It's cookie time, folks! Girl Scout cookies, that is. They're everywhere! You couldn't escape them, even if you wanted to. But who doesn't love Girl Scout cookies?
Every year at this time, the girls are out en masse, camped out in front of every supermarket in town, hawking their wares. It takes a heart of stone to resist those sweet, angelic faces. I don't know about you, but my steely resolve goes right out the window each time I look into a pair of those pleading eyes. So, I buy cookies — lots of them. Then I take them home and try to figure out what the heck to do with them.
Over the years, I've found some fun and creative ways to use my stash of Girl Scout cookies. By far, one of my favorites is these Tagalong crescents. These buttery, flaky treats are super easy to put together and take hardly any time at all. The pastry is nothing more than store-bought refrigerated crescent roll dough. The dough is filled with a rich and creamy blend of cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar, chocolate chips and crushed Tagalong cookies. Honestly, from start to finish, these little babies will take you less than a half hour to prepare. As you take that first delectable bite of tender, warm-from-the-oven pastry surrounding smooth and lush chocolate-peanut-buttery goodness, you'll wonder how you ever lived without them.
I use creamy peanut butter for this recipe, but crunchy will work fine here, too. Don't use that "natural-style" peanut butter, though. It's oily, grainy and I don't know how it will bake up. If you do use it and your crescents suck, don't say I didn't warn you.
After they're finished baking, let them cool for a few minutes and drizzle some melted chocolate chips on top of them. You can skip this step, but since you already have an open bag of chips, you might as well use them.
The great thing about this recipe is that you probably already have all of the ingredients lurking in your kitchen, except for the Tagalongs. But I'm sure it won't be too hard to find them at this time of the year.
Tagalong Crescents
Makes 16 crescents
Ingredients:
1 box Tagalongs
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 packages refrigerated crescent rolls
1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water (This is the egg wash.)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, divided
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat (silicone) liners.
2. Pulse cookies in food processor until coarsely ground, or you can place cookies in a zip lock bag and crush them by hand using a meat mallet or rolling pin or the bottom of a small pot.
3. Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar and peanut butter together with an electric mixer until fluffy. Mix in the cookie crumbs and 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips. Set aside.
4. Separate the crescent roll dough into 16 triangles. Spread a heaping teaspoon of the cookie/cream cheese mixture onto each of the triangles. Starting at the wide end, roll up each crescent and place on a prepared baking sheet about 2-inches apart. Brush each crescent with some of the egg wash, and sprinkle a little granulated sugar on top.
5. Bake for about 15-18 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes.
6. While turnovers are cooling, place remaining cup of chocolate chips in a small bowl and microwave for about 30 seconds. Wait a few seconds and stir. If all the chips are not melted, continue to microwave in increments of 10 seconds until all melted and smooth.
7. Drizzle melted chocolate over turnovers and enjoy.
This article appears in Mar 10-16, 2011.