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Puff Paste Experiments

December 17, 2012 - 1:56pm 
Now that the AZ weather has turned off the 6 month oven time bake, we can get back into puff pastry and other laminated dough like croissants – Yeaah!! I took some paper and cut squares with scissors until I got a shape I liked.  You fold the square corner to corner first.  Then you make 4 cuts from the long folded edge toward the opposite point but don’t cut all the way. Open the square back up.  You put your filling down the uncut middle from end to end.   Mine was chocolate chips dark brown sugar and cocoa.  Then  fold the inside square corners up to a triangle pointing skyward. The take the inner most cut pieces and fold them over themselves to the opposite side. Then fold the outermost cut pieces over themselves to the opposite side just like the inside ones.  This encapsulates the filling and after some egg glaze and turbinado sugar makes a weird puff paste shape like this. I sprinkled turbinado sugar on mine. I baked this one at 400 F in the mini oven until it was nice and golden. December 17, 2012 - 2:15pm
Have not tried puff pastry

Have not tried puff pastry yet..it's on my list when I lose a few pounds :0.

What a beautiful looking pastry.  It's making me want to eat dinner early now! December 18, 2012 - 7:07am
They say the more

ornate the pastry, the lower the calories.  These are not those though!  Well, they really don't say that either but any excuse to eat them is welcome.  Luckily 3 of us shared this one.

After last year's mince meat filling for the rugelach we will have to come up with one that doesn't have armadillo nectar and possum pelts in it this time for these snowflakes :-) December 17, 2012 - 2:18pm
Mr. D, So where on earth did

Mr. D,

So where on earth did you get the idea to use a paper 'snowflake' pattern (Thats what we call them in my part of the country :-)  for the shape of your pastry?  Ingenious and the resulting treat looks delicious!  I am sure that since it must melt in ones mouth when being eaten, that it has no calories *-}

I was relieved to note that you did not do a trial run using your paper models in your oven first :-O

Thanks for the wonderful idea!



P.S.  I assume your 2 legged assistant is home for the holidays?  Mine is driving across Kansas as I type with one very sore foot....These dancer type people don't seem to notice intense pain and dance anyway. (She just completed a final round of Nutcracker performances over the weekend)....as her mother I have the crutches ready..... December 18, 2012 - 6:58am
I saw a baking video

a couple of weeks ago that a TFL baker posted a video of this guy making puff paste with a sheeter.  One of the things he did, I'm sure it has a proper name, was cut puff paste into squares and make two cuts (instead of 4) with scissors and fold the two pointy ends over each other and stick them to the square matching the points up.  This made a very nice single layer exposed square in the middle to put filling in and a two layer square border around it that would puff up twice as high and keep the filling from falling out.  Some TFL baker will know what it is called.  Here is a picture of it. When I make PP with exposed filling the filling invariably burns before the PP gets brown.  I just made another set of cuts, folded up the center square and  instead of sticking the first pointy ends of the first fold over to it, just left them hanging there and then folded the 2nd set of pointy ends over it all making an enclosed cylinder for the filling and a sort of snowflake shape.

Paper, scissors apprentice and origami are powerful until they meet a big rock!

My daughter got home last Wednesday and immediately started studying for some graduate school test or another.  Your daughter's foot injury sounds painful  but she is young and can recover faster than some other older baking types :-)  I just love the Nutcracker and it is a Holiday must see.

Now to do some snowflake making :-) December 19, 2012 - 2:41am
Danish diamond

I think the name is called a Danish diamond.

It's fun watching baking videos on youtube and see how the professionals shape pastries. December 19, 2012 - 9:23am

came up with the same name so that must be it.  I too love to watch the pastry videos but they make me wish I had a sheeter:-)

Thanks for the name of this shape. December 17, 2012 - 6:57pm

and I love the paper cutouts.   Very ingenious.   And the turbinado sugar pushes it over the top.  -Varda December 18, 2012 - 6:23am
Sure beats the heck

out of those Puff Past Sleds right ? :-)

Thanks Varda December 18, 2012 - 6:19am
I can't remember the last

I can't remember the last time I had puff pastry. It's been a long, long while, that's for sure....

Bizarre as they may be, I assure you, if I had your pastries in my possession I'd have them in my belly within five minutes. Nay, maybe less.

Can't wait to see your other pastry goodies, DA. :) December 18, 2012 - 7:16am
Zita, you are

young enough and active enough  to eat puff pastry and not have it end up on your rear end, belly and thighs like it does on my.....eeerrr....apprentice and some others!   I say - enjoy them while you are young :-)   They are fun to make and good practice for croissants too.

Will work on some more bizarre shapes , the perfect adjective for them, for some odd fillings too. December 18, 2012 - 3:09pm
Very creative!

And I absolutely agree with your fact finding that the more decorated a pastry is, the less calories it has. True health food!

Happy holidays, December 18, 2012 - 3:43pm
I've got to do

a really healthy one of these that actually causes you to lose weight the more you eat them.  They will need some hemp and chia seeds with a nutty filling!  We will call them Those Pound Dropping, Hempy, Nutty Flakes

Thanks Hanseatta and best Christmas wishes to you and yours.  I still dream about that tinned up and contained stollen on the patio.  I think it's alive..... December 18, 2012 - 3:53pm
Puff Pastry

Must be one of the four major food groups, right? That will be one of my New Year's resolutions-to try again-if I practice a lot over the year, maybe the next year's resolution can be to actually try to bake croissants. December 19, 2012 - 6:35am
I'm thinking that's a

I'm thinking that's a double-decker-Danish-diamond :)  Looks delicious, interested to see what else you come up with.

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