Joy the Baker » puff pastry

Bite-sized Baked Brie

joythebaker — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 21:19:05 +0000

My hair is straight today.

My hair is straight today only because a woman spent about two hours pulling, tugging, blowing, and spraying my hair into this state.

It’s still curly on the bottom. It’s also still frizzy on the top. It would appear as though the outside of my head is as stubborn as my inside brain. Stubborn!

I should just let my hair be how it lives. Curly with a charming hint of frizz. But… sometimes you want a change. Sometimes you want to toss your bangs like the girls with the long straight hair. Whatever. Sometimes you want to bake your brie up into little bite-sized squares so you can eat too many of them without feeling like you’re eating an entire round of brie. Again… whatever.

Also… it’s raining today. I don’t even want to talk about the frizz this will induce. I’m probably going to stay inside where the baked cheese is. Just so you know. Leave me be.

These bite-sized treats come together with puff pastry.

It’s buttery. It’s flaky and light. It’s buttery.

It’s totally buttery.

I cut the sheet of puff pastry into 12 rectangles… then each rectangle in half. That means 24 little rectangles that will make 12 little puffs.

That was math. I’m totally sorry.

I brush half of the squares with egg wash, a little nibble of cheese (do not be afraid of the brie rind!), a touch of jam, and more puff pastry.

It’s happening!

Yes. I put these little brie bites on sticks. I stuck a small popsicle stick half way up the puff pastry and then pressed it all together.

You don’t need popsicle sticks. You totally don’t. The sticks just make things more… sticky.

Sweet little cheese pockets.

A lot of brie was eaten in the making of these pockets.

Egg washed and a sprinkling of salt.

Major magic.

Baked and puffed and sometimes they bleed jam and cheese. No biggie.

These bites are best served warm… but I sure did eat several of them at room temperature. Delicious still.

It’s warm cheese baked in buttery crust with sweet jam. If you need convincing… I just… I dunno.

Bite-sized Baked Brie

makes 24 squares

Print this Recipe!

2 sheets puff pastry, thawed but still cold

1/2 wedge of brie, cold

1/3 cup cherry jam (or any flavor you fancy!)

1 large egg, beaten

splash of milk

All-butter, store bought puff pastry usually comes frozen and folded into thirds. We’re going to use these folded thirds to our advantage. Cut the puff pastry into thirds along the creases. Cut each panel into four pieces. They’ll be 2 1/4-inch tall and 3-inches wide. One sheet of puff pastry will yield 12 rectangles. Cut each rectangle in half. You’ll have 24 little rectangles that will create 12 little rectangle pockets.

Combine beaten egg and splash of milk. Brush 12 of the small rectangles with egg wash. If you’d like to make brie bites on sticks, now is the time! Place a popsicle stick halfway up the puff pastry and press in gently. Place a small sliver of brie (rind and all) on top of the egg wash (and stick). Top with about 1/2 teaspoon of cherry jam. Take another square of puff pastry and press between your fingers to make the rectangle slightly bigger. Place puff pastry on top of the cheese and jam. Use a fork to press the edges together. The egg wash will act as a glue. Make sure to seal the edges well by crimping with the fork.

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place prepared brie bites on a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush with egg wash. Sprinkle with a touch of coarsely ground sea salt. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.

Brie bites are best served warm, but are also delicious at room temperature.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows

joythebaker — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 06:47:54 +0000

Maybe I should just start a blog about peanut butter and chocolate.

That seems to be most of what goes on around here, right?

It turns out, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Pillows are not a safe treat to have lying around the house.

Having puff pastry lying around also seems to be a bit of an issue.

Actually… just having peanut butter and chocolate and a spoon seems to be the problem.

Let’s face it… I’d probably eat peanut butter and chocolate off of a rusty pipe…

… but puff pastry is a much classier vehicle.

And Lord knows I like to keep it classy.

This is pretty precious.

And these little ravioli looking creatures bake up into the flakiest dough pillows filled with peanut butter and chocolate.

I strongly suggest having a crowd of people around as soon as these puppies come out of the oven. I think they’re best when warm and shared.

Sharing is important. Please don’t make me tell you about the ungodly stomachache I had after a handful of these.

I earned it. I’ll tell you what.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Clouds

makes 18

Print this Recipe!

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed and rolled out just slightly

1/3 to 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/3 cup chocolate chunks or chips

water for brushing the edges of the pastry

cream or half and half for brushing the tops of the pastry

granulated sugar for sprinkling on top of the pastry

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Thaw frozen puff pastry in the the fridge. When no longer frozen gently roll out puff pastry on a well floured surface, extending the puff pastry about an inch on all sides.

Fold the puff pastry in half like a book to create a crease. Cut along the crease with a pizza slicer to divide the puff pastry in half. Stack the two halves, then slice the pastry into two sheets of 18 even squares. See the picture above if it helps you get a better idea. Remove the top squares from the bottom squares and set them aside for later.

Using a small spoon, dollop a small amount (about a heaping 1/2 teaspoon) of peanut butter into the center of 18 of the puff pastry squares. Top each mound of peanut butter with about 5 chocolate chips.

Using a pastry brush (or your finger if you don’t have a brush) dampen the edges of each square with a bit of water. Top each square with another pastry square and use a fork to crimp and seal the edges of the pastry. Make sure the edges are well sealed or all the filling goodness will pop out during baking.

Place filled and sealed pastry squares on a foil lined and lightly greased baking sheet. Brush each square with cream and sprinkle generously with granulated sugar.

