Crostata & Coffee

Sometime last winter I spied this lonely only slightly dented can of Apricot pastry and pie filling in the dent bin at my local grocery store. I bought it not knowing what I would use it for, but I cannot pass up a good deal or the opportunity to try something new. Therefore, that lonely can of pastry filling went from the dent bin to a distant corner on my pantry shelf that is until last Saturday.

The bf and I had plans to go over to a friend’s house for coffee late Saturday morning and I thought it would be great if I took something that would go great with coffee. Of course, I could have stopped off and bought something from my local patisserie shop, but you know me ever the baking fool I thought it would be best if I baked something.

I had decided that making something using that lonely can of Apricot pastry filling would be the best, so I decided on a crostata. I had made one a few years ago for Christmas Day dessert and for whatever reason my children were less than thrilled. I honestly do not think their taste buds have completely matured yet. Anyway, the crostata turned out to be just the thing our Saturday morning coffee needed.

In the bowl of your food processor with the dough blade already in, pulse together 1 ½ cups flour, 2 Tlb. sugar, grated zest from one lemon, ¼ tsp salt, 10 Tlb. butter chilled ( half salted, half unsalted) until small crumbs form. Then pulse in 3 Tlb. ice water ( I think I used 1 additional Tlb. of ice water). Pulse until you get the dough to come together in moist clumps.

Shape dough into a flat round disk and wrap in plastic and put in the fridge for 1 hour.

Place dough onto a large piece of parchment paper and sprinkle lightly with flour. Roll out dough to a 11 or 12 in circle.

Transfer to a baking sheet.

Spread the entire can of Apricot Pastry filling over the surface of the dough coming within 2 in. of the edge.

Next you fold over the edges of the crust forming an eight in. round pleating and pinching and getting rid of any cracks in the crust.

Bake in a preheated oven (400 degrees) for 40 min. Give or take a few min.

When it comes out of the oven dust it with some powdered sugar and sprinkle on some toasted almond slivers. Let it cool on a wire rack until it is just warmish.

This was the perfect treat to go with coffee. The crust was buttery and crisp and it had just the right amount of sweet and tart from the Apricot preserve. The best part is I had one slice and left the rest behind when I went home.

Dessert in a Pinch

The other night the bf's cousin came to dinner. There wasn't a lot of notice, so I didn't have time to fuss over making a dessert like a cake or pie or some other confection worthy of company.

I went through the list of ingredients I had on hand and the time frame I had to work with, and then remembered this wonderful recipe from Ann Burrell for Palmiers. This is a quick and tasty little dessert that can be served up for just about any occasion that you need something lightly sweet. These little Palmiers are not too filling (unless you eat a dozen and I have...in one sitting) and you can add a couple of things to the cinnamon and sugar to dress it up.

Ingredients 1/2 cup white sugar, 2 tsp. ground cinnamon, zest from one medium/large orange, 1 sheet puff pastry. Now here is the fun part you could cut out some of the sugar (like one or two tablespoons)and mix in some finely ground pecans or walnuts. You could also scrape a vanilla bean into the cinnamon and sugar along with the orange zest. Just don't overdue it go easy and keep the flavors light.

The next step is you take your cinnamon and sugar mix and spread half of it onto your work surface and place your sheet of puff pastry on top.

Sprinkle the rest of the cinnamon and sugar mixture on top.

By rolling out the puff pastry lightly you embed the cinnamon and sugar mixture into both sides of the pastry dough.

Roll the puff pastry up from each of the short sides keeping each roll tight and the same size, pinch each roll together so it holds it shape.

Cut 1/4 in. slices and place each slice on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees. Bake for about 10 min. on one side then flip the cookies over and bake an additional 8 min. or so depending on your oven. You want them to be golden brown.

Now admittedly I have to sorta play with mine after I slice them to get them to hold their shape and look good, so feel free to do the same.

But in the end you are going to end up with a plateful of happiness. These cookies are best if allowed to cool completely. They crip up the cooler they get, which makes for a really delightful cookie that is perfect to serve.