Beef Sticky Buns

Source: Beefitswhatsfordinner.com


Servings: 4 (8 buns)
Prep Time:
Cook Time: 18-20 minutes
Total Time: 1 to 1-1/4 hours

Ingredients:

• 1 recipe Basic Country Beef Breakfast Sausage (recipe follows)
• 1 cup sliced button mushrooms
• 3/4 cup diced onion
• 3 cups fresh baby spinach
• 1/2 cup reduced-fat shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 package (13.8 ounces) refrigerated pizza dough
• 1/2 cup jalapeño pepper jelly, warmed (optional) or Cream Cheese "Frosting" (optional, recipe follows)

Directions:

1. Prepare Basic Country Beef Breakfast Sausage, cooking mushrooms and onion with beef and spices. Add spinach to skillet; stir to wilt spinach. Set mixture aside 20 to 25 minutes or until mixture is cooled completely, stirring occasionally. Stir in cheese.
2. Preheat oven to 425°F. Unroll pizza dough on flat surface; pat or roll dough evenly to 14 x 10-inch rectangle, pinching together any tears, if necessary. Spread beef mixture on dough, leaving 1/2 inch border on short side furthest from you. Starting at closest short end, roll up jelly-roll style, pinching to close. Slice dough into 8 pieces using serrated knife and careful sawing motion; place cut-side-up on greased baking sheet.
3. Bake in 425°F oven 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove buns to cooling rack. While still warm, drizzle with melted jalapeño pepper jelly or Cream Cheese "Frosting," if desired.

Basic Country Beef Breakfast Sausage:

1. Combine 12 ounces ground beef (96% lean), 1-1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage or 1/4 teaspoon rubbed sage, 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 3/4 teaspoon onion powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper in large bowl, mixing lightly but thoroughly.
2. Heat large nonstick skillet over medium high heat until hot. Add beef mixture; cook 8 to 10 minutes, breaking into 1/2-inch crumbles and stirring occasionally. Makes 2 cups crumbles.

Cream Cheese "Frosting":

1. Combine 1/4 cup softened reduced-fat cream cheese and 1 tablespoon milk in small bowl, stirring until smooth.
2. Drizzle over warmed beef rolls.

Comments:

We decided to mix things up for Sunday dinner today and try a breakfast-for-dinner menu: banana muffins, Sunday Brunch Bake, and these unique, savory "sticky buns." The buns were really yummy! It was a fun idea to make our own "sausage" with ground beef that we already had on hand. (Although, I'm sure just using sage ground sausage in the first place would cut out on prep time and taste about the same.) We really loved the cream cheese "frosting". . .but the jalapeño pepper jelly would be fun to try next time!

I couldn't find refrigerated pizza dough at the store, so I just used the dough of 12 Rhodes rolls. The rolls tasted fine, but were time-consuming and tricky to combine and roll out flat; next time I think I'll use Kim's pizza crust recipe (in the Bistro cookbook). Also, using a knife to cut the rolls didn't work very well for me, so I cut off the rolls by wrapping around string and pulling it tight. (A tip I remember from making cinnamon rolls in junior high foods class!)