Puff the Magic Pastry! The ultimate convenience food. It keeps in the freezer, cooks quickly, and works with almost any ingredient — savory or sweet.
Puff pastry is an elegant addition to a tray of tea sandwiches or a dessert buffet, but it can also be a fast and easy vehicle for family snacks, appetizers, and small bites. Puff pastry can be used for savory or sweet ingredients, and good quality puff pastry is now widely available, making it a freezer basic.
Puff Pastry 101:
Buying: Puff pastry is available in the frozen section of grocery stores and specialty markets. Look for pastry made with butter, and try to avoid the varieties made with artificial ingredients and high-fructose corn syrup.
Thawing: Puff pastry is sold in sheets, so you can use what you need and freeze the rest. You can even cut out your puff pastry, and refreeze it after it is shaped or filled. It is best to thaw the pastry that you plan to use 24 hours in the refrigerator before you use it so that it is evenly thawed and won’t break. If you don’t have 24 hours, thaw the pastry (still wrapped) on the counter for about 45 minutes. If it gets too warm the sheets will fuse together, so watch the thawing, and start using the pastry as soon as it is pliable enough to work with.
Baking: Puff pastry needs to cook at a high temperature so that steam will be created in the dough to puff the pastry. Plan to give your oven time to get to 400 degrees before baking the pastry. Puff pastry bakes quickly, so keep an eye on it as it cooks.
Egg Wash Glazing: To get an appetizing, browned sheen on your pastry, give the surface an egg wash right before baking. Take one egg, lightly beat it in a small bowl, and gently apply on the top of the dough with a pastry brush.
5 Ways to Use Puff Pastry for Savory Lunches and Snacks:
As we learned from Chef Teri Esensten of the Nest School Lunch Program, puff pastry can be used to create almost endless lunch and snacks items — with leftovers or whatever you happen to have in the refrigerator. Here are some great ideas.
- Fold a circle of puff pastry in half after adding a tomato sauce of your choice and cheese. Bake for a mini calazone.
- Top a square of puff pastry with shredded mozzarella cheese and cherry tomatoes (add sliced mushrooms, crumbled sausage, slices of pepperoni). Bake for a mini pizza.
- Roll a rectangle of puff pastry with thinly sliced deli turkey, a slice of cheese, and a spinach leaf. Then slice into circles and bake.
- Brush puffed pastry with melted butter and top with shredded parmesan. Bake and serve with tomato soup.
- Take a puff pastry triangle, spoon a small pile of roasted vegetables (add crumbled or shredded cheese if you wish), and fold over for a veggie hand pie.
Sugar-Crunch Palmiers from Puff: 50 flaky, crunchy, delicious appetizers, entrées, and desserts made with puff pastry, by Martha Holmberg
Since ‘tis the season for some sweets…these EASY and addictive cookies will make an impressive showing for any holiday celebration. Sugary and light, these thin, crunchy palmiers melt in your mouth. Have fun making these, and prepare for rave reviews.
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 sheet (about 9 ounces) frozen puff pastry, thawed
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, if using non-butter pastry
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, plus about ½ cup for dredging
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- Dust your work surface with some of the powdered sugar, lay out the sheet of pastry, dust it with more powdered sugar, and roll, turning frequently and dusting with more sugar each time, until you have a 11-by-14-inch rectangle. (You may notice the dough getting sticky as the sugar pulls moisture from it; just add a little more sugar.)
- Arrange the rectangle horizontally in front of you. If using non-butter pastry, drizzle the pastry evenly with the butter. Mix the 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and salt together, and distribute evenly over the whole surface of the pastry.
- Fold both short sides so they meet in the center, and then fold their edges again to meet in the center. Fold in half like a book, pressing gently with your palm to seal the two sides together. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes to firm up. *It can also be wrapped and frozen for up to one month at this point.
- When ready to bake, heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat (the sugar gets sticky). Spread the remaining ½ cup granulated sugar on a plate. Cut the pastry into ¼-inch slices, dip both sides in the sugar, and arrange on the sheet about an inch apart. Bake until the sugar is lightly golden, about 10 minutes. With a spatula (be careful, the sugar is very hot) flip each palmier, and continue baking until deep golden brown and the pastry is no longer doughy in the center, about 8 minutes. To be sure, break one open. Carefully slide the cookies onto a cooling rack, and let cool completely. They’ll get crisper as they cool.