Puff Piece

This week marked an end to my 90 day work experience at BHL in Framingham.  They treated me very kindly while I was there so as a going away gift to my fellow employees I wanted to make them all feel special with some desserts.  On Monday I brought in my fruit and cream filled puff pastry dessert, which I like to call a Napolean, and of course my Chocolate Walnut Torte.  It seems like so many people are allergic to nuts now a days so the puff pastry dessert is an easy alternative, plus it goes a long ways!  It was so yummy I thought it would be a perfect "Mixing Bowl" feature for this month.

THE MIXING BOWL

By Renee Zarate

“PUFF PIECE”

When I was first learning how to cook I thought I had to make everything from scratch.   Puff Pastry scared me to death and took me almost the entire day to make.   With age comes wisdom and I found out that some shortcuts are quite acceptable.   Puff Pastry is definitely one of them!  If you have not already tried frozen puff pastry sheets now is your chance.  It takes all the fear out of preparing a beautiful and delicious dessert that looks like you spent all day in the kitchen when in reality it can be made in less than an hour.

Puff Pastry with cream and fruit filling

½ pkg of a 17.3 oz. Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets  (1 sheet) 

Remove one sheet of puff pastry from the box and thaw at room temperature for about an hour before using.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly spray it with Pam.  Gently unfold the pastry sheet and place in on a lightly floured surface.  Cut the sheet into three pieces using the fold lines as a guide.  Be careful not to drag your knife, just cut straight down on the pastry, this way you will get the maximum “puff” or height out of the pastry dough.  Place on the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until it is golden brown.  Cool on a rack and then split each of the three pastry “logs” in half lengthwise.  You will have three tops and three bottoms.  You can fill these buttery, flaky pastries with all kinds of fillings such as:  ice cream, chocolate pudding, whipped cream, fruit, etc.  The following is one of my favorites.

Vanilla cream and fruit filling

2 pkgs (3.4 oz each) of Jello instant pudding and pie filling

2 cups of milk or Half and Half

1 teaspoon of good quality vanilla extract

1 cup whipped cream or 1 cup of frozen whipped topping (Coolwhip)

1 quart of strawberries or mixed fresh berries cut and sweetened with 1 Tbl of sugar

(Or if you prefer several fresh, ripe bananas cut up instead of berries or fresh peaches when they are in season)

In a medium sized bowl, mix the two boxes of pudding together and blend in 2 cups of milk along with the vanilla, beat for 2 minutes.  After it has set up for about 5 minutes in the refrigerator fold in the whipped cream or the thawed Coolwhip.  (You can add more whipped cream or Coolwhip if you desire.)  Cover this mixture and refrigerate it until you are ready to assemble the dessert.

Place all three of the “bottom” crusts of the pastry logs on the serving tray.  Divide the cream filling into three portions and spread each portion on one of the pastry bottoms.  Ladle your choice of fruit on top of the cream filling then top each with the remaining pastry “tops”.  Sift powdered sugar across the top of the entire dessert tray and you are ready to serve it.

You can refrigerate this completed dessert for up to four hours or serve immediately.  Use a serrated knife for easier slicing, just wipe off the knife after each cut with a wet towel.  It will serve 12 or more.

The Altered Alice Challenge

I love "The Altered Alice" blog and have finally decided to submit a card.  The card I created is the Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland late for the tea party since the theme is "TIME".
First I applied the new Bo-Bunny "Time" paper to the sticky back portion of a sheet of Sticky Back Canvas.  After soaking the canvas in water I rubbed off the paper which left only the clocks.  After allowing the new clock fabric to dry thoroughly, I cut a piece of the fabric off and sewed it to a large ready made background "tag" card which had been edged with brown and blue distress ink (Ranger Broken China & Vintage Photo).
Then distressed and attached a piece of red cardstock with several staples.  Stamped the rabbit on a mailing tag and then stamped clocks (both stamps are from Greetings from Wonderland SL25 by clearartstamps.com) randomly around the rabbit.  Distressed with Tattered Angels glimmer mist, blue, coffee and green.
After the mists dried I glued circles of mica to the clock faces.  I layered the mailing tag on to the card.  Now I added the large metal clock with E-6000 glue and tied a piece of measuring tape ribbon to the top of the card.

Brunch pastries

I love the photos of my beautiful grandsons!  Here's a recipe for one of their favorite pastries, I sent it into the newspaper last week.  When I was visiting some people in Utah 40 years ago the lady of the house had just won first place at the Fair with this showstopper.  It is still one of my favorites all these years later.

THE MIXING BOWL

By Renee Zarate

ALMOND JOY!

Almond Pastry

This almond pastry has a delicate flavor and is so light it melts in your mouth.  It consists of an unusual combination of pie crust and a paste similar to cream puff dough baked together and then simply glazed with an almond flavored icing.  To make it complete just roast a handful of sliced almonds in a skillet until golden brown and sprinkle them over the two pastries.

Pastry:

½ cup unsalted butter

1 cup of flour                           

2 Tbl. water

Choux Paste

1 cup water

½ cup unsalted butter

1 tsp almond extract

1 cup flour

3 eggs, lightly beaten together, brought to room temperature

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Cut 1/2 cup butter into 1 cup of flour with a pastry blender.  Sprinkle 2 Tablespoons of water over the mixture.  Round the dough into a ball and divide it into two pieces.  Pat each piece into a 12” by 3” strip on an ungreased cookie sheet (or if you prefer you can cover the cookie sheet with parchment paper).  The strips should be about 3” apart.  Set aside.

