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Comfort food at its finest!  I was using up some leftover turkey from Easter, but chicken would definitely work just as well in this great new recipe.  We ate these smothered crescents for dinner with a salad and heated some in the microwave for lunch the next day.  The remainder were flash frozen and then placed in a gallon freezer bag for another meal.  They never made it to another meal, because someone was always grabbing one for a lunch or a snack or a quick meal-on-the-go.  I know for a fact that a couple of these were eaten cold, but the most delicious way is warm and covered in creamy, cheesy, chickenny goodness!

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Whole Wheat Crescents

Yield: 32 large crescent rolls

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbls. yeast
• 2 cups warm water
• 1 cup sugar, honey or brown sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 4 eggs
• 6-8 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 c. butter, melted (Don’t mix this with the other ingredients.  It is for brushing the rolls, later.)

You know my Bosch is my best friend in the kitchen, so I let it do all the work in mixing and kneading the dough.

I started by mixing the yeast, warm water and sugar.

Once the yeast and sugar were dissolved, I mixed in the softened (not melted, but REALLY soft) butter and the eggs.

I added 5 cups of whole wheat flour, mixed that in and then started adding flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough pulled cleanly away from the sides of the mixing bowl.  For that particular day’s humidity, it ended up being just a smidge over 7 cups of flour.  I can’t stress enough, how much this can vary depending on the humidity in your house and the moisture content of your flour.  It is more important to use the “pulling away from the sides of the bowl” test than to have an exact measurement of flour, when making bread.  You’re going for a specific dough texture, not a specific measurement.

Once dough forms and begins to pull away from sides of bowl, knead for 5 minutes.

Oil a large bowl and turn the dough into it to rise until double in size.  I generally place a warm, damp tea towel over the bowl to encourage speedy rising and to keep the dough from drying out on top.

Once dough has doubled in size, punch it down and divide into four equal portions.  Roll each quarter into about a 15″ round.  I used a pizza wheel to cut the rolled quarters into eight pieces.

Brush each triangle with melted butter.  Roll crescents from the wide end to the point and place, point-side down, on a greased baking sheet.  Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.  Brush tops with melted butter while still warm.

These are supreme straight from the oven, but they also freeze and reheat easily, too.  I used this recipe to make what we are calling Turkey Crescent Roll Ups.

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Turkey Crescent Roll Ups

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This recipe yielded filling for 17 large crescents and I used the remaining dough for plain crescent rolls.  The filling recipe could easily be doubled and used to make the entire batch of dough.  At the time, I was just experimenting, so wasn’t sure of the proportions.

Ingredients for Rolls:

• one batch of Whole Wheat Crescent Dough
• 12 oz cream cheese
• 3 cups diced turkey or chicken
• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 2 tsp poultry seasoning
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp black pepper
• Optional ingredients: minced onion, celery, bell pepper, whatever your family really likes.  I believe it would be fairly easy to do these without meat at all and use spinach or or other veggies with herbs, instead.  I plan to do some more experimenting in the future.

Ingredients for Sauce:

• 8 oz very soft cream cheese
• (2) 10.5 oz cans cream of chicken soup
• 2 – 3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup milk

To make the rolls, prepare the crescent roll dough as directed above.

After dough triangles have been brushed with butter, add about 1/4 cup filling to the wide end of the triangle.  Roll the crescent just as you would for plain rolls.  Place, point-side down, on a greased baking sheet.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

While rolls are baking, mix the ingredients for the sauce in a microwaveable bowl.  Heat until all ingredients are melted and can be thoroughly blended.  Add more milk to thin the sauce if necessary.  Heat through, but don’t boil.

To serve these delicious dinner rolls, cut a piping hot, filled crescent in half.  Arrange the two halves on a plate and spoon warm sauce over the top.  They’re great served with a green salad and/or fresh fruit.  Yum!!!!

This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.