Ham & Asparagus Brunch Bake and Homemade Cream Cheese Danishes

Oh my! If you want to start your weekend off right the Saturday or just end it on a high note on Sunday, may I suggest the following brunch recipes.

Amy, Kaia and Noah came over last week and we thoroughly enjoyed the Ham & Asparagus Breakfast Bake and Crescent Cream Cheese Danishes.

Could one ever go wrong combining croissants, Smithfield ham, cream, asparagus, eggs and cheese? (And more cheese? ) I think not!! It was devine!

I hope everyone has a relaxing weekend with the ones you love and enjoying some awesome food along the way.

Ham & Asparagus Brunch Bake


1/4 c plus 1 TBSP butter, divided
8 oz pkg sliced baby portobelo mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 large croissants, broken into pieces
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups diced ham
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 lb fresh asparagus
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 8x8 baking dish with 1 TBSP butter, set aside.

Heat a pot of water to boiling to blanch asparagus. Let cook for 5 minutes and drain in colandar.
Rinse with cold water and let cool.   

When cool, cut into 1 inch pieces.  Chop..chop...chop...

In a large pan, melt remaining 1/4 c butter over medium heat. 

Add mushrooms and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally for 12-14 minutes. Smells sooo yummy! 
Set aside.

In a large bowl, toss croisssant pieces with 1/2 cup melted butter. 

Add chopped ham.......

 cheese, asparagus ......

and mushrooms and toss to combine. 

In a large saucepan combine milk, cream, salt and pepper.  Heat over medium-low heat until milk mixture is barely simmering, stirring constantly. 

Slowly add eggs to hot milk mixture, whisking constantly until smooth.

Pour over bread mixture and let stand for 10 minutes.   The wait is killing me!  Ten minutes is a long time when waiting to bake the wonderful vegetablely (is that a word? yes, for brunch purposes it is!) cheesey, croissanty mixture...

Finally...Pour into 8x8 baking dish and set that dish in larger pan.

Pour enough hot water into larger pan to reach halfway up sides of baking dish. 

Bake for 1 hour or until custard is set and bread is golden brown.  Isn't it just beautiful!!! 

My sweet Momma who cleans up all my messes in the kitchen!  :) 

Cheese Croissant Danishes

2 tubes of Crescent Rolls

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 TBSP butter, melted

8 TBSP light brown sugar

Glaze:

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

4 tsp milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In medium bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar and vanilla until creamy and smooth. 

Ahhh....

Separate crescent roll dough into eight rectangles.  Seal perforations with fingers. 

With pastry brush, spread melted butter over rolls.  Sprinkle each rectangle with 1 TBSP brown sugar. 

Roll up from long side and pinch edges to seal. 

Coil each into round danish.

Pull and stretch the dough to make an indention in the middle. 

Place on cookie sheet and top each danish with 2 TBSP of the cream cheese filling.

Bake 350 for 15-18 minutes.

Oh, my.....

For the glaze, combine powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. 

Stir until smooth and drizzle over warm danishes. 

Wow!!!

Our delicious brunch plates!! I'm in heaven....

This is what my grandbaby ordered after seeing my brunch plate...sigh....

She seems rather pleased with herself  :) 

Grandma's Cutie!!