New Year, New Recipe

I wish I could say I spent this glorious new day of 2009 frolicking in the Los Angeles sun, but alas I've been cooped up all day with a pounding sinus headache, running to the bathroom every 15 minutes to blow my nose over the sink.  Happy new year, indeed!

It's moments like these as I sit with nary a coherent thought, that the prospect of writing an interesting, intriguing, fun-filled recount of my Christmas seems a bit daunting.  Thus, I'm going to give you a recipe for the KILLER breakfast I made on Christmas morning.  Every year for as long as I can remember my mom had cinnamon rolls baking as we opened our presents each December 25th.  I've taken the torch the last two years, but this year I felt emboldened to try a new recipe in the spirit of new traditions and lots and lots of butter, courtesy Paula Deen.

Imagine biting into an oozing ball of dough, still warm from the oven and dripping in buttery cinnamon sugar goo, only to find a bit of sweetened cream cheese tucked in the middle.  Every bite tastes like the middle of a cinnamon roll.  Yeah.

I know you're probably already feeling the squeeze as you put on your jeans in the morning, and yet ANOTHER recipe dripping with butter and brown sugar is the last thing your New Years resolutioned-self is wanting, but this is one such recipe.  Deal with it.

Gorilla Bread

Adapted from Paula Deen

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 Tablespoons cinnamon

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese

2 cans refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (12 oz., 10 count)

1 cup toasted pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a 9" round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray. Mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon and set aside. In a saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar over low heat, stirring well; set aside. Cut the cream cheese into 20 equal cubes, and set THAT aside. 

Now press the biscuits out with your fingers and sprinkle each with about 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon sugar (no need to measure, just sprinkle a little). Place a cube of cream cheese in the center of each biscuit, wrapping and sealing the dough around the cream cheese. Now sprinkle half the pecans onto the bottom of the pan, and begin placing the prepared biscuits around the perimeter of the pan. Keep adding the balls of dough in circles until the pan is full.  Place the remaining pecans in between the balls of dough.  Pour the melted butter and sugar over everything, and sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar over that.

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate.  Eat immediately with a tall glass of milk.