Pineapple-Orange Blossoms

Saturday mornings are kind of special in our house, as it's the only morning we get to spend together. He gets up for work at 5:30a.m. Mon-Fri and is out the door for work at 6:30a.m.. Since I'm a bartender, it goes without saying that I am not up at those hours unless I happen to still be up.  Sundays he gets up for church but again after working Saturday night until the wee hours, it's another coffee-for-one morning. Which brings me back to Saturday morning. Ahhhhhhhhh!!  Time together! Quality time to me is time spent with someone special over some really great food. Most Saturdays we get in the kitchen together and put together a traditional breakfast or brunch feast ranging from bacon and eggs with hash browns to pancakes or waffles with sausage, warm syrups and of course, COFFEE! But let's face it sometimes you just don't have that energy in the morning. Since Friday nights are our one night out together, those slow-moving Saturday mornings happen more often than they should. It's those mornings I turn to Sandra Lee and the incredible world of "semi-homemade".

What on earth is semi-homemade? It's taking those average, everyday, quick packaged food items found in your grocery and giving them a little home cookin' TLC! Moving forward you're going to see a lot of these types of recipes coming from me because I love them. They rock my world because they're quick and easy but they're still special enough to make you feel like you're spoiling yourself.

This morning was one of those mornings so I whipped up some Pineapple-Orange Blossoms.

3 simple ingredients applied to something many already think is special in it's own right turns the ordinary into the extraordinary!  4 oz of softened cream cheese, 1/2 cup of crushed pineapple and 1/3 cup of sweet orange marmalade turn Pillsbury Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls into pure bliss.

 You need your cream cheese to be soft, so set it out on the counter as soon as you roll out of bed. I have the added advantage that our two dogs don't understand this "Saturday Morning" concept and wake up at 5:30a.m. like they do every other morning. When they wake me up for the first "out" of the day, I lay out my cream cheese before heading back to bed for a few hours. When you're ready to get cookin', preheat your oven to 350! We start by tossing the cream cheese in a mixing bowl and stirring it up a bit until it's nice and smooth, add in your well drained crushed pineapple. (I use papertowls to make sure I get it on the dryer side. Tear off two sheets of towel and lay one across a plate, dump your pineapple in the middle, lay the other towel on top (or fold it over) and simply squeeze it over the sink. Sure it makes your hands a little sticky but that just makes you feel like you're really cooking!), next add your sweet orange marmalade and stir it up real well. It doesn't have to be perfect, remember we're going for quick and easy. Set that mixture aside and let's get started on the cinnamon rolls.

Pop your can and cut the cinnamon rolls into 8 sections. (Set that container of icing aside, we're going to use it in a bit) Next quarter each section so you have 32 little triangles of ooey gooey goodness. Spray 8 of the 12 cups on your muffin pan with a good quality baking spray or give them a good old-fashioned greasing. Next place four triangles of cinnamon roll into each cup with the triangle points up! Now grab that cream cheese mixture and spoon it equally into the center of the points of each cup.

This is what you should be looking at now!

Bake at 350 for 17-22 minutes. My oven usually finishes them nicely right at the 20 minute mark!

It may have been put together with packaged products but this is when you're going to think Grandma snuck into your kitchen. The smell is heavenly! When the timer goes off, you're going to see something like this

I know you want to just pop one in your mouth right now but hang on, we're almost done!

Cool them in the pan or pop them out onto a backing rack for about 5 minutes.

Put your icing pack that came with the rolls in your microwave for about 20 seconds at 50% power! Now that it's easily pourable, go ahead and plate up those blossoms and smother them!

When you are finished, you'll know the answer to that question you asked halfway through this post. You know when you said....

 "Why would I go through all this when I'd be just as happy with the Cinnamon Rolls?"

THIS is WHY!

Photo Courtesy of Chris Schneider-It's A Matter Of Taste Follower

Now in recipe format:

Ingredients:

1 can Cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing

1/2 c. crushed pineapple (well drained)

1/3c Sweet Orange Marmalade

4 oz cream cheese (softened)

• Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 8 (2 3/4x1 1/4-inch) muffin cups with baking spray. Separate dough into 8 rolls; set icing aside. Cut each roll into quarters; place 4 quarters, points up and separated slightly, in each muffin cup.

• In small bowl, mix pineapple, marmalade and cream cheese. Place 2 tablespoons mixture into center of dough in each cup.

• Bake 17 to 22 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool in pan on cooling rack 5 minutes. Run knife around edge of muffin cups; remove rolls from cups and place on serving plate.

• Remove cover from icing; microwave on Medium (50%) 10 to 15 seconds or until thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle icing over warm rolls. Serve warm.