Cream Puffs

Made my first ever choux pastry creation - cream puffs, and it turned out to be amazing!

I've got raving comments on it, and it just gives me so much more motivation to make second (or possibly third) batch of puffs!

Recipe adopted from Joy of Baking.

Cream Puffs

Pigs in Blankets

Well, except I used cocktail chicken frankfurters instead of pork.

So it's chicks in blankets, maybe?

It is a really simple recipe to follow. For the pastry, just refer to my earlier post on the puff pastry recipe. (I can't link the post!! Blogging on mobile does have its downside)

That recipe will make slightly over 50 pigs in blankets, depending of course on how thick you roll your dough.

Basically, to assemble this yummy snack, prepare egg wash ( I used 2 eggs with approximately 2 tablespoons water, beat together). Roll and cut your puff pastry dough into a small rectangle - the width should be slightly shorter than your sausage, if not same width. The length approximately slightly over twice the diameter of the sausage. (I am horrible in giving precise measurements, aren't I? Well, just make sure you can make one complete 360 degrees roll on your sausage and you're good to go).

Then, using your trusty pastry brush, brush egg wash on the surface of the dough on which you will lay your sausage on. Why? The egg wash will help the sausage remain attached to the pastry while being cooked in the oven. Else, your pigs are not snugly tucked in their blankets.

Okay. Then just roll your sausage in your pastry, brush egg wash again at the edge to stick the pastry together. Then brush the assembled rolls with eff wash to get the lovely golden hue off the skin.

Pop your pigs into a preheated oven (180 Celsius) and baked for about 12 mins, or when the pastry turned brown.

Pigs in Blanket

Mini Croissants

Bake of the week:  mini croissants.  

My first croissant baking experience.  It definitely is a lot easier than I thought, but very, very time consuming.  Even more so than the puff pastry. 

It took me literally half a day to wait, chill and knead these babies. But the result, well worth the effort! 

I maybe posting the recipes up in another post. So for now, just enjoy the photo ;) 

Mini Croissants

Vegetable Samosa

I've been bitten by the samosa bug and have been craving for it lately.

I remember how I used to get it from the farmers market in the lovely city of Fredericton, and how I spent my first summer holidays working in a samosa kitchen wrapping the pastry goodies.

Well that being said, it doesn't necessarily mean that I own the samosa recipes. But I do have a rough idea of what's going on in the dough mixer and the saucepan.

Anyways, since time ain't exactly all that I have, I've decided to curb my cravings by doing a cheat version.

Nope, I did not make my own pastry. Rather, I bought the Chinese spring roll pastry. That's the only part you can cheat. The fillings? Sorry, you've still gotta cook you potatoes and frozen vegetables.

And opting for a healthier option, I chose to bake the samosas rather than deep frying them. So it look rather pale.

And the verdict for this quickie samosa? Nothing beats the original deep fried samosa. This spring roll version is doable, if you aren't picky. But really... Baked spring roll samosa? I guess good old fashion deep fried goodies always taste better.

Oh well.. I will find a day to make the samosa dough from scratch, and share the recipes then.

For now, pardon my humble little "Chinese" samosa.

Vegetable Samosas

Puff Pastry - the quicker way

I've mustered enough courage to venture into my first pastry recipe after many years.  I remembered trying it many years back and failed miserably.

But after much research and some (mental) preparation, I've finally braced myself and try out a "quick" puff pastry that I got off the net - a Gordon Ramsay's recipe. And guess what? It's really easy to do so, and rather fail proof.

However, before venturing into the pastry kneading and rolling, it is important to be reminded that however "quick" the recipe may claims itself to be, it is still time consuming - no, you won't get your pastry dough ready in matter of minutes. Just got to be patient with the fridging intervals and we're quite good to go :)

*p/s: I apologize for a non-picture post.  I couldn't get my hands on my camera or my iPhone during and between the kneads.

Rough Puff Pastry Recipe  adapted from Gordon Ramsay's recipe 

Ingredients: 

250 gm all purpose flour / plain flour
1 tsp salt
250 gm cold butter, cut into cubes
150 ml cold water 

1.  Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.
2.  Rub in the butter with the flour mixture loosely - you will need to see bits of butter.
3.  Make a well in the middle of the mixture and pour in about 2/3 of water. Mix until you have a firm dough.  Cover with cling wrap and let it set in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
4.  Flour your work surface and knead your dough gently on the surface until smooth dough is formed.
5.  Then using your hand, knead the dough into a rectangular shape.
6.  Use a rolling pin, roll the rectangular into approximately 3 times the size.  Roll the dough in one direction only, and do not overwork the butter streaks - your dough should have a marbled effect.
7.  Just like you would with a business letter, fold the top third down to the center then the bottom third up to the center, and over that.  Then, wrap the dough sheet in cling wrap and let it set in the fridge for another 20 minutes.
8.  Repeat steps 6 and 7 twice (which means you should have folded your dough about 3 times). Once done, wrap your dough with cling wrap and let it chill / freeze in the fridge until ready for use. 

Here's some note to the recipe:
After reading some other recipes, I've decided to repeat steps 6 & 7 for at least two more times to get a more layered effect on my dough.
Also when freezing the dough, make sure it's in it's rectangular sheet form - don't roll it into ball form cause the dough will then lose its layered effect.