~I looooove me some Mardi Gras season~

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!! For all you northerners that means LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL! Down here in the South its Mardi Gras season....which means......(drum roll please)......KING CAKES!!! And oh how we love our KING CAKES!!! Cream cheese filled, apple, blueberry, cherry, cinnamon, lemon, raspberry, chocolate, caramel, Bavarian cream, praline filled,  ....heck we ain't picky.....just give us a round yeasty cake with plenty of sugary icing and green, yellow, and purple sugars and we are H-A-P-P-Y. And let me share something with y'all, I L-O-V-E to cook!! Well let me rephrase that....I L-O-V-E to bake. Mr. L&IC likes to cook....I bake....he has his role and I have mine, and we have a happy kitchen that way. One of my staff was saying we needed a King Cake. Last year around this time I spent ALOT of time down in New Orleans. There is a place in Metarie, Randazzo's, where there is a line a wrapped around the block some days....but let me tell you that it is worth the time and money to get one of those Heaven baked King Cakes! They are like the angels themselves baked those things up.....UNBELIEVABLY GOOD! So we decided to go online and see if we could order us up a couple. OMG....those things were around $60....each!!! And that wasn't with shipping! Soooo......being the baker that I am I sent her on an online mission to find a fairly easy King Cake recipe. And she hit the jackpot! Just a few ingredients and 2 packages of crescent rolls and y'all have got y'all a delicious King Cake too! 

So 1st get you about a 1/4 cup of raisins and put them in some warm water to soak and plump up. (I bet you could throw in some good bourbon for a little extra kick!)

Next chop up about a 1/2 cup of pecans. (Guess I better tell y'all that I don't really like to measure....I'm one of those "well that looks like its enough or who are they kiddin....that needs alot more!' kinda cooks.)

 Next, mix 1- 8oz block of softened cream cheese, 1/2 cup brown sugar (doesn't matter if it's light or dark...I use whatever I grab 1st), and 1/2-1 tbsp or so of cinnamon until its nice and smooth.

Then scrap down your sides and drain your plumped up raisins and add your chopped up pecans and mix a little.

Now notice my old black edged pizza pan I have my cake on....that thing is old as dirt but I'd rather give you my all my pots and skillets before I gave you this....because NOTHING STICKS ON IT! And it's not even nonstick....it's just good and 'seasoned'! So I don't use any kind of spray or oil on my pizza pan.....now if you usually spray yours when you cook crescents or biscuits then go ahead and spray your pan lightly.Next arrange 2 cans of crescent rolls in a circle shape with the wide ends toward the inside of the circle and the tips spaced equally outward.  Then spoon your mixture around the wide ends of your crescent 'wreath'.

 Now grab the tips and fold them over the filling and tuck them a little on the inside.

 Now bake your easy King Cake at 350' for about 20-30 minutes or until it's golden brown and looks 'done'. In order for the icing to look like this....white and thick...you have to let it COOL. Now I make these with all different kinds of fillings before Sunday School alot of mornings...and sometimes I do not have time to let it cool and I'll just add that glaze and let it melt and puddle all over the place and it is just fine and yummy...not quite as pretty but taste just as good! To make the icing I mixed a bunch of powdered sugar...probably around 1- 1 1/2 cups, about 3 tbsp of butter, some milk (maybe 4-5 tbsp) to thin it down, and some real good vanilla, about 1/2 tsp. Now if all of the words on your bottle of vanilla are in English then you need to throw that stuff in the garbage and get you some good MEXICAN vanilla....with not a word in English!....it will change your baking world....but if you can't get your hands on that then you are going to need to probably double the amount of vanilla you use. I decided I was going to use pink and red sugars for my cake this weekend. (Ok actually I was out of purple sugar and was way too lazy to go to the store!) So this was my early Valentine King Cake, minus the baby. But let me tell you it was some kind of GOOD! So try your hand at an easy King Cake...and Lassiez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

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