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August 30, 2006

Birthday Treats

Happy Birthday to my Guy!
Bringing treats to the office for him, and since he's diabetic, I wanted to maybe forgo the traditional cake, so I was excited to find this recipe. It sounds great for a guy to bring for treats for his birthday, right?
Well, he still wanted the cake, and since he promised to only eat one small piece, and give the rest to his co-workers, I gave in. The cake was just box mix and canned frosting, but I made it layered, and it looked nice.
On the sausage pastry puffs, I was so prepared, I had bought the filo dough a few days before, and had put it into the fridge to thaw the day before. I didn't quite understand the part of the recipe that said to roll it out bigger, as I didn't think you could really roll out those thin layers. And I didn't understand why we weren't putting something between the layers. Everything was right on time, the sausage pastry puffs would be done and warm right at the best time to take him his supper.
And that's when I realized my mistake! I had bought filo dough instead of puff pastry. I had filo dough in my head. So I ran over to the close store, found frozen puff pastry, defrosted it a little in the microwave, let it set on the heated stove to finish defrosting. I used this defrosting time to frost the cake, when I had planned on using the cooking time.
Everything was done and delivered and appreciated, just an hour and 1/2 later than I meant to get there. Most of the work folks weren't so hungry by then, but that left more for my guy to save for his supper the next night. I didn't get any photos, being in the rush I was, but they looked as good as they tasted.
And now I have a thawed filo dough in my fridge, I'd better make something good with it this weekend!

Sausage Puff Pastry Bites (from Very Good Things)

Makes approx. 40
Adapted from The Essential Baking Cookbook recipe

1 box of puff pastry, room temperature (You will use both sheets)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 lb sausage (You are gonna laugh, but I actually used some fresh brats and discarded the casings.)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme
1/2 tsp. each of ground sage, nutmeg, black pepper and cloves

Preheat oven to 400f degrees. Lightly grease two cooking sheets.

Roll out puff pastry sheets to about 14"x14". Lightly brush the pastry sheets with some of the beaten egg.

Mix half of the remaining egg with the remaining ingredients in a large bowl, then divide into two portions. Lay puff pastry out on cookie sheets. Pipe or spoon the filling down the center of each piece of pastry, then brush the edges with some of the egg. Fold the pastry over the filling, overlapping the edges and placing the join underneath. Brush the rolls with more egg, then cut into small pieces. Spread apart on baking sheet.

Cut a small slash on top of each roll and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350f degrees and cook for another 15 minutes, or until puffed and golden. Let cool slightly and enjoy.

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