April 10 is known as National Cinnamon Crescent Day–well, at least to those in food circles. A crescent, otherwise known as a croissant, is a bread roll that is characterized by its crescent shape. The shape is achieved by rolling a triangular shaped flat piece of dough. They are made to be buttery and flaky, and are popular breakfast rolls. And, to be honest, we mostly buy them in the refrigerated section of our supermarket. We know they can be filled with things like fruits, nut paste, chocolate, or even breakfast foods like eggs and meat and cheese. We’ve just never gotten really ambitious about the idea. But it turns out that we had a lot of fun with this Allrecipes recipe for Chocolate Covered Cinnamon Crescents. We’re not sure if you’ll want to knock them out today, but our kids sure enjoyed helping us make them. We recommend making some on a nice Sunday afternoon in the kitchen… [photo via allrecipes]
Ingredients (for Cinnamon Sugar)
2 cups white sugar
8 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
Ingredients (for Glaze)
2 cups white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups water
3 tbsp corn starch
Ingredients (for Dough)
1 cup white sugar
1 lb margarine
2 eggs
1 cup milk
5 cups all purpose flour
Ingredients (for Chocolate Drizzle)
Melted chocolate, as desired
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease two baking sheets. Whisk together 2 cups sugar and the cinnamon. Reserve.
Beat together 1 cup sugar, margarine, eggs, milk, flour, and baking powder in a large bowl to form a dough. Divide dough into 10 balls. Spread the prepared cinnamon and sugar mixture onto work surface. Use a rolling pin to roll each dough ball out on the cinnamon sugar, forming each into a 14 inch circle. Cut each circle into 8 wedges. Roll each wedge into a crescent, starting at the wide side and rolling toward the tip. Place rolls on prepared baking sheets.
Bake crescents in preheated oven until set and lightly browned, about 20 minutes.
While crescents are baking, mix together 2 cups sugar, vanilla, 2 cups water, and the cornstarch into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, and cook until thick. Brush glaze on baked crescent rolls. Allow glaze to set for five minutes. Drizzle melted chocolate over glazed crescents. If desired, serve warm.