Bake the squares for 8 to 12 minutes or until they are perfectly golden. Some of the puffs may have exploded a bit. I think that’s inevitable. It’s ok. Remove from the oven and allow to cool fro 5 minutes before serving warm. They’re best slightly warm. Super delicious!

Creme Fraiche Quiche

joythebaker — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 03:16:50 +0000

My Mom used to crawl in the bed at night, after a long day of being a mail carrier, a wife and mother and exclaim “Best part of the day!” just before she drifted off to sleep. To her, it seemed like there was no greater reward that peaceful rest at the end of the day.

As a kid, I had a hard time relating to my Mom’s Ode to Bedtime. I was sure that I could have, at the very least, squeezed one more episode of The Cosby Show into my night. Nope. Bedtime was bedtime, not because there were overly strict bedtime rules, but because my Mom was just dog tired.

Nowadays I feel like I have a better understanding of my Mom’s nighttime sentiments. My head hits the pillow after a long day and I’m asleep before I can even turn the bedside lamp off… and I don’t even have little kids yet!

You were right Momma. Sometimes crawling under the covers is the best part of the day.

Other times, quiche is the best part of the day. True.

In exciting, not sleepy or quiche related news: my Mom, after over 30 years of delivering mail, retires from the Post Office… today! Holy heck Mom! Way to go! Thanks for working hard for the family all those years. I couldn’t be happier for you. I hope you find a new “best part of the day”. For reals, I love you Mom!

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Moms are important. I have a good one.

Speaking of good. Um… I should warn you about this quiche. It’s not good. It’s so crazy great you might hurt yourself! Truly. Between the puff pastry, bacon, creme fraiche and Gruyere, this quiche just about made me cry.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Creme Fraiche Quiche

The Gourmet Cookbook

Print this Recipe!

3/4 pound bacon (12 slices) cut crosswise into 3/4-inch wide pieces

1 sheet frozen puff pastry ( from a 17 1/4-ounce package), thawed (I love Dufour puff pastry)

6 large eggs

2 (10-ounce) containers creme fraiche (2 1/4 cups)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 cup coursely grated Gruyere (about 4 ounces)

Put a baking sheet on a middle rack and preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Cook bacon in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 10 minutes.

With a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain.

Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface into a 13-inch square. Because pastry sheets are in a squares, it is easier to roll it into a larger square and then trim it into a round. Fit pastry into pie pan and trim the pastry so that just about 1/4-inch of puff pastry hangs over the sides.

Whisk eggs in a medium bowl until well combined, then whisk in creme fraiche, salt and nutmeg until just smooth. Pour filling through a fine-mesh strainer into pastry shell. Sprinkle bacon evenly over filling and top with Gruyere.

Bake quiche on heated baking sheet until center is set (it should not jiggle when shaken), 45 minutes to 1 hour. Quiche will puff up while in he oven and sink a bit once it’s out and cooled. Transfer to rack to cool to warm or room temperature.

How to Make Palmiers

joythebaker — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:32:36 +0000

I’ve now typed about seven different introductions to this post, only to completely delete them all.

I’m trying my best to avoid words like unemployment, recession, war and ceasefire. Ugh… the world seems to be in the thick of it right now, and here we are just trying to work it out for ourselves everyday.

I don’t have epic solutions to offer you, but I do have a band-aid: lots of love and loads of sugar.

How will that do you?

Let’s make Palmiers. Let’s make Elephant Ears. And you know what? Let’s use store bought puff pastry, because we’re going to need these cookies toot sweet!

There’s a trick to buying store bought puff pastry. You have to search for the quality stuff. Most grocery stores carry a frozen puff pastry that is loaded with all sorts of mystery fat. Look at the ingredients list before you buy.

Dufour is a puff pastry made with only butter. It’s the good stuff. It’s the only way to go with store bought puff pastry. No… they didn’t pay me to say that, although I sorta wish they would. Don’t know where to find Dufour? You could have it shipped to you!

Palmiers are unbelievably easy once you’ve got your hands on some good puff pastry. All you’ll need is:

Print this Recipe!

lots of granulated sugar ( I started with about a cup of granulated sugar)

one package of all butter puff pastry.

a pan lined with parchment paper, a silicone mat, or greased and floured.

Here’s a step by step extravaganza.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Measure out one cup of granulated sugar (it doesn’t have to be exact) and sprinkle about half of the sugar onto a clean work surface. Unfold the thawed puff pastry onto the sugared surface and sprinkle the top of the pastry with the remaining sugar.

The Dufour Puff Pastry unfolds out of the package just about the length and width you’re looking for. You’ll just need to roll it to thin it a bit, extending it about 1/2 to 1-inch on all sides.

What’s that? You have a little rip on the seam of your puff pastry!? Me too. Maybe just try to patch that up a bit. But really? It’s not that big a deal. Don’t sweat it!

Your puff pastry should be roughly 8(to10)x12-inches in size. Now start rolling. Roll up the left vertical side towards the center seam. Roll the right vertical side towards the center too.

Gently press together, like so. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour, or until cold and firm.

Remove dough from the fridge and slice in 1/2-inch slices. Place on lined baking sheet. Bake in 400 degree F oven for 10 to 15 minutes of until golden brown. You may want to rotate the baking sheet halfway through baking. Keep a close eye on the cookies after about 11 minutes. They might burn quickly.

If using just a greased and floured baking pan instead of a parchment or silicone lined pan, remove the cookies from the pan immediately after they come out of the oven. If you’ve lined you baking sheet, you’re fine to let the cookies cool on the sheet.