Brownie-Batter Stuffed Crescent Rolls

I've already mentioned here in my bloggy ramblings that food traditions were very important in my family when I was growing up.

A brief recap:

1. Saturday breakfast was always pancakes, waffles, or French toast. Cereal need not apply. (I'm not making a moral judgement against cereal. I'm only saying my mom didn't serve it for breakfast on Saturday mornings.)

2. Saturday supper was often sandwiches.

3. Sunday breakfast was always some sort of coffee cake or muffins. Sorry, cereal, you're out here, too.

4. Sunday dinner came with its own set of rules:

• the gelatin salad category must be represented.
• "international foods" are not permitted, save for Swiss steak on account of Swiss neutrality on all things political and gastronomical.
• Sunday dinner must be eaten as soon as possible after church IN the formal dining room ON the "good" dishes.

These days, as a mom myself, I do make pancakes (or, less often, waffles or French toast) on Saturday mornings. We do sometimes have sandwiches for Saturday supper, mostly because then I can call it Sammie Saturday. Where Sunday dinner is concerned...well, I've gone on the record about my deviation from those rules. (Sorry, mom.)

As for Sunday breakfast: I call that the throw-away meal of the week, because I do not even try to make anything "healthy." We have chocolate chip bagels and doughnuts and other forms of white-flour sinfulness. 

But my family's favorite are these Brownie-Batter Stuffed Crescent Rolls.

In the "olden days"--before I was a full-on band mom who spends all her time feeding marching musicians--I made these with a homemade sour-cream crescent roll dough like this one from Food.com. 

Fast-forward to the present, though, and I make them with crescent roll dough from the refrigerated section of the grocery store. 

Yes. 

Now you know. Please forgive me.

If you're still with me, here's the deal on these: I stuff them with a chocolate filling straight out of Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich. This filling is like brownie batter (hence, the name of this recipe) and works so much better in this application than straight-up chocolate chips or even melted chocolate. NOT that I am opposed to chocolate in any form, mind you.

I freely admit that Sunday mornings at our house are generally the time when the members of my family like each other the least. (For more gory details on this weekly phenomenon, check out item #2 on this post.) But in my experience, these rolls have a 100% success rate of increasing our tolerance of each other by at least 1%. Whether you've got a Sunday-morning food tradition to honor or want to start one yourself, bake up a batch of these yourself, and watch the love flow.

Brownie-Batter Stuffed Crescent Rolls {print}

1 recipe Brownie Batter Filling (life will be easier if you do this the night before or up to a couple weeks ahead)
1-2 tubes refrigerated crescent roll dough (I used reduced-fat...I know: the irony)
1 egg white, beaten
granulated sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line (a) baking sheet(s) (one for one tube, two for two) with parchment paper or with foil you have oiled or buttered or cooking-sprayed VERY well. Unroll your crescent dough and separate into triangles. Press or roll each one out slightly to flatten and "enlarge" (more room for the filling). Pampered Chef's pastry roller is perfect for this task, but you could also use a rolling pin.

Plop about 1 1/2 teaspoons of your Brownie Batter Filling in the center of the wide end of each triangle. Roll up, starting with the wide end, pressing the sides of the dough around the filling to encase it.

Brush each roll with beaten egg white and sprinkle with sugar. 

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes until golden. Cool on the sheet pan on a cooling rack for a few minutes before serving warm. These are best eaten pretty much straight-away after they're baked, which in my opinion is one of their best features.

Brownie Batter Filling 

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped (I am IN LOVE with these unsweetened chocolate discs from King Arthur Flour...worth the splurge)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, cold
2 tablespoons flour

Melt the butter and chocolate together...I love the microwave for this. Stir frequently until the mixture is melted and smooth. Remove from heat and beat in sugar, vanilla, and salt. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring until completely incorporated. Beat in the flour until the mixture is smooth and glossy and comes away from the sides of the bowl or pan. Scrape into a small bowl, cover, and refrigerate until needed.

You won't use all this filling in the rolls, but it will keep for several weeks at least. It's not bad eaten right out of the container with a spoon while you're standing at the kitchen counter...which, in my opinion, is one of its best features.

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