am baking godess

every year at the holidays, i debate what to do for my co-workers. since i work in such a small office (8 people on our max-capacity days) most of us get each other a little something for the holidays. my holiday gifts at the office tend to center around foods-stuff. this year i wanted to do something special for everyone. after searching through thousands of recipes, i found 2 breakfast pastries to make. i baked last night and brought them in this morning with coffee and oj. and i have to say the end product looks amazingly delicious...and something straight out of a fancy bakery. (sorry, i'll stop patting myself on the back now).
apparently i have my co-workers all fooled. they were pretty impressed with the presentation, efforts, and tasteyness of the breakfast treats. i've been told that i should open a bakery more than once already today. but, tee hee... both pastries were extremely easy to make! honestly, i feel a little guilty about how much praise i've received. if you ever want to impress someone with your breakfast baking skills, you should try out one of these recipes.

Berry Breakfast Muffins
1 can cinnamon rolls
1 cup berries (supposed to use blueberries, i used blackberries and raspberries)
1/3 cup jam/preserves (something that goes well with the berries, i used blackberry jam)
lemon zest
1/3 cup walnuts (or whatever nuts you want, optional)

cut cinnamon rolls in half horizontally & press into greased muffin tins (to make little bowls, covering bottoms and part of sides). Mix berries, jam/preserves, and lemon zest together and spoon mixture into center of cinnamon roll cups. Top with crushed nuts. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown. Cool. Mix packaged frosting (that came with the cinnamon rolls) with a tablespoon of milk for a drizzle-consistency and drizzle frosting over cooled rolls. Serve.

Crescent Cranberry Wreaths
1 cup dried cranberries, chopped
2 tablespoons jam/preserves - strawberry, cherry (i used blueberry rhubarb jam) (i also used more than 2 tablespoons)
1 can refrigerated crescent rolls
1-2 oz. white chocolate

unroll crescent dough and separate into two rectangles (it comes this way). press the perforations together to make the dough one piece (2 rectangles total). place rectangle of dough on greased baking sheet (easiest to work dough on the greased baking sheet). mix cranberries and jam/preserves together and spread mixture on one of the crescent squares to edges. stack the other square on top and press them together lightly, pinching corners slightly. cut the dough into 8-10 strips using a pizza cutter or knife. twist each strip 3 times and make into a circle, pinching ends together (to form the wreath). bake on greased cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until golden. let cool on cookie sheet. heat 1 or 2 oz of white chocolate per package directions (about 30 seconds in microwave, stir, 30 more seconds and stir until melted). drizzle white chocolate on pastries.

it's easy...and delicious!