Recently, I received the opportunity to participate in a Pillsbury Crescents “Holiday Entertaining” Recipe Swap hosted by Pssst and My Get Together. There were four recipes and many perks to participate. One of the recipes is no stranger to the dessert or blog world. That being said, I wanted to “spiff up” these Crescent Layer Bars. My thought was to thicken the crust a little. Instead of reducing the pan size, I chose to use two rolls of crescents instead of one. That is boring though, so I added a twist of my own. I took 3 ounces of Philadelphia Cream Cheese (softened) and combined it with 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. I followed the initial directions of pre-baking a roll layer, then spread the cream cheese over that, topping with another roll of crescents.

Don’t be confused, it isn’t as complicated as I just made it sound. These bars are already quite rich and I believe the cream cheese mixture compliments the bars. Also, the cashews were honey roasted… not intentional, just what I had on hand. Here’s the recipe, taken directly from the recipe cards. My changes are listed at the end:

Crescent Layer Bars

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls or 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® Crescent Recipe Creations® refrigerated seamless dough sheet
• 1 cup white vanilla baking chips
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 1 cup cashew halves and pieces
• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oven to 375°F (350°F for dark pans). Grease bottom and sides of 13×9-inch pan.

2. If using crescent rolls: Unroll dough into 2 long rectangles. If using dough sheet: Unroll dough. Place in pan; press over bottom and 1/2 inch up sides to form crust. Bake 5 minutes.

3. Remove partially baked crust from oven. Sprinkle vanilla chips, chocolate chips, almonds and cashews evenly over crust. Pour condensed milk evenly over top.

4. Return to oven; bake 20 to 25 minutes longer or until golden brown. Cool 10 minutes. Run knife around sides of pan. Cool 1 hour. Refrigerate about 30 minutes or until chocolate is set. For bars, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows.

NUTRITION INFORMATION:

1 Bar: Calories 160 (Calories from Fat 80); Total Fat 8g (Saturated Fat 3 1/2g, Trans Fat 0g); Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 75mg; Total Carbohydrate 17g (Dietary Fiber 0g, Sugars 13g); Protein 3g Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 0%; Vitamin C 0%; Calcium 6%; Iron 4% Exchanges: 1 Starch; 0 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Vegetable; 1 1/2 Fat Carbohydrate Choices: 1

© 2010 General Mills.

*My additions:

• Combine 3 ounces of softened cream cheese with 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Mix this well, set aside.

Follow step one and two and remove the first crust from the oven as directed above. Now spread cream cheese layer over the first crust and top that with the other roll (make sure to have that one open, unrolled and seams pressed). Throw that in for another 5 minutes then continue as directed.