This is my last installment of What To Do With All That Leftover Puff Pastry. Promise. Because even though I’ve discovered that I really enjoy making (and eating) puff pastry, it’s definitely one of those “once in a while” kind of treats. There’s really nothing fancy about this strudel; it’s a very basic one that I made it for breakfast one Saturday morning, and as such I wanted it to be simple and quick. Not only did it really hit the spot, but aside from the puff pastry (unless you have some in your freezer), you probably have all of this stuff on hand!

• 2 apples, peeled and chopped
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 sheet puff pastry

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut the apples into small chunks.

In a medium bowl, toss the apples with the lemon juice. Add in the sugars, butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and toss to coat.

Roll out the puff pastry to about 1/4″ thickness. Spread the apple mixture over half of the pastry, leaving space on the sides.

Fold the top half over and pinch to seal the edges. Cut slits in the top of the dough. Brush the strudel with an egg wash and then sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Bake about 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Cut into slices and enjoy!

Since I still had puff pastry left over after making the vols-au-vents and turnovers, I decided it was high time for me to try my hand at pastry cream. The first pastry that makes use of pastry cream that popped into my head was the napoleon (or mille-feuille), since a friend told me a while ago that I really should try to make them. I filed it away at the time, thinking it wouldn’t be anytime soon that I’d be making puff pastry! Thanks to the Daring Bakers though, Isuccessfully conquered it. When hubby took a bite of one of these, he told me that they’re “pretty much to die for.” I agreed. I hope you enjoy them too!

For the pastry cream:

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 3 Tbsp cornstarch

For the glaze:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp imitation butter flavor
• 3 Tbsp boiling water

Chocolate for drizzling:

• 2 ounces chocolate
• 1/2 tsp vegetable oil

Heat the milk, sugar, and vanilla bean in a saucepan over medium heat.

Whisk together the egg yolks and in a small bowl. Add in the flour and cornstarch.

When the milk just starts to boil, remove from the heat. Temper the eggs with the warm milk, and then pour all of the egg mixture into the milk. Whisk constantly over medium heat until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat. Cover with plastic so a crust doesn’t form on the top, and then chill in the refrigerator until ready to use. (The picture shows mine after refrigerating overnight – I forgot the plastic for the top, oops).

For the glaze, combine the sugar and butter extract in a medium mixing bowl.

Stir in the boiling water.

For the chocolate topping, melt the chocolate either in the microwave or using a double boiler. Stir in the vegetable oil.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut the puff pastry into rectangles as big as you want the pastries to be. You’ll need three of the same size for each pastry.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for 15 minutes longer.

Since they puffed up so much, I needed to flatten mine a bit. I just used a fork to smush them a little.

To assemble one of the pastries, spread pastry cream over the bottom two layers.

Stack the two layers and then top with the third pastry layer. Spread the glaze over the top and then drizzle with the melted chocolate quickly before the glaze begins to harden. Run a knife through the chocolate to make the pattern. Chill for about an hour before serving.

After making that wonderful puff pastry on Saturday for the vols-au-vents, I just couldn’t wait to make one of mine and hubby’s favorites – turnovers. So, yesterday that’s exactly what I did. Once you have the puff pastry, the rest is easy! I made three different kinds of turnovers: pumpkin, blueberry, and apple.

Pumpkin filling:

• 1 cup pumpkin
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Blueberry filling:

• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 Tbsp granulated sugar

Apple filling:

• Chunky maple applesauce

To make the pumpkin filling, mix all of the pumpkin filling ingredients together in a small bowl (or, you can probably just use pumpkin pie mix if you have it). For the blueberry filling, sprinkle the sugar over the tops of the blueberries and let them sit for a few minutes until they begin to soften. The apple filling I used was the same maple applesauce I used for the vols-au-vents, which I will be posting about soon!

After preparing the fillings, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out the puff pastry to about 1/4″ thick. Cut it into 3-4″ squares, depending on how big you want the turnovers to be. I made about 10 squares.

Drop a bit of the filling onto each of the squares.

Fold the tops over the filling, and use a fork to press the sides together. Try not to let any of the filling get out; you can see that happened with some of mine, but I was hungry and didn’t care to fix it.

Brush the turnovers with an egg wash, and then bake for about 10 minutes. Then, turn the heat down to 350 degrees and bake for 15-20 minutes longer or until golden brown.

The blueberry explosion you can see in the back is a result of the turnovers not being well-sealed, but oh well. They still tasted absolutely delicious!

The September 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

I was so excited to see that the Daring Baker challenge for this month required making puff pastry. It’s been on my list of things to try for quite a while now, but I’ve always been a little intimidated by it. In fact, I slacked on making it right up until yesterday, when I finally took the plunge – and realized that it wasn’t bad at all! Time-consuming, sure, but not hard. The vols-au-vent was simple to assemble, and since I only used about 1/4 of the dough, I’m excited about all new things I can try using the leftovers!

