If you know me, then you know that I love making everything homemade, from scratch: biscuits, pie dough, cinnamon rolls and beyond.
But on occasion, I want to take shortcuts. Don’t we all? We do. Sometimes we simply don’t have the time to wait for dough to proof or time to throw together biscuits. We need our carbs now! And we want them to be tasty.
My problem with most store-bought doughs is that they’re filled with weird ingredients. I usually look at that ingredient list and can’t pronounce half of the items and that kinda bums me out. So, today, I teamed up with Annie’s–they just released Buttermilk Biscuits & Crescent Rolls biscuit dough and crescent rolls in the refrigerated aisle at Target–to share a couple ways to make good quality shortcuts.
I’m going to show you three ways to use them:
1. Breakfast – Biscuit and Egg and Maple Bacon Sandwiches. HELLO EASY!
2. Lunch or Dinner – Cherry Tomato Biscuit Cobbler. Delicious and fresh with so much sweetness and acid from the tomatoes.
3. Dessert: Salty Milk Jam Monkey Bread. Obviously this was my favorite.
You can make the milk jam the day before or you can buy dulce de leche, if you’re really looking for a shortcut.
Breakfast
Let’s start with my favorite meal the of day: breakfast. I brushed bacon with a bit of maple syrup and topped it with a ton of black pepper. I always bake my bacon because it’s easier and super hands off. When it comes out, all that needs to be done is to fry off some eggs.
I like my eggs super crispy. Then the assembly happens. I had some fresh basil leaves around because if you can believe it, I haven’t killed my basil plant. It’s actually flourishing. The fresh basil leaves are highly recommended.
These biscuits are buttery with just the right amount of salt (my favorite). They take about 8 minutes to bake up and like two seconds to eat. Pour-over coffee must be served. And maybe orange juice, too.
Lunch/Dinner
I really think that this cobbler is suitable for lunch or dinner. The tomatoes are lightly sautéed with garlic and a shallot and crushed red pepper and a fresh basil and Italian parsley. Tomatoes are everything right now and this application is comforting while still being really fresh tasting. It’s the perfect lunch or dinner in the summer.
The biscuits are placed on top and then the whole thing is baked for about 15 minutes, until the biscuits are all puffy and golden brown.
Dessert
My favorite part of any day or meal. Sometimes dessert can be eaten as a meal. The first step is to make salty milk jam. This of course can be made a few days before, just be sure to warm it up slightly so it’s a bit more pourable. The best part about this was no dough needed to be made. Just cut up and roll up crescent roll balls! I tossed the small balls of dough in a bit of sugar (this helps with keeping them separated) and then boom! That’s it! In the oven. It was glorious.
I even had a bit more salty milk jam to pour on top because in this case, more is more.
The biscuit dough and crescent roll dough are both in Target right now!
These doughs contain no weird stuff, no artificial flavors or preservatives and they’re non-gmo. I asked to take a look at the list of ingredients before I took on this post and they’re seriously just what you would put in biscuits and crescent rolls if you made them in your kitchen.
Ingredients
- 1 pound bacon slices
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup divided
- Freshly cracked pepper
- 1 roll of Annie’s Buttermilk Biscuits
- 8 large eggs
- Fresh basil leaves optional but oh so good
- Hot sauce to serve
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, lay the bacon slices side by side. Brush the bacon with a bit of maple syrup and top with a liberal amount of pepper. Transfer to the oven to bake for 5 to 7 minutes. Flip the bacon over (I found a fork to be the best tool to use) and brush the opposite side with bacon and top with pepper. Place back in the oven to bake until golden brown, about 5 to 7 additional minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a bed of paper towels to drain.
- To another parchment-lined baking sheet, set Annie’s Buttermilk Biscuits about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- Next, fry up the eggs. To assemble the sandwiches, slice the biscuits in half. Add a few basil leaves and bacon slices to the base. Top with the fried eggs and serve with hot sauce on the side. Repeat with the remaining biscuits.
(This post is sponsored by Annie’s. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that keep A Cozy Kitchen cozy.)
Hey Adrianna,
This Raushan from India. By profession I am a developer but I am passionate about cooking. So, in my free time I explore food websites like your and get the best food recipes and try to make them. Sometimes I succeed and cook tasty food and sometimes all messed up. :p I also, run a small online cake shop and when I a new cake recipe I add it to my kitchen and menu list.
Thanks you for sharing your good recipes with us.
That monkey bread…I want to eat that right now. It’s great that you feature premade ingredients, I love home made dough, but when you want to make something fast premade is great.
Exactly! I love a homemade dough too but sometimes we all need a shortcut!
What temperature do you bake the monkey bread? It doesn’t say when to add the baking soda. Or, I could have missed it.
Ahhh! Sorry about that. It’s in now. 350 degrees F.
that monkey bread is kiiilllling meeeeee!!!! need it in my belly asap
I wish all sponsored posts were like this one! Fun, delicious-looking recipes backing a product that I actually wanted to hear about 🙂 Can’t wait to make that monkey bread!
Thank you, Sarah! I appreciate your sweet words.
Yay for Annie’s and no weird ingredients! We all need a shortcut sometimes. I need that Cherry Tomato Biscuit Cobbler in my life now!
Thanks girlfriend!
This makes me excited to try these products! Being a mama to a crazy 3 year old boy, I love the simplicity of these for a lazy weekend morning. We cook a lot together (we’ve made a lot of your recipes, in fact), but mom & dad need a break some mornings, right. Can’t wait to try!
ps. How do you make your eggs so crispy?!?! They look perfect.
Agreed! We all need some time-savers from time to time. I get my eggs super crispy by heating up a few tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat in a small saute pan. I think crack in the egg and spoon the hot oil over the white part of the egg. The bottom gets super crispy every time!
Much like you I have a strong bias for making everything from scratch. That being said, what you did here today is just great! That monkey bread! And the tomato cobbler! You made store bought biscuits look REALLY enticing! And that is saying something because it would never even occur to me to buy biscuits from the store…why take away all my fun?? But now I might…well I probably still won’t but Annie’s should be happy to have you as a partner because you made their product look GREAT!
Kathryn, You’re so sweet, thank you!
I’m so grateful for your food perspective. I also try to eliminate these same types of things. People scoff because I hardly ever give my kids anything with food coloring, corn syrup, processed sugars etc. But Google it and see, just like most of society accepts sun damage as skin cancer causing, someday they’ll wake up to these as well. But, since we are human and sometimes just hafta break the rules and make exceptions, things like canned biscuits that are next-best to made from scratch are WONDERFUL! Love this…
Thanks, Lea! xo
All of them look amazing and so yummy! BUT, please Adrianna, don’t fall for the “if I can’t pronounce it, then it must be toxic” trend. 🙁 🙁 🙁 We eat, breathe, swim in chemicals every single day (water is a chemical!) I know you are problably referring to substances that MIGHT harm on the long term our bodies, I just think we should use the term “chemical” more precisely.
You’re right, water is a chemical. And yes, there are a lot of natural stabilizers and gums that aren’t terrible for us at all and they’re definitely considered chemicals. I consume them! I’ll change my verbiage. But I will stand behind the fact that consuming (and this doesn’t just stop at foods, I’ve started to look pretty closely at my beauty products, too) ingredients that are synthetic is unnecessary. Especially since they’re easily avoidable and like you said, the longterm effects are somewhat unknown. Thanks for the feedback.
Oh my goodness, this looks like the best day of eating, ever! When your dessert looks as good as that monkey bread does, it most definitely qualifies as a meal! : )