Ham and Cheese Croissant Casserole

This is a recipe that you can scale up or down, based on how many people will be at the table. The below recipe is for four people.

Once you’ve built the casserole, it can stay in the fridge for up to 8 hours before cooking. Makes it very useful to make ahead to slide into the oven when you get home from your holiday shopping.

Feel free to adjust with your favorite cheeses and herbs. Michelle wants to do it again with salsa in with the milk and pepper jack cheese in place of the Gouda. I think that will be delicious!

This is a very comforting dish and everyone at the table was a member of the clean plate club.

1 day-old croissant per person, cut in half
1 cup whole milk
½ teaspoon dried thyme
2 large eggs
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 thin slices ham, diced
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup Gouda cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350°F and butter a casserole baking dish. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, thyme, eggs, salt, and pepper. Pour into a pie plate. Dip croissants in egg mixture, then arrange in baking dish. Distribute ham over the bread. Pour remaining egg mixture over the croissants and sprinkle the top with the cheese.

Bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until cheese bubbly on top, 5-10 more minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Butterscotch Pull Apart Bread

I couldn’t find any of the frozen bread dough that I use to make Overnight Monkey Bread when out grocery shopping last week. Instead, I tried using King’s Hawaiian Sweet bread and box of Jell-O Cook and Serve Butterscotch Pudding (plus butter and brown sugar).

The pudding gives it a rich, caramel flavor and the bread was perfect – sweet, soft interiors and crunchy outsides.

Ooey gooey goodness and perfect for a Christmas morning! The four of us (Mom, Dad, Michelle and I) devoured the whole thing!

12 King’s Hawaiian Sweet Rolls
½ cup melted butter, divided
½ cup brown sugar
1 (3.5 ounce) package Jell-O Cook and Serve Butterscotch Pudding
½ cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter a large casserole dish.

Cut each roll into 4 pieces. Place in a large bowl. Pour ¼ cup melted butter over the dough. Toss to coat. Add the chopped nuts and then put the buttered bread into the prepared pan. Sprinkle ½ cup brown sugar evenly over the rolls and butter. Sprinkle the dry pudding mix over the brown sugar. Top with the remaining ¼ cup melted butter.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is golden brown. If the pudding is still a little dry after 20 minutes, stir and return to the oven for 10 minutes. Let cool five minutes in the pan before running a knife around the edge to loosen. Invert over a bowl and serve.

Chocolate Pecan Brittle

Peanut brittle is good and all but, if you feel like kicking things up a notch make pecan brittle instead. To make that even better, add some cocoa and you’ve got a treat that will knock your socks off.

I make my brittle with cane syrup, not corn syrup, as my sweetie reacts to the high fructose in corn syrup. The Steen’s website has a recipe for mixed nut brittle that I used as a jumping off point.

1 tablespoon butter
1 cup Steen’s Cane Syrup
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa (I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa)
1 cup toasted pecans
Flake salt

Butter a baking sheet and set aside.

Sift together cocoa and baking soda to remove any lumps. Set aside. Chop pecans – you want tiny pieces, small pieces, medium pieces and even some whole pecans to make sure every bite has nutty goodness. Set aside.

In a large heavy pot, melt the butter. Add syrup and sugar. Stir to blend well over medium heat. Continue to stir once it begins to boil to keep it from overflowing the pot. When the mixture reaches 270 degrees on a candy thermometer (soft crack stage), remove from heat. Quickly stir in cocoa mix and nuts until cocoa is incorporated.

Pour the mixture evenly onto the prepared baking sheet, spreading the nuts quickly and evenly with a silicone spatula. Sprinkle with flake salt. Allow the mixture to cool completely. Surface will be shiny. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Brunette Bars

I don’t normally make blondies as I love the chocolate of brownies. However, I’m at the point in my cycle where I don’t need a lot of chocolate to satisfy my cravings. The one cup of morsels hit the spot beautifully. Because this recipe has dark brown sugar and a lot of cinnamon it makes them dark enough to fall into a class all to themselves so I’m going to call them brunettes.

To increase the moisture, I added a tablespoon of pure cane syrup. Steen’s is dark and luscious. If you don’t have access to that, molasses can be substituted. I used a high quality Vietnamese cinnamon from Penzeys and I used a Mexican vanilla extract to up the cinnamon flavor just a little more.

Diamonds aren’t a girls best friend – these bars are! Rich and flavorful, they satisfy both the sweet and chocolate cravings.

½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon Steen’s Cane Syrup or molasses
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup bittersweet chocolate morsels

Butter an 8×8 baking pan.

Melt the butter and brown sugar together in a double boiler. Remove from heat and stir in the cane syrup or molasses. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Once the butter brown sugar mixture has cooled, combine it into the flour mixture. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add in vanilla extract and stir just until incorporated. Fold in bittersweet morsels.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes.

Optional topping: Melt a tablespoon of butter and brush the top of the brunettes after they’ve been cooling for ten minutes. Sprinkle over 3 tablespoons of cinnamon sugar. Allow to finish cooling before slicing.

Satsuma Margarita

I have plenty of satsuma’s from our trip to Southern Orchards so for Taco Tuesday, I decided to make satsuma margaritas. A major ingredient in margaritas is an orange flavored liquor like Triple Sec, Cointreau or, my favorite, Gran Marnier. Added with the intense flavor of the satsuma and it makes one irresistible cocktail.

Sweet and tart and very refreshing!

1 ½ ounces Tequila Reposado (I used Cazadores)
2 ounces satsuma juice
1 ounce orange liquor like Triple Sec or Gran Marnier
1 ounce lime juice
1 tablespoon agave nectar, optional

Peel and separate the segments from a satsuma. Rub one segment along the rim of each glass and dip the edge into flake salt. Drop another segment into each glass with some ice.

Put the tequila, satsuma juice, orange liquor and lime juice in a cocktail shaker with several pieces of ice and shake until ice cold. Taste for sweetness and add agave nectar as necessary. Strain into the prepared glasses.

Balance a final satsuma segment along the rim and serve.