Cherry-Cheese Crescent Braid

Cherry-Cheese Crescent Braid


Ingredients
1    can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls or 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® Crescent Recipe Creations® refrigerated seamless dough sheet
1/2    cup pineapple cream cheese spread (from 8-oz container)
2    tablespoons sugar
1    egg, separated
1/2    cup chopped candied red cherries
1    tablespoon water
1    teaspoon sugar

Glaze
1/3    cup powdered sugar
1/4    teaspoon almond extract
1 to 2 teaspoons milk

Directions
1.    Heat oven to 375°F. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray.
2.    If using crescent rolls: Unroll dough onto cookie sheet, forming 13x7-inch rectangle. Firmly press perforations to seal. If using dough sheet: Unroll dough onto cookie sheet, forming 13x7-inch rectangle.
3.    In medium bowl, beat cream cheese and 2 tablespoons sugar with spoon. Beat in egg yolk. Stir in cherries. Spoon lengthwise down center of dough rectangle in 2 1/2-inch-wide strip. Cut 1-inch-wide strips on each side of cream cheese filling to within 1/2 inch of filling. Fold strips at an angle across filling mixture, alternating from side to side.
4.    In small bowl, mix egg white and water; beat well. Brush egg white mixture over dough. (Discard any remaining egg white mixture.) Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar.
5.    Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until deep golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet; place on serving tray. Cool 5 minutes.
6.    In small bowl, beat powdered sugar, almond extract and enough milk for desired drizzling consistency. Drizzle glaze over warm braid. If desired, garnish with additional candied cherries. Cool 15 minutes before slicing. Serve warm. Store in refrigerator.

Forgive me?

I know...this blog has fallen a bit to the wayside...it won't be forever, I promise.  I really have a good reason for the lack of posting!  Beyond being in a cooking slump (hey, everyone has highs and lows in the kitchen, right?), I have recently been going through a stage where NOTHING sounds good to eat.  The reason behind all of this...

So, there you have it.  I have been cooking up a tiny little "turkey" of our own, to arrive a couple days after Thanksgiving!!!!  We are thrilled, but please be patient, I'm sure my lack in motivation and my tiredness will subside and I will get back in the kitchen soon!

Seventh Generation Winner

Congratulations to the winner of the Seventh Generation Prize Pack!  Enjoy!  Please email me at:  dailydeliciousness@gmail.com with your mailing information!

A clean kitchen is a happy kitchen...giveaway! *TIMES UP*

One of the very basic ingredients to a happy, healthy kitchen is good cleaning products!  The lovely people at Seventh Generation and MyBlogSpark sent me a pack of goodies to try out in my own home.  The Seventh Generation products are natural and "green", hypo-allergenic & non-toxic.  I loved these features of the products and they cleaned just as well as harsh chemical products.  It made me feel really good to know that I wasn't contaminating my "clean" kitchen with harmful chemicals where we will be preparing food!

Would you like to win a Seventh Generation Cleaning Pack?  It comes chock full of cleaning goodies for you to try out!

To enter:  Leave me a comment WITH your email address and answering the following question,  What is the best thing you've done for the environment this year?  Have you been recycling?  Using non-toxic cleaners?  Anything! 

Rules:

• Giveaway is open from now until Sunday, March 28th at 10 a.m. EST.
• Once winner is announced, the winner should contact me at dailydeliciousness@gmail.com, so be sure to check back!!!
  
• You are only eligible to win 1 blog contest per month.
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• This item for giveaway and use was provided to me by MyBlogSpark and Seventh Generation
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• One comment per person.
• Winner will be picked using Random.org

Peanut Butter Cookies 3 Ways

I wanted to make an easy treat for my husband today, so I thought about what I haven't made yet and what ingredients on hand.  With a little searching I decided on Peanut Butter cookies, which surprisingly, I can't ever recall making....ever!  This recipe was so easy, the dough really came together beautifully and turned out amazing.

I began with this recipe below and then added 2 other types of ingredient toppings to make 2 other varieties of dynamite cookies!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies
Recipe courtesy of All Recipes


Ingredients
1 c. smooth peanut butter
1 c. white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Jam/preserves of your choice (I used raspberry preserves)


Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a medium bowl, mix together peanut butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla until well blended. 
• Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets, I used a small cookie scoop.
• Use a fork to make a criss-cross pattern on the top. 
• Make a small hole in the top of each cookie using the back of an 1/8th tsp. measuring spoon.
• Fill the holes with preserves.
• Bake for 8 to 11 minutes in preheated oven. 
• Allow to cool for a couple of minutes on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely. 

In some of the cookies, I substituted the jelly with nutella:

And in some other of the cookies, I substituted the jelly with chopped Heath candy bar: