Strawberry Nutella Stuffed Pastry

        

It’s strawberry season!  I love strawberry shortcake just as much as the next person, but sometimes I need chocolate.  These flaky, buttery pastries are filled with rich nutella, and juicy sweet red strawberries.  They are amazing!

If you don’t want to go to all the trouble to make puff pastry yourself (and who could blame you!), purchase some in the freezer section of your local grocer.

So go ahead and swap that shortcake for a buttery pastry, it’s the perfect hand-held, make-ahead, summer-time, Memorial day/4th of July-celebrating treat.  Be sure to make extra, because these go fast!

Puff Pastry Adapted from Volume Two Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cake flour

3/4 stick of cold unsalted butter, cut into Tablespoons

1 1/8 cup ice water*

2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt

Whisk the flours together in a medium bowl.  Scoop out 1/2 cup of the flour mixture to use later – set aside.**

Add the butter to the remaining flour mixture and cut it in until you have pea-sized crumbles of butter and flour.

Add salt to the ice water* and stir until completely dissolved.

Pour the salt water into the flour mixture and mix together until combined.  The dough may be slightly tacky.

*I usually measure 1 cup of water and add ice to make 1 1/8 cup stirring vigorously until melted.  Once the ice is melted, I pour off any extra liquid.

**You will use this to combine with the butter that goes in between the dough layers.

On a large piece of parchment (lightly floured) shape the dough into a square and flatten it slightly.  Wrap up the dough in the parchment and place it in a plastic bag.  Refrigerate for about 45 minutes to allow the gluten to relax.

In the meantime, prepare your butter layer.

Butter Layer

3 sticks of cold, unsalted butter

1/2 cup of reserved flour mixture

On a piece of parchment, place the three sticks of butter and pound them with a rolling pin until they appear pliable.  Add the flour to the butter and work them together with bottom of your hand.  Do this until all the flour has been incorporated into the butter.  Shape the butter mixture into a square (more or less) and wrap it up in the parchment and put it in the refrigerate to chill.

Before you continue, make sure the butter layer has hardened.  If not, allow it to do so before moving to the next step.

When the butter has hardened, take out the square of dough and place it on lightly floured parchment.  Roll the dough into a large square (using more flour as needed to prevent sticking).  Place the chilled butter in the center, and wrap it up – first pulling the top of the dough over, then the right side, then the bottom, then the left side.  Now it should resemble a package.

Turn the package over and pound the dough evenly with the rolling pin, flattening out the butter layer.  Once the dough has flattened out a bit, begin to roll the dough out - about 16 inches in length and 8 inches in width.  Sprinkle with flour as needed to prevent sticking.

When it is completely rolled out, fold the dough like a letter, folding the bottom section halfway up the middle, then folding the top down.  Place the dough in front of you with the fold on your left side.

Roll out the dough again and repeat the folding.  Wrap the dough up in parchment and place in a plastic bag.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Next. .

Roll and fold

Roll and fold, wrap up and refrigerate for 1 hour

Roll and fold

Roll and fold, wrap up and refrigerate for 1 hour

Now the dough is ready for baking. . .whew, that was a lot of work!

Roll the dough out into a large rectangle, trim off edges so it’s somewhat uniform.  I use a pizza cutter to do this.  Then cut into rectangles.

For the plain pastry, fold the dough over itself and crimp using a fork.  Place pastries on parchment, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before baking.  Brush with eggwash and sprinkle with sugar just before baking.

Bake in a preheated oven set at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.  Gently lift the pastry (with a spatula) to check to see if the bottoms are browned before removing from the oven, otherwise they will deflate as they cool.

Strawberry Nutella Pastry

Nutella

Strawberries, washed and dried

Cut a pastry if half, slather nutella on the bottom half, and top with sliced fresh strawberries, fold over the top.  Eat immediately.  Enjoy!

Egg wash

1 egg

2 Tablespoons heavy cream

Whisk together the egg and the heavy cream until combined.

