Recipe & a Goodbye

One day 1/2 before departure, I couldn't leave you with .. well a little thought. I LOVE to bake and so here is one of the many recipes I can't go without.


Palmiers, Coeurs de France, Prussiens, Ventaglietti, Schweineohren.. how ever you want to call them they are just yummy!

For Valentine's day I've been baking quite a good amount of this delicious, light and so easy to make pastry. Since our last trip to Switzerland my husband has discovered his love for any pastry made out of this kind of dough. And this are the easiest to make and.. well, heart theme for Valentine's :)

Let me tell you there is a trick. I love to bake and so make the dough from scratch. But if you are out of time, not really up to making a dough that requires a total amount of hours as a whole day.. well it won't take you more then 15 min. to make this pastry with a Puff Pastry dough from any store around.

Believe it or not I've found the cheapest at Whole Foods. In the Dessert Frozen Section, there it is!

Palmiers ~ Coeurs de France

Ingredients

1 package puff-pastry 

1/2 cup granulated sugar

Directions

Heat oven to 400° F. Adjust rack to middle position.

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar over the work surface. Unfold 1 sheet of the pastry and place it on the sugar. Roll it to an even thickness. Sprinkle it with 2 tablespoons of the sugar. 

Starting at one short side of the rectangle, roll the pastry toward the center of the sheet, stopping at the middle. Repeat with the opposite short end, so the rolls meet. Trim the ends with a knife.

Cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices and place flat on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spacing them 1 inch apart. Sprinkle with 1 more tablespoon of the sugar.

Bake until golden and puffed, 20 to 23 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Serve hot or at room temperature. Bonne appetite!

Here is a very clear step-by-step how to with pictures. Take a look, have fun and enjoy
baci e ciao :) 

{picts. by real simple,  en.petitchef, pinkstripes, the honeyed fig}

{Recipe Club} Pumpkin Pie Bites

We haven't started our Recipe CLub yet, but I found such I cute recipe of the season I absolutely need to share with you. Let me know if you are not gonna fall for this cute little pumpkin. Irresistible! I've already made it twice and I just can't get enough of it!

So easy to make, and they are as good as they look!

A mini muffin baking pan comes very useful. And if you don't have a pumpkin shaped cutter, just use a round cutter and make the stems with the scraps. That's how I did it and it works just fine.

Make sure to press each stems over the edge and on the side of the dough before filling. Coming out of the oven they look all puffed up..

.. but once they cool down they flat down to the dough like in the very beginning. Then decoration is of your choice. Chocolate drizzled for a cool look. This would be great looking for Thanksgiving, but I bet you won't wait that long to try them out, nop not possible! Too dang cute :)

you can leave them plain, great orange looking ready for a pince of whipped cream.. mmmmm yummi!

Or make them your Halloween delightful treats! This is my favorite :)

{This great recipe and pictures aren't my doing, but are provided by Bakerella ! Great site with great recipes! Thank YOUU!}

Pumpkin Pie Bites

2 refrigerated ready-to roll pie crusts

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter

Optional
1/2 cup chocolate morsels
vegetable oil
re-sealable plastic bags

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Use cookie cutter to cut 12 pumpkin shapes from each pie crust. You will need to roll the dough thinner than it comes out of the box.
Press dough shapes into a 24 cup mini muffin tray. (Make 12 at a time, alternating cups to make sure pie crusts don’t overlap each other.)
Apply egg whites from one egg to the top edges of each pie.
Mix cream cheese, sugar, canned pumpkin, remaining 2 eggs, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice together until thoroughly combined.
Spoon mixture into each pumpkin-shaped pie crust.
Bake for 12-15 minutes.
Remove pies to cool and repeat with second pie crust. Place the muffin tray in the freezer to cool it quickly for re-use.

Makes 24 pies. Keep refrigerated.

To decorate, melt chocolate in a heat-proof bowl in the microwave on medium. Heat in 30 second intervals, stirring in between until melted. Add a little vegetable oil to make the chocolate more fluid. Transfer to a re-sealable plastic bag and cut the corner off. Drizzle or draw faces on pies.

Note: The pumpkin shaped cutter should be 3 3/4 inches wide, or round cutter of about the same size. Pumpkin pie spice is a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice.

Enjoy and let me know how yours came out!