Crescents!

I spent the better part of my day making crescent rolls (and doing laundry). I've only made them once before and tonight we were having ham and cheese crescents and tomato soup (which I forgot to get at the store, so we just had the crescents) for supper. I've made ham and cheese crescents before with canned crescent rolls and I have to say these were so much better. It was definitely worth the extra time.



I decided to make some crescent dogs too for my boys to eat for lunch.



Then I ran out of stuff to put in them so I just made plain crescents.

I think I'll have one for breakfast tomorrow with my coffee.

A friend gave me this recipe several years ago. This recipe is adapted from Great American Home Baking. I doubled the recipe so that I would have enough for supper tonight and plenty to freeze for lunches.



Butter Crescents

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter,softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 package active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

glaze
1 large egg, lightly beaten (I forgot to put this on. They would have been much prettier with it!)

1. In a saucepan, heat milk until bubbles appear around edges of pan. Combine butter, sugar, and salt. Add hot milk; stir well. Cool to lukewarm.
2. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until foamy, 5-10 minutes.
3. Beat yeast mixture and egg into milk mixture at low speed. Beat in 2 cups of flour at low speed until smooth. COntinue beating until thick. Mix enough remaining flour until dough pulls away from sides of bowl.
4. On a floured surface, knead dough very gently until smooth and elastic, 2 to 3 minutes. Place in a large greased bowl, turning to coat. Cover loosely with a damp cloth; let rise in a warm place until doubled, 1 hour.
5. Punch down dough. On a floured surface, divide dough in half. Cover with a damp cloth; let rest for 10 minutes.
6. Grease 2 baking sheets. Using a floured rolling pin, roll 1 dough half into a 12-inch circle. Cut circle into 6 wedges. Starting at side opposite point, roll up each wedge. Place, point side down, on prepared baking sheets. Cure ends to form crescents. 7. Repeat with remaining dough half.
8. Cover loosely with a damp cloth; let rise in warm place until almost doubled, 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400. Brush crescents with glaze. Bake until golden, 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

To make Ham and Cheese Crescents (or crescent dogs) follow recipe until you are ready to roll up the crescents. Place thinly sliced deli ham (or cut hot dogs) and cheese (I used shredded cheddar) on the dough. Then roll from the each into a wedge. I increased the baking time by a few extra minutes.

Once they cool you can place them in freezer bags and put them in the freezer (If there's any left!). Then reheat them in the microwave for a quick meal.