Crescent Yums

Crescent rolls remind me of childhood because they were a staple with certain dishes.  I don't necessarily remember which dishes, but I remember the rolls and I remember having the responsibility on occasion of being the crescent roller-upper.  It used to frustrate me (and still does, if I'm honest) when they didn't look just like the picture on the package.  They also remind me of my dear mom, because she doesn't call them crescents, she calls them by their proper French name, croissants.  Spoken with a proper French accent, of course! :)

Anyway, I now have a couple of recipes featuring these lovely refrigerated dough masterpieces thanks to Pinterest and an email recipe exchange.  And when one sees a recipe with crescents, one doesn't hesitate to try it because one knows that crescents are delicious and how could a recipe with crescent rolls be bad, right?

So here they are, without further ado.  

French Dip Crescents (recipe here)

 

 

The first time I made these was with thick-cut roast beef, provolone, NO horsie sauce (because of personal distaste and also a bad experiences with horseradish), and my attempt at her "easy" au jus. (Okay, I'm sure it really is easy compared to real au jus, but still not easy and turned out too salty for me for some reason.)  So, overall, wasn't exactly a hit, but I knew it could be better... so I tried again with thin-cut deli roast beef, shredded mozzarella (milder than provolone) and from-a-powder au jus -- I think I got the Lowry's or McCormick mix to which you simply add water.  Then I spiced it up with Italian bread crumbs sprinkled on top before baking, and VOILA! (Sorry, my French language skills are very limited. That's all I've got.) Definitely drool worthy!

Cheesy Chicken Crescent Roll-Ups

This recipe I got from a friend in a recipe exchange.  It doesn't necessarily look that fab when you see the recipe, but chicken + cheese + crescents = delicious!  And it actually does have good flavor thanks to the Italian bread crumbs (which is where I got the idea to put them in the recipe above).

1 pkg cream cheese (8oz)

1 pkg crescent rolls (8 ct) 

2 shredded cooked chicken breasts 

1.5 C grated chedder cheese 

1 C grated Monterey Jack 

1/4 t salt 

1/4 t pepper 

bread crumbs 

1/4 stick melted butter

 

Combine chicken, cheeses, salt and pepper. Spoon onto crescents. Roll them up making sure they are sealed around the chicken mixture. Brush tops with butter and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. To reheat, just place in a 325 degree oven for 15 minutes.

The great thing is you can fudge this recipe quite a bit and it's still delicious!  I can even see adding other spices/herbs to change it up a bit.  As I mentioned, I use Italian seasoned bread crumbs and I also sub olive oil for the butter.  I also cheat and use whatever kind of shredded cheese I have on hand (usually just one variety).  And the secret to the roll up is to roll them like a crescent and then tuck the sides in to cover the chicken.  You don't want any of that precious cheesy goodness to get out!

Both of these recipes are good comfort food.  Let me know if you try them!