To make the chocolate stuffed bird pastries, buy these cutters.  Then use the cutter to cut the shape on the bottom section of the pastry.  Flip the pastry over and place chocolate chips on the bottom section, then fold the cut-out section over, and crimp the sides with a fork.  Place the bird cut-out on top.  Place the pastry on parchment, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, checking the bottom to make sure it’s brown before removing from the oven.

Linking to Tidy Mom

Raspberry Swirl Pound Cake

This is one of those cakes that looks really impressive, but doesn’t take any time at all.  I have a super narrow bundt pan, so that’s why it has a bit of an odd shape!

This particular cake was on the cover of Cooking with Paula Deen May/June 2013, on sale now, and it caught the eye of my discerning young son.  He was impressed, and figured he could make it to.  So we bought the magazine, a package of raspberries and off we went.

As far as pound cakes go, this one is incredibly moist and has a soft crumb – the kids all gave it rave reviews!

I should note that the raspberries have to cook into a sauce at least 6 hours before baking the cake, so be sure to plan for that.

Raspberry Swirl Pound Cake Adapted from Cooking with Paula Deen Magazine May/June 2013

Raspberry Sauce

1/2 cup sugar

1 cups fresh raspberries

6 Tablespoons water

In a small pan, combine all of the ingredients and cook over medium heat, stirring often crushing the berries.  Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened.  Pour the berries into a sieve – gently pressing and stirring to get all of the sauce out.  Discard the pulp and seeds.  Let the sauce cool for about 20 minutes, then store covered in the refrigerator for 6 hours, or overnight.

Sour Cream Pound Cake

3 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon vanilla

5 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

3 1/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and the sour cream together until combined.*  Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.  Add the lemon zest and the vanilla and beat until combined.  Add the eggs and the egg yolk, beating after each addition.

Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, and beat just until combined.  Your batter will be lumpy, do not continue to beat until smooth!

Spray a bundt pan with nonstick spray, then add about 1 1/2 – 2 cups of batter to the pan (depending on the size of your bundt pan).  Using a wooden spoon handle, make a trench in the center of the cake batter, all the way around the cake pan.

Next, carefully pour half of the raspberry sauce into the trench – about 3 Tablespoons.  Then spoon more cake batter over the raspberry sauce – using just enough batter to cover it.  The bundt pan should be no more than 2/3 full, to prevent cake overflow.

Next, take a dinner knife and make circles with it in the batter two times, then move on to another section (just pulling your knife through the batter), circling again 2 times, and continue to move until all of the batter has been swirled.

Pour the remaining cake batter into a loaf pan, I used this one.

Place the cakes in the oven for about 1 hour.  Check the cakes by inserting a toothpick in the centers.  After the cakes are done, let them cool for about 10 minutes in their pans, then carefully turn each out onto a wire rack to continue cooling.

Once the cakes are almost completely cool, top with the glaze and serve.

*The cold sour cream will make some of the butter harden, making the batter lumpy, but this is okay!

Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon corn syrup

3 Tablespoons water

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

In a small bowl, whisk the powdered sugar, corn syrup, and water together until smooth.  Add the almond extract and whisk until combined.  For a thicker glaze add more powdered sugar, for a thinner glaze add more water.  For easy clean up, place a piece of wax paper under the cooling rack the cake is on, then pour the glaze on top.

The Birthday Party Recap

A few weekends ago we celebrated a very special little one’s birthday, and this was her birthday cake.  She couldn’t decide on chocolate cake or vanilla, so she got both!  My friend, Janna, suggested sandwiching the vanilla between two chocolate layers, and I think it turned out pretty nicely (see below)!

I just couldn’t resist giving this shot a retro feel – kind of makes me feel like it’s 1960 and I’m June Cleaver. . .sort of.  Raise your hand if you remember June wearing a pearl necklace?  I was kind of saying (to my husband) that I’m a lot like June Cleaver, and my husband said I was nothing like June Cleaver.  I challenged him to tell me in what way I’m not like June.  Then (because he’s obstinate) he challenged me to tell him what about me is like June, and well, I made a mental checklist.  It went something like this. . .

kisses husband upon arrival home. . .nope

house looks clean all the time. . .nope

reports to Ward, I mean the husband about the trouble the Beaver’s been in at school . . .nope

wears necklaces while vacuuming the floor. . .maybe once?

wears lipstick all the time. . .yes!  ha, ha – take that husband

Then I decided that I should probably have a more solid argument for my side in the future.

This is the top of the cake, I just love the swirl pattern.

Here I am holding the cake to give you an idea of how large it was.  I was hoping you could get an idea by looking at this photo, but have since decided that it either a. makes me look wide or b. makes the cake look small compared to how wide I am (hm, is that essentially the same argument?).

Anyhow, you’re just going to have to trust me – it’s a 3 layer, 12 inch cake and it’s super heavy.  It reminds me of those beautiful large cakes in Pollyanna that Cook was making for the bazaar.  That doesn’t date me, does it?

That super cute “celebrate” banner was purchased online at Lisa Leonard Designs.

The kids and I ended up deciding on making an edible party favor, and dirt pudding was a natural fit.  We used  this recipe for the chocolate pudding, and we topped it with homemade chocolate shortbread cookies (that we ground up in the food processor), and the finishing touch was these edible chocolate rocks.  That cute “party favor” sign was my daughter’s doing – she came up with the design and executed it all by herself – I’m so proud of her.

For the pudding cups, next time I would use chalkboard vinyl (if I had any) because the chalkboard paint started to peel off a little from condensation when we were writing on it.  It ended up being okay, but I had to use plain old chalk instead of my chalk pen.

Here’s a close up shot of the other pudding cups we ended up making with our silicone pots – aren’t those rocks cute?!

And here is the final table. . .not too shabby.  There are a few things that I would’ve changed (like elevating a few more things and leaving the condiment bottles out of the picture), but it was crazy because more dishes were added at the last minute because of extra food that I wasn’t expecting (but appreciated, brought by guests), and my husband who added two more items to the menu an hour before the party.  In the future I may just have a dessert table, that way no one will mess with it!

Those brown paper bags in the back (were another great idea from my friend Janna!) were filled with Tostitos for the Super Bowl Dip (seated next to the buns).  But the biggest (surprise) hit were the fresh blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries.  Another thanks to Janna for suggesting I serve a fruit dip (sweetened whip cream) with all those beautiful berries.

The Big Brother Box

As you may have surmised from my previous post, I’m getting a new niece.  You know, since I said that and everything.  What I didn’t mention is that she is joining a big brother, and I’m heading out to visit (with my family) in a couple of weeks to help my sister out.  And by help out, I mean hold the baby, chase the big brother and tickle him, go shopping, and entertain my kids.  It’s going to be fun, because as luck would have it, I like children of all ages.

I’ve been racking my brain about what to get my nephew, since I know (from experience) that it’s hard for siblings to get displaced, so I decided I would make the big brother his very own goodie box.  The preschool my kids went to, used to have a box like this for each kid to pick one thing out of during their school parties, and they loved it.  So it just seemed natural that my nephew would love it too (fingers crossed!), especially since all the items in the box are just for him.

I plan to add a few more things – edible ones, like some whoppers, orange fruit cups (because he loves fruit), and maybe some prepackaged muffins.  Oh, and the box in the above picture had to be changed out because I couldn’t fit everything in, thus the box in the picture below looks much bigger, because it is!

The box reads: “Caleb’s Big Brother Box”

This would also be perfect to put goodie bags/treats in for a birthday, or school, party.

Just a peak. . .

Here’s a glimpse of what we’ve been up to lately. . .

Making a tablecloth for an upcoming birthday party (the fabric banner shown was purchased on etsy at Starlit Nest Gifts)

and fabric triangles for our attempt at making our own banner

dipping wooden spoons in paint and chalkboard painting dessert cups (the tutorial for the spoons is here  and I came up with the chalkboard painted dessert cup using leftover chalkboard paint on clear cups - I know, not rocket science, right)

making blueberry moon milkshakes

sewing a baby blanket, burp clothes, and changing mat for my new niece

making this yummy Raspberry Pineapple Yogurt Cream (recipe below)

and whipping up these cute pretzels from YUM! Magazine with the kids.  They’re super easy, just pretzel twists, colored melting chocolate, mini M&M’s, mini chocolate chips, and food writing markers for the bunnies.

