I am kinda at a loss.
The nice folk at Pillsbury call this a “Strawberry-Lemon Crescent Breakfast Bake” – and that is how I first made it.
As a romantical bit of breakfast for Valentine’s Day, I must admit that it worked a treat, but…
To me, when I saw, and then tasted the finished product, I immediately thought “Clafouti!”
Now, I am not aware of a clafouti that uses crescent rolls and cream cheese – but you know what?
It should!
I have tried a bunch of “true” clafouti recipes, and this is, by far, my favorite, so, go ahead and call it by its name – heck, even go so far as to make it with cherries (the classic Limousin way). Serve it for breakfast or dessert, with whipped cream or, perhaps, still warm from the oven with good vanilla ice cream; it really is all good!
INGREDIENTS
•1-1/2 cup sliced frozen strawberries
•1/4 cup sugar
•1 tbsp lemon juice
•2 tsp grated lemon peel
•1 can (8 oz) crescent rolls
•1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
•1-1/2 tsp vanilla
•2 eggs
•1/8 tsp black pepper
Heat your oven to 375º and apply cooking spray to a deep nine inch pie plate.
Toss the strawberries together with the sugar, lemon juice, and grated lemon peel, then set aside to rest for ten minutes.
Note: you could try using Cointreau or Limoncello in place of the lemon juice.
Form the dough from the can into eight crescents, then cut each crescent in half and arrange in a kindofa star pattern in the bottom of the prepared pie pan.
Beat the softened cream cheese until fluffy, then beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs and beat again until creamy.
Fold in the strawberries and – trust me on this – the black pepper – then pour over the crescent roll slices in the prepared pan.
Pop into the oven and bake for 30 minutes, until it is nicely golden brown.
Remove from the oven, let rest for 15 minutes, then sprinkle lightly with confectioners’ sugar.
Looks pretty darned clafouti-like to me, and tastes exactly like a breakfast treat – or a not-too-sweet dessert – should.
Call it what you will; I call it yummy!