Since I have all this extra time on my hands, I thought I would give another quick idea for some yummy treats!  Yesterday I was making a breakfast for John to take with him on his “Guys Weekend” (it just doesn’t matter whether they take us along or leave us at home, guys still need help from their wives!) and I decided to get some practice making other quick treats.  Treat of the day is Cheese Danish! Yumm-O (to quote some other chef).

Cheese Danish – From the mind of Ina Gartner

1 box of puff pastry dough (defrosted)
1/3 cup sugar
1 8 oz. Cream cheese – room temp
2 egg yolks (not the whites) room temp
2 tablespoons ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon zest (2 lemons)
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

Oven 400

Line a cookie sheet with parchment

Cream the sugar and cream cheese together on low speed until smooth.  Add yolks, ricotta, vanilla, salt and lemon zest still on low just until combined.  Do not whip!

Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry onto a lightly floured board and roll it slightly with a floured rolling pin until it’s a 10 by 10-inch square.  Cut the sheet into 9 squares with a sharp knife.  Place a heaping teaspoon of cheese filling into the middle of each of the 9 squares.  Brush the border of each pastry with egg wash and fold 2 opposite corners to the center, brushing and overlapping the corners of each pastry so they firmly stick together.  Brush the top of the pastries with egg wash.  Place the pastries on the prepared sheet pan.  Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry and refrigerate the filled Danish for 15 minutes.

Bake the pastries for about 20 minutes, rotating the pan once during baking, until puffed and brown.  Serve warm.

Variation: you could use your favorite jam or preserve in place of the cheese filling.  That would be yummy as well.

While this is the first time I have ever worked with puff pastry they didn’t come out perfect looking but they taste fantastic.  I will continue on my quest to make my own creations but for now I find others who have perfected a good thing and work from there.

Try this one morning for your own pleasure or a special treat for guests.  I am positive they will come back for more – although if they aren’t into lemons or cheese stuff they may not.  Taylor took one bite and asked for a cinnamon roll to get the taste out of his mouth.  The nerve!

One day I plan on having pics of my own but for now I rely on others.

I guess when the mice are away the big cat will come out to play.  Yes, John is gone for the weekend and I am ready to PARTE’.  I have finished my 2nd term of culinary school and funny enough I don’t feel nearly as brain fried and I thought I would.  Ok, for those of you who suffered through the 6 weeks of my online math class I am sure you have a very different outlook on my mental status.  But, since that class finished I have been crusin through the rest of my classes.

I honestly loved nutrition (who would have known) and thought my management by menu class rocked.  Funny how I don’t mention my Intro to Baking class at all.  Well, that is because I am not so hot on the baking and cooking classes.  You would think those would be my most favorite classes.  NOT! Here is why, they are usually 5-6 hour classes and there is no where that makes me feel like a complete idiot in the kitchen than at school.  I have been cooking and baking for at least 15 years now and when I step into the kitchen at school I may as well be learning for the first time.  That frustrates me. 

If that weren’t bad, at the end of class we have to do the dishes.  Don’t I pay enough tuition to have a dish crew!!  I loathe the dishes and no matter how much I try to avoid doing them they are always there, and not just a few of them.  PILES and PILES of them are lurking along the back wall waiting for someone to wash them up.  Anyway, that is why I am not so hot on my cooking classes.  I sure learn a lot but I feel it comes at a higher price than I paid.

In case you want to know some of the awesome things I have learned in my Baking class. I have decided to share my secrets to a successful pie crust. For years I have been deathly afraid to make these because I didn’t want a bad crust.  Well, I have “finally” learned how to make a pie crust and a great one at that.  I am going to post the recipe that I use and got HIGH marks for on my final practical exam!  Easy Peasy.

1- 9in Pie Dough Recipe
      2 cups Flour (all purpose)
      ½ cup Cold Shortening
      ½ cup Cold Butter (diced)
      ½ tsp Salt
      1 Egg, beaten
      1 tbsp Lemon Juice
      3 tbsp Ice Cold Water

Mix the flour and the salt and cut in shortening.  Beat the egg, water and lemon juice and pour it over the flour mixture.  If the mixture is too dry add ice cold water 1 tablespoon at a time until dough come together.  Mix it all together and refrigerate until ready to use.

TIPS: here is what made it easier for me.  I use my hands (I don’t have hot hands) but I work quickly when working the shortening and butter into the flour.  For a bottom crust you want it to be a “mealy” crust.  Which just means it is more dense, but still flaky, than a top crust.  So work the butter and shortening into the flour until it is the consistency of small peas throughout the flour.  For a top crust you would leave the shortening and butter more like large peas.

Be sure to add enough water to pull the dough together and no more than that.  When your dough is formed you want to be able to see the butter chunks throughout the dough.  That is what creates the flakiness.  Then refrigerate!

The less you have to work with the dough the better, but this dough is VERY forgiving!!

I would steal the pictures for you to see what I am talking about but I found the King Arthur site already has them done the way I would set them up to show you. So, go here http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2008/11/11/frozen-supermarket-pie-crust-puh-leeze/ and see how it is done.  By the way, I LOVE King Arthur flour. That is all I use at home ( except for when I don’t use it).  You don’t need to use their instructions if you prefer to use mine.  My feelings won’t be hurt either way.

Oh, if there is anything you want to know about in the kitchen just ask.  I will either have the answer, find you one or make up something good!

Until next time!