Raspberry Pineapple Yogurt Cream Adapted from here

8 ounces mascarpone

5.3 ounces greek raspberry yogurt

1/4 heaping cup of crushed pineapple, not drained

3 heaping Tablespoons of powdered sugar

pink food coloring, optional

chocolate shavings, or curls

Beat the mascarpone cheese with the powdered sugar.  Add the yogurt and the crushed pineapple, beat until combined.  Add food coloring, if desired (I do because when I mix everything, the end result looks beige).  Scoop into individual bowls, and top with chocolate.  Refrigerate leftovers!

Serves 6

Inefficiency and Misunderstandings

For those of you who are friends of mine and have already heard my tirade, forgive me. For everyone else, here’s the deal – my husband is all about minimalism, and me, well I’m all about efficiency.  All you mothers out there can no doubt relate – time is at a premium, and efficiency affords me more time.

You know what isn’t efficient? Grocery shopping.

Seriously, it’s the only time that I touch the same thing about 6 times before it ends up getting to where it needs to be, in this case my pantry. Let’s break this down, shall we?

(1) So I pick up cereal to put in my cart with the rest of my groceries, then (2) I put the same cereal on the conveyor belt to be scanned, then (3) I put the bag (with the cereal in it) into my cart. Then I push the cart to my car and (4) grab the bag with the cereal and put it into my car, then I drive home and (5) grab the cereal bag again and take it into my house. Then I (6) take the cereal box out of the bag and I put it on the counter (so inefficient, right? – I should just put it in the pantry, but I don’t). Then (7) I put the cereal box into my pantry where it belongs.

Inefficiency at its finest – and that, my friends, is why I’m completely useless the rest of the day after grocery shopping. Seriously, nothing depletes me faster (physically and mentally) then to aimlessly perpetrate the same repetitive motion without any results.

Speaking of repetition without results, let’s talk about my husband.  He and I don’t communicate well. It’s a well known fact.  We actually both joke that we ended up married as a misunderstanding, we both laugh, but there might be a little bit of truth there.

Case in point, we were driving around the other day looking for a new house/land, and just as we were approaching a realtor sign, this is what unfolds. . .

H: “Do you have the number?”

M: “No, I don’t, but there’s a realtor sign ahead, I’m sure the number is on it.”

H: “Why aren’t you writing the number down?!”

M: “It’s right in front of you! I don’t know why you need me to write it down. Just call it.”

H: “Obviously I can’t call it with the kids being loud in the car. I don’t know what your problem is!  I simply asked you to write down the phone number. Geez”

So now I’m pissed . . .

M: “My problem?! Are you kidding me? I’ll tell you what my problem is, how about the fact that you didn’t ask me to write down the phone number. You asked me if I had the phone number. Those are two very different questions. If you had asked me to write down the phone number in the first place, we wouldn’t be having this problem. But that’s not the question you asked, you asked me if I had it, and I don’t. And quite frankly, that’s a stupid question to ask when the sign with the phone number on it is right in front of you.”

So frustrating. It’s times like these that I can’t wait for him to go on a business trip. so I can have time to center myself, and refocus. It was during one of those trips that I became conscious of the fact that I treat them as if he’s still in the military (minus the imminent possibility of death issue). And by that, I mean that I do whatever I want, whenever I want, well . . . . . mostly anyway.

I still have to take the kids to school, clean the house, and do laundry (you know, the normal stuff), but I can cut chenille in his garage and make a big fuzzy mess, and then I can leave it to clean another day – hypothetically, of course. And I can eat dinner at 5 p.m. because I like eating early, and I can play music in the house and push repeat as many times as I want, and I can thoughtfully ponder all of the useful ways that I could use a chalkboard easel without him scowling over my shoulder at my online shopping cart.