Here’s what you’ll need for the puff pastry:

• 2-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1-1/4 cups cake flour
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1-1/4 cups ice water
• 1 pound very cold unsalted butter

Note: For even more details and tips than I have listed here, please check out Steph’s printable version of the recipe!

Mix the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt together in a large bowl.

Add the water all at once, and mix until well-combined. Using a food processor is better, but since my tiny one wouldn’t hold all the ingredients, I just worked the dough quickly with my hands. Form the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, place the butter between two sheets of plastic wrap.

This is the fun part! Beat the butter with your rolling pin until it flattens.

I folded the top 2 sticks over the bottom two to make a square about 1″ thick.

Make sure the butter is still cool and firm. If it starts to soften, you’ll need to refrigerate it until it firms up again. Now, roll the dough out onto a floured surface. Roll out the four corners to create “flaps” that will encase the butter.

Place the butter in the middle of the dough, and fold over the flaps. (I didn’t quite keep to the square, as you can see in subsequent pictures. I hope to improve upon that the next time I make puff pastry to achieve more even layers in my dough!)

Roll the dough into a rectangle three times the size of your square, and then fold it into thirds.

Rotate the dough, and then repeat the rolling and folding process to complete the second turn.

If the butter is still cool and firm, you can complete another two turns now. Mine was okay, so I went ahead and did the next two turns. After that though, put the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, complete the last two turns. Place the dough back in the refrigerator for an hour before cutting and shaping the vols-au-vent.

When the dough is ready, divide it into equal pieces – I divided mine into fourths. Roll out the dough to about 1/4″ thick, then refrigerate it for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the cutting.

Using round cutters or the bottom of a glass, cut 2″ circles for the bottoms. Cut 2″ circles for the sides as well, but cut out a small circle in the centers of the side pieces for the filling. Save any scraps – you can always roll them out again! Lightly prick the bottoms with a fork.

Brush the pastries with an egg wash (an egg white or yolk mixed with a bit of water).

Refrigerate the vols-au-vents while you preheat the oven to 400 degrees and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. When the oven is ready, place another sheet of parchment paper over the tops of the vols-au-vents. Bake 10-15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and remove the top sheet of parchment paper. Bake 15-20 minutes longer.

Remove to a rack to cool, and then fill with whatever your heart desires, be it sweet or savory. I went sweet and filled mine with a chunky homemade maple applesauce. One bite into the warm and buttery flaky layers, and I was hooked. If you’ve never made puff pastry before, don’t procrastinate any longer – you’ll be glad you didn’t!

Earlier this month (or late last month? I can’t remember), Bridget over at Bake at 350 ran a poll to see how many people would be interested in a “Flavor of the Month” event. You can read the details here, but basically, a theme will be chosen each month – but after that, you can do whatever you want. When I read that, I got really excited. I love it when I can let my creativity run wild, so I was in!

This month’s theme is pie, which I think hubby was even more excited about than me. He loves his fruit desserts, especially fruit pies, so I decided to spoil him. Without further ado, here’s my first Flavor of the Month entry: Verry Berry Pie (and yes, I realize that’s not how you normally spell “very,” but I was having way too much fun).

Pie crust:

Again, I used the Perfect Pie crust recipe from Pioneer Woman. Since I made this for my strawberry-rhubarb pie and had 2 crusts left over, I busted one out of the freezer for the bottom crust of this pie.

Crumble Top:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter

Pie Filling:

• 2 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 and 1/2 cups blueberries
• 1 and 1/2 cups blackberries
• 1 and 1/2 cups cherries
• 1 and 1/2 cups strawberries

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Pit the cherries and chop up the strawberries, and then mix all the fruit together in a large bowl.

Make the crumble top. Mix the flour and brown sugar together, and then add in the butter. Work the butter into the flour mix with a fork. (Go here for pictures.)

Add the sugar, flour, and cornstarch to the mixed fruit. If the filling seems a little too soupy, add in some extra corn starch to thicken it up. Make sure to do this step right before you’re ready to put the filling in the pie crust and the pie in the oven. When the sugar is added to the fruit, it can get soupy fast! Trust me, I learned this one the hard way.

Carefully place the pie crust into your pie dish. Around the edges, fold under and press down any excess dough.

Pour in the filling.

Pour on the crumble top, and then cover the edges with a pie shield or aluminum foil.

Bake for 40 minutes. Remove the pie crust shield, and then bake 10 minutes more.

Wait 30-40 minutes to cut a slice so that the pie filling firms up.