has melted and caramelized. Take the baking sheet out of the oven and let cool for a few minutes so you can handle them to pull out the toothpicks. Cut the sheet of puff pastry into 4 equal sections and roll 1 bacon wrapped hog with 1 section of pastry. Place onto a baking sheet and brush with the egg wash, bake in a 4oo degree oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Mix the BBQ sauce and mustard together and serve with the bacon wrapped hogs....

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BBQ Sliders

Another great idea that is extremely quick, easy, and delish for the big game day is sliders. Sliders of all kinds have hit the nation hard upside the head; they are so great because you can virtually make them out of just about anything, so for that, I love the versatility of this tasty little sammie. This recipe is a great way to use up the left over BBQ and coleslaw from the Pulled Pork & Asian Slaw Roll-ups, if you have any leftovers to use.

1 12 Pack - King's Hawaiian Sweet Rolls (heated)
1 10oz. - Lloyd's Pulled BBQ Pulled Pork or Pulled Beef
1 8.5 oz. - Fresh Express Coleslaw Kit with Salad Dressing

In a bowl combine the coleslaw and dressing, mix until well combined. Slice open each roll in half, making a top and bottom bun. Spoon some of the BBQ onto the bottom of the bun and top with a spoonful of the coleslaw. Place the top bun on the coleslaw, plate the sliders and watch them be devoured by your family and friends!

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Pulled Pork with Asian Slaw Roll - Ups

With Super Bowl just days away we thought this would be a unique and fun idea for a game day snack. We all love pulled pork and we all love crispy coleslaw so why not put the two together into one great dish, these turned out way better than I had hoped for.

1 18oz. - Lloyd's Honey Hickory Pulled Pork (heated)
1 Package - Nasoya Won Ton Wraps
1 8.5oz. - Fresh Express Coleslaw Kit with Dressing
1/4 C. - Sun Maid Golden Raisins
2 Tbs. - McCormick Black Sesame Seeds
Dash Rice Wine Vinegar
Water

Heat your deep fryer to 350 degrees. In a medium sized bowl combine the coleslaw, raisins, vinegar, sesame seeds, dressing and stir well. Lay out two won ton wraps overlapping enough to seal the two together with water. Then place about 1/2 Tbs. of meat towards one end of the wrapper, and then top with 1/2 Tbs. of the slaw. Roll up the won tons keeping it as tight as possible, seal the won ton with water on both ends and along the side. Make sure the won ton is totally sealed so you have no leaks while deep frying. After all roll ups have been made deep fry for 1-2 minutes or until golden brown and crispy, when cooking make sure to not over crowd the fryer. Serve alongside extra coleslaw or with a sweet chili sauce.

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Caramel Corn

My husband and I enjoy many movie nights at our house, he has our living room sounding and looking better than any theater. We have the full surround sound with a projector that my husband uses to put the movie on our wall; the screen size is about 96 inches. I love doing movies at our home for many reasons, to start with it is much cheaper to rent a blue ray movie for the theater quality picture and sound, it is just as good, if not better than any theater. Secondly, snacks are way less expensive at home, we consume a great deal of popcorn and who can afford the $15.00 for a soda and large tub of corn. For tonight's movie time I decided to make caramel corn, I have not made any in about 8 years. This recipe I am using came from someone my husband knows from work, her recipe and mine are the same except she uses the vanilla and her recipe uses light corn syrup but I prefer the color with the dark. I thought this would be a great new snack idea to ring in the first movie night of the New Year.

1 C. - Butter
2 C. - Brown Sugar
1/2 C. - Dark Corn Syrup (or light)
1 Tsp. - Salt
1/2 Tsp. - Baking Soda
1 Tsp. - Vanilla Extract (optional)
5 Q. - Popped Popcorn

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Place the popped corn into a roasting pan (a toss out kind works well). In a large soup pot melt the butter over medium heat, stir in the brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil and stir for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda, stir for about 30 seconds until the color changes and it gets fluffy. Pour the caramel over the popped corn and stir until well coated. Bake in the oven for 1 hour; bring out every 15 minutes to give it a good stir. Once the corn is done turn out onto wax paper or parchment paper to cool, once cooled break the large sections of corn into smaller pieces and enjoy.

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