And even better, I can make executive decisions, without accountability to anyone else.  Like whipping out my supermom cape (figuratively, unfortunately) and climbing up the ladder to the attic to retrieve the rocking horse that he made when the kids were little, but refuses to get down for me. He put it up there because the kids were starting to wear it out. Well, the youngest had never seen it, and I’ve been bummed for awhile that she never had the chance, so rather than let that turn into regret, I faced my fear of heights while walking (one foot at a time) across a sparse five inch wide space to get to the horse and see my dreams realized.

And here’s the horse I risked life and limb to get. . .he’s cute right?  The husband made him – it’s one of his hidden talents.

Oh, and I got to plant the flowers that I like, and the herbs that I wanted, and I got to opt out of taking his dogs on a walk and give the kids an early bath (a result of the no dog walking).  I picked out the dirt mat for the front porch without listening to his opinion, and I decided to hire someone to spray the weeds in my yard.

See, I have no problem making decisions by myself, it’s sharing that responsibility that I have problems with.  Sigh.

Here are the dogs – you can see why I don’t want to walk them, right (I mean, aside from the fact that they walked me into some tree branches the last time)?  See that piece of wood in the upper left corner?  That was part of my garden, they think it’s a stick.

Next post will have a recipe, promise!

Rustic Mini Chocolate Cream Pies

I love “rustic” because it implies imperfection (which suits me, since I’m completely imperfect).  However, I love it when my baking turns out well. . .perfect.  Confused?  Me too.

These chocolate cream pies came to be when my daughter found a picture of some pudding pies that I didn’t have the ingredients for – instant pudding, premade pie crust, and the like.  This homemade version was a big hit, and is sure to be a repeat.

In other exciting news, today is my niece’s 7th birthday. . .Happy Birthday Girlie!

Rustic Mini Chocolate Cream Pie

Pie Crust Adapted from An Adobe Oven to a Microwave Range

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 cups shortening

1 egg

5 Tablespoons water

1 Tablespoon vinegar

In the food processor, combine the flour, salt,  and baking powder.  Pulse 2 to 3 times.  Add the shortening and pulse until coarse-looking crumbs appear.  Add the egg, water, and vinegar and pulse just until combined, and the dough starts to pull away from the sides.

Open the lid of the food processor, and pat the dough.  It should be soft, but not sticky.  Scoop the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until it all comes together.  Grab a golf ball sized piece of dough and roll it out on the floured surface.  Place the rolled-out dough inside a muffin pan, or individual pie pan, cut to size, and prick the bottom of each pie with a fork about 5 times.

When all of the wells have been filled with pie dough, bake them in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20 – 25 minutes, or until lightly browned.  The bottoms will puff up just a little.  Let them cool in the pan.

*As an added touch, we melted 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and spooned the melted chocolate onto the bottom of our cooled pie crusts to prevent the crust from turning soggy, before pouring in the hot filling.

Chocolate Cream

1 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

3 squares of semisweet chocolate (I used Baker’s)

3 egg yolks, beaten (in a small mixing bowl, set aside for tempering)

Whisk the sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in a medium saucepan (this will help prevent lumps).  Add the milk, heavy cream, and chocolate.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture boils and thickens.

Boil for 1 minute, and remove from heat.

Gradually stir at least half of the hot mixture into the 3 beaten egg yolks whisking constantly to temper (slowly bringing the yolks and hot milk to the same temperature to prevent the egg yolks from scrambling).

Then add the tempered egg mixture back into the rest of the hot milk, whisking constantly to combine.  Return the custard mixture to the stove (over medium heat) and bring to a boil – for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and add 1/4 teaspoon vanilla and 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter.  Whisk until fully incorporated.  Then pour through a sieve into a large (4 cup) glass measuring cup.

Don’t omit this step!  Even when I think I’ve fully incorporated the egg yolks, there are always a few chewy bits that end up in the sieve.

Pour the chocolate cream into the cooled pie shells, and let set at room temperature (about 30 minutes) before refrigerating (to prevent sweating).

Store in the refrigerator, and serve cold.

Makes about a dozen pies using this individual pie pan.