APPLE TURNOVERS

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Puff Pastry dough completely amazes me- you know, how while rolling it’s just a single sheet, and while baking, voila! all the distinct layers puff up into a really flaky, buttery crust. Savory or sweet- the same dough can be used for both, and the results, in both cases, bake out perfect. Each round of rolling and folding results in a  thin layer of butter sticking to the dough- thus, creating hundreds of thin layers of dough separated by a film of butter.

With no leavener in the dough, the rise happens when the butter melts in the oven and boils, creating steam which lifts the successive layers higher and higher. At the same time, the heat is cooking the flour, hardening it around those minute air pockets, creating the puff.

A few days back, I had promised the recipe for Apple Turnovers I made for Office Thursdays. If the puff pastry and the filling is ready, these are a snap to make and perfect to serve with tea in the morning. I had sent these for V’s office colleagues and they were all devoured (V did not get any but I had saved one for him at home). I loved them and would definitely make them again.

Today morning, with the leftover puff pastry dough I made a savory vegetarian version. Will post that tomorrow!

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IT’S SPREADABLE FRUIT TIME WITH CHUNKY APPLE PRESERVE!!

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Only a few days back I was wondering to myself- its been ages since I caught a cold. And, well, what would you know, the age ends! I’m sick and with a bad cold! If insomnia wasn’t enough, the cold surely is. Hardly slept last night thanks to it. Had soupy Maggi for dinner (my all time favorite comfort food :)), and have been drinking ginger-spiced tea but to no avail. The cold still prevails and so does the feverish feeling accompanying it :(!

Even though I was pretty much drained from the cold last night, I had planned to make this chunky apple preserve from Sarabeth’s Bakery. I could have delayed it, but I’m starting this new thing- Office Thursdays! (I thought and thought of a better name, but the brain cells have been killed by the cold- so Office Thursdays it is!) The whole concept behind Office Thursday’s came up after V and I had a fight over how I bake things and I end up eating them (lucky thing- he doesn’t have a sweet tooth, so doesn’t get tempted to eat things I bake..I, on the other hand, love all things baked and hence my constant struggle with weight gain..sigh!) We had to come up with a solution since baking is the only solace I get and to do without it will surely bring me to sheer madness! Now, every Thursday V has a meeting in his office that he conducts. Sometime he takes some donuts, or someone else gets something sweet to eat. Aha! That’s it, we thought. I bake for his office people. That ways, I get to bake, but don’t end up putting any calories. Of course, I