Pre-made and frozen puff pastry is a life saver this time of year. With a package or two stashed in our freezer, we know a quick apple tart or plate of mini-quiche appetizers is only a few steps away. If you've never used it before, have no fear. It's as easy as 1-2-3!
1. Open the Package - Remove as many sheets as you need. One sheet will make a dessert tart for 4-6 people, a savory dinner tart for 4, or enough appetizers to feed a cocktail party of 10 or so. Wrap the remaining sheets back up and return them to the freezer.
2. Thaw the Pastry - Most pre-made puff pastry come in sheets that are folded like a business letter. Don't try to unfold the sheets straight from the freezer or the pastry will break along the folds. Instead, let them thaw overnight in the fridge or on the counter for about 30 minutes.
3. Shape the pastry - Dust your counter with a little flour and gently unfold the pastry on top. If it does crack, just brush it with a little water and press it together with your fingers. Proceed with cutting the dough into shapes or preparing it for baking.
It really is as easy as that! The 1-2-3 steps are a little silly and self-explanatory, we admit, but we really just wanted to underscore what a simple and versatile pastry this is to work with. For a quick dessert or appetizer, it really can't be beat.
A few extra tips:
• Try not to handle the dough too much or the baked pastries can end up tough.
• If the pastry starts to soften before you're finished preparing it for the oven, just put it back in the refrigerator for a few minutes.
• If you don't want the pastry to puff so dramatically, prick the dough all over with a fork (just like docking a pie crust). After baking, the pastry will be cracker thin and shatteringly crisp.
• To make a tart with a puffy outside crust, lightly score a border around the entire edge with a paring knife and then prick everything inside this border with a fork. The edges will puff up while the center stays down.
• If you're making a tart from the entire piece of dough, it's easiest to transfer it onto the baking sheet before adding any toppings.
• Make only what will be eaten and make it as close to serving as possible. Puff pastry looses its lovely crispiness after a few hours.
P.S. If you're craving the real thing, stay tuned. We're planning on a little DIY puff pastry tutorial later this season!
What's your go-to party appetizer, entrée, or dessert using frozen puff pastry?
Related: Entertaining: Make-Ahead Tips for Dinner Parties
(Image: Emma Christensen)
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Also, if you're using the whole piece as a large tart, it's always good to trim the edges with a sharp knife/pizza cutter to give it a fresh clean (unsquished!) edge, making it easier for the layers to puff up.
Yeah, it's always important to cut straight down and up too, regardless of whether you're using a knife or some kind of shape cutter, to keep the layers aligned so it'll puff up correctly.
And it should be well chilled when it goes into the oven, so if you've thawed frozen and it's gotten mushy or if it just has been at room temp for awhile while you were working with it/shaping it/filling it, pop it (the assembled product) into the fridge or freezer for a bit before baking. This is also to help keep the layers nice, cause if it's too warm the butter will start oozing out before it's fully baked.
Also, homemade puff pastry isn't as hard as you would think. Definitely a process, but not a difficult one.
Anyway, SO mnay things can be dressed up by using puff pastry. cut little squares, then frame them with squares of the same size with the centers cut out, and fill them with anything-sweet or savory, baked with the puff or scooped in after, etc....or cut a square or circle, arrange some spiced apples- voila, elegant apple tart.....or use goat cheese and caramelized onions- also yummy!
ha! yesterday i made spanakopita and apple turnovers using the frozen puff pastry dough!!! :)
they came out FAN-FRIGGIN-TASTIC!!!
the spanakopitas were small so i didn't need to do anything to the dough, but the turnovers were pretty damn big. the dough was super easy to work with - i don't have a rolling pin, so i just used a drinking glass dusted with flour heheh.
success means: no leftovers! :)
A local middle eastern grocery store stocks packages of puff pastry 5" squares. Perfect and handy for so many things.
I like to fold them in half over a chunk of chocolate bar, seal, glaze with cream/egg/milk, dust with cinnamon sugar and bake for an emergency chocolate treat.
Trader Joe's brand has a puff pastry that is made with real butter -- not hydrogenated vegetable oil like the "other" (P.F.) brand. Unfortunately, the two times I've gone to look for it at Joe's, it wasn't stocked. I did get some T.J.'s frozen pie crusts today to make apple tarts this weekend.
My favorite use of puff pastry is for pear, leek, gruyere turnovers. You can find the recipe at Epicurious.com
I've never worked with puff pastry before...never even thought to. This was a really helpful post! Thanks for the tips, everyone.