puff pastry

Pastelillos de Guayaba {Guava & Cheese Pastries}

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A couple of weeks ago we stumbled upon a farmers market where we stumbled upon ‘Crepe on a Stick.’ I thought “how clever” and ordered myself a guava and cheese on a stick. At that moment I forgot how good that combination of flavors is. Which brings me to this recipe. I recently made these for dinner, but they would be just as good in the morning with a cup of coffee.

Pastelillos de Guayaba 

Ingredients

1 package puff pastry (2 sheets)

1 egg

7 oz. guava paste, cut into 16 ( 1/4 inch) slices

6 oz. sliced emmentaler cheese (Swiss or gruyere if you need a substitute) cut into 1/4 inch slices

Directions

Thaw your puff pastry.

Once your pastry has thawed, line a 12-by-17-inch baking sheet with 2 pieces of parchment paper. (The double layer helps to protect your pan when you’re cutting the puff pastry.)

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare your egg wash by whisking your egg and a splash of water.

Lay one layer of puff pastry on top of your parchment paper lined baking sheet. Make a 4-by-4 grid (give or take, this isn’t math) and put a piece of guava stacked with cheese on each square…space evenly.

Leave about 1 inch of space in between and top with the second puff pastry sheet.

Using a pizza cutter, slice the puff pastry into pieces, touching the top lightly to determine where to slice.

Use a fork to crimp all four edges twice on each side, then arrange them evenly on the baking sheet, leaving space between each. Brush the tops and edges lightly with the prepared egg wash and place baking sheet in the center of the oven.

Bake for 25 minutes or until pastelillos are beautifully golden brown, flaky and puffy.

Let rest for a few minutes or you will be biting into lava.

Enjoy!

Puff Pastry Sausage Rolls

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Ever since I had my first meat pasty in London, my radar for a British meat pie is always on. This is an easy recipe that sort of has a pasty vibe, perfect for a party or pot luck, when those days are allowed again.

*recipe is from Epicurious

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INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 pounds good pork sausage

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried thyme

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 (17-ounce) package frozen puff pastry, thawed

2 eggs beaten

DIRECTIONS

 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl mix together the sausage, basil, oregano, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste until all the seasonings are well distributed throughout.

Roll out all the puff pastry into one large rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. Put the wide side of the rectangle to your left. Form the sausage meat into a log about 1 inch thick and long enough to fit the width of the pastry. Lay this log along the whole edge. Roll the pastry around the sausage, brush with beaten eggs at the join, and cut so that the pastry has just enough room to slightly overlap. Repeat the process with the remaining sausage meat and pastry. Line up all the sausage rolls making sure the seam on each is at the bottom and not showing. Brush the tops with the eggs and cut the sausage rolls into either 1 1/2-or 3-inch logs.

*serve with your favorite mustard or an aioli or nothing, they are good on their own.

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Sequestered Lemon Curd and Cream Cheese Pastry

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How is everyone holding up in our new reality? I won’t lie, I have cabin fever and it’s only been a week. But to keep my spirits up, I will hang out in the kitchen more and experiment with new recipes.

Our lemon tree is finally having its moment.

I see lemon martinis, in the near future.

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Since all of the time is on my side, I decided to turn a a few of them into a non-alcoholic curd.

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I used this recipe from Epicurious and you guys, it’s so good. Perfect balance of sweet and sour with the butter coating the palate at the end. So good.

Now what? I had newly made curd and puff pastry in the freezer, after a few searches I came across this;  a cream cheese and lemon puff pastry braid.

This was a pretty easy recipe and now that I have a slight grip on how to braid pastry, (it’s a lot harder than hair) I think Kaili will be able to take the lead next time.

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The curd was starting to spill out and I wasn’t happy with my pastry talents but…..it all turned out just fine in the end.

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Not sure how many servings this is supposed to be; but turns out it’s two….two totally worth the macros servings.

Apple Turnovers

~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

As I was looking through the freezer this morning, I came across a box of puff pastry buried in the back. I am embarrassed to even think how long it’s been in there, but I am pretty sure I didn’t have a kid or a bun in the oven the last time I used it. {hangs head in shame} So I decided then and there that I would use it today, but for what? Hmm that was the question. After some scouring of recipes I found this one from Simply Recipes. I have used a lot of her recipes and they all have turned out great, so I went with it.

Now since this was spur of the moment decision I had to use what I had on hand, that meant 2 small Fuji apples. Even though I had walnuts I decided to throw in some slivered almonds because I thought that sounded better. I omitted the currants, all I had were raisins and Kaili has now decided she likes them, so I shall save them for the K bear.

I managed to get the apples peeled, cored, diced, got all the ingredients mixed, rolled of the pastry dough, assemble the turnovers and throw them in the oven all while Kaili was down for a nap. Success.

Even though I felt like a rockstar once they were in the oven, I soon found out that I must have missed a step. I went back and re read the recipe only to find out that I was supposed to brush some egg wash along the corners of the pastry dough before folding it. I assume it’s so this doesn’t happen…

Delicious goodness leaking everywhere 😦

The inside oozed out all over the baking sheet. Oh well, lesson learned… They will still be yummy right?

Yummy they are!  Even though they aren’t the prettiest things they are very flavorful and the the crust is perfectly flaky. Oh and all that goodness that oozed out, well it tasted like apple spice caramel, de-lish-ish!