Taco Puffs

During my Pinterest adventures, I was constantly seeing Pillsbury Crescent and Grands in recipes.  People were getting crazy creative with these.  Savory, sweet, appetizers, entrees, desserts, I'm talking all over the board.  This was super exciting to me because I adore bread.  Carbs are by far my absolute favorite food category.  Pizza has been my favorite food since my aunt introduced me to it (Papa Gino's pepperoni for life) and Italian food is my go to, so clearly I like a good carb intake.  So when I kept seeing all these new, quirky and inventive Pillsbury recipes, I knew I had to dive in.  Thankfully, Kevin is also a big fan of bread products, and he loves using his hands to eat so it was a perfect combo.  

I've tried a few different things, but my biggest hit so far were these things I dubbed "Taco Balls" originally, due to what they were called in the Pinterest post, but have since renamed them "Taco Puffs" because, well, it sounds better.  The original recipe is "Chicken Enchilada Puffs", but I only had ground meat on hand at the time, so I did a swap.  I also used Grands instead of Crescents because that's all I had.  Still awesome, by the way, and definitely a must try for those busy nights when everyone is on the go.  They're also super easy to pack for a snack/lunch/dinner, so you should most definitely give them a try.

Ingredients:

1 tube of Grands biscuits (or Crescent rolls, whatever you have available)
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup Mexican blend shredded cheese, plus more to top biscuits with
1 cup ground turkey/chicken/beef
2 tsp taco seasoning mix (I have a homemade one, you can do your own, too!  Find the  recipe here: homemade taco seasoning)
1/3 cup taco sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°.  Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.
2. In a large skillet, brown the meat with a small amount of oil.  Mix with the taco seasoning.  Drain it when your finished (if you're using beef, otherwise there isn't much to drain).
3. Mix the cream cheese and shredded cheese in a small bowl together.  If the cream cheese is too hard, microwave it for 30 seconds.
4. Add the sauce and the meat to the cheese mixture.  Mix it well.
5. Unroll the biscuits and break apart the layers so that each biscuit becomes two pieces.  Place them on the prepared pan.
6. Using a tablespoon, heap portions into the center of each biscuit and then top with the second layer.  Be sure to press the pieces together so they won't break apart.  With the extra Mexican cheese, sprinkle some on top of each biscuit. 
7. Bake for 15 minutes, or until they are golden brown.  Enjoy!

These would also make an awesome tailgating snack.  Definitely get inventive!!

Original Recipe