Combine 1 cup of water and ½ cup of unsalted butter in a medium sized saucepan and bring it to a rolling boil over medium high heat.   Remove from the heat and stir in 1 teaspoon of almond extract and 1 cup of flour. Return the pan to the heat and stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture forms a ball, about one minute.  Remove the pan from the heat and add in the eggs all at once, beat the mixture until it is smooth.  (Do not return the pan to the heat.)  Divide the paste in half and spread one half over each of the pastry strips.  Bake for 60 minutes in a pre-heated oven.  The pastries should be a golden brown.  Cool on a rack.  Frost while warm.

Frosting:

1 ½ cup powdered sugar

2 Tablespoons of softened butter

1 ½ teaspoons of almond extract

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

2 Tablespoons of warm water

Beat this mixture by hand or with an electric mixer until it is smooth.  Drizzle this over the pastry while it is still warm.

Sprinkle one cup of toasted, sliced almonds over the top of the pastries

My Grand Kids

Tea, Scones and a good book

This is the time of the month when I submit my column to the Bolton Common newspaper.  I shared a recipe on "Scones" today.  It is a traditional recipe that I have used for 25 years.   Here goes:

The Mixing Bowl

By Renee Zarate

“Afternoon Tea”

Lately my book club has been reading a couple of novels by Charles Dickens.  When I read novels from that era for some reason I start dreaming of afternoon tea and scones enjoyed in front of a warm and inviting fire.  Here is a traditional recipe that makes a large batch of scones.  The beauty of this recipe is that you can have some now and freeze some for another time.  The scones are served warm with your favorite jam and a thickened cream that you can make yourself.  Split the scone in two horizontally, then spread it with a layer of jam and top it with a large spoonful of the heavy cream.

SCONES (makes 32)

6 cups of all purpose flour

¾ cup white sugar

1/3 cup of baking powder

1 tsp. salt

½ lb. + 2 Tbl. of unsalted butter, cut into 1” pieces

2 cups of buttermilk (or add 1 Tbl of vinegar to 2 cups of milk)

1 cup of raisins or currants

Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Cut in the butter to get a coarse meal consistency.  Combine the buttermilk and the raisins and add to the above ingredients.  Turn out the dough onto a floured board and knead it until it holds together, handling it as little as possible.  Divide into 6 pieces.  Roll out each piece and cut out scones with a 2 inch round cookie cutter.  Put on an unbuttered cookie sheet and glaze the tops with egg wash.  Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes or a little longer.  They should be golden brown.  (If you want to freeze the scones, do not bake them at this point, wait until you are ready to serve.  Do not defrost; put them frozen into the oven.  Bake until brown.  The baking time will probably be a little longer, check one to make sure they are done.)

EGG WASH

Break one egg into a small cup and beat it gently with a fork.  Brush this mixture on the top of the scones being careful not to drip it on the sides.

MOCK DEVONSHIRE CREAM

2 cups of whipping cream

2 Tbl. buttermilk or sour cream

8 oz. Mascarpone cheese

1 or 2 Tbl. sugar

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate for a least 24 hours.  Beat with an electric mixer just before serving, this will make the cream really thick.  The cream will keep for a week covered and refrigerated.

Think "yellow" even though it is white outside

Today my creative juices were really flowing.  I think I drew my inspiration from the fact that when I looked at the Stampington website I saw one of my cards from the "Blue" challenge in the advertisement.  Woo Hoo!  That made me so happy I decided to submit more cards for the "Yellow" challenge, which I really wasn't too excited about.  So when I got up this morning I immediately started thinking yellow.  I came up with 3 cards that I like quite a bit.  As soon as I figure out how to post photos of the cards I will.  Joe is home now so that should help with the photo posting.  Nothing like having your own IT guy! 

It is freezing cold out so I made a large pot of chicken soup.  I'm going to put leftover Risotto and veggies in it.  I need to write my food column for the Bolton Common this week.  I believe scones would be a good choice....with homemade Devonshire cream.  Mmmmmm.

Let them eat cake!

I love coconut cake, as does my neighbor.  I really don't know anyone who doesn't like it.  I have made several versions but I have found that my "cheaters" version that I adapted for my daughter is the best.  This time I stumbled upon a new type of frosting which I think is pretty wonderful.  Here goes:

Cheaters Coconut Cake
1 box mix of white moist cake (I used Duncan Hines, but it really doesn't matter)
14 ounce can of unsweetened coconut milk, less 2 Tbl (save the 2 Tablespoons for later)
4 large egg whites (beaten) (save 2 of the egg yolks for later)
2 tsp coconut extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease two 8" round cake pans, set aside.  Mix together the cake mix, coconut milk and  2 tsp. coconut extract.  Beat at a low speed with a mixer about 30 seconds and then 2 minutes at medium speed.  Fold in the beaten egg whites by hand.  Pour into prepared cake pans and bake for 21 to 28 minutes, check with a cake tester for doneness.  Allow cakes to cool  in pans for 15 mins.  Remove from pans and place on racks until completely cooled off.  Make frosting.

Coconut Pecan Cream Cheese Frosting
Combine in saucepan:
2/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup room temperature unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
Cook over medium heat stirring constantly for 10-15 minutes, until the eggs have thickened.  DO NOT BOIL.    Remove from the heat and add:
1 & 1/3 cup flaked unsweetened coconut that has been mixed with the leftover 2 Tbl of the coconut milk and 2 to 3 teaspoons of coconut extract.  Add 1 cup chopped pecans.  In a separate bowl beat one 8 ounce package of room temperature cream cheese.  Fold the cooked pecan mixture into the whipped cream cheese.  Fill and Frost the cooled cakes.  Top the cake with a few whole pecan halves.

So now I am happy because my driveway is snowfree and I got to bake a cake without actually eating it.  My neighbor and his family are happy with their annual coconut cake.  And Joe is happy because he didn't have to shovel snow.  Everyone is happy!