Epicurious Magazine Draws Criticism For Publishing A Recipe Using Refrigerated Crescent Rolls

What is happening to the culinary world?  A year or so ago, I reported that Bon Appetit magazine drew the ire of the food world for publishing a recipe for "Dorito Bread".  At the time, many called out the publication for "dumbing down" its creativity to appeal to the lowest common denominator.  Now it appears that another revered cooking journal is seeing similar criticism.

Epicurious recently ran a recipe for "three-ingredient morning buns" that utilized refrigerated crescent roll dough as one of the ingredients.  Their suggestion was that this made for quick sweet rolls with the minimum of ingredients.  Soon after publishing the recipe, the organization started to receive criticism from its readers about the laughable nature of a culinary stalwart like Epicurious suggesting that its followers utilize a "low-brow" food item in one of their published recipes.

I'll add my two cents.  As a bonafide foodie, I dislike recipes that call for such shortcuts.  I can't tell you the number of recipes I've encountered in my life that I've been lured into reading - only to discover something like "1 cake mix",  "1 cup of Bisquik" or (as in this case) 1 roll of refrigerated dough.

In my opinion, calling refrigerated dough an ingredient is like publishing a recipe for cookies that includes store-bought cookie dough as one of the ingredients or sharing a recipe for pasta that includes opening a jar of sauce.

What are your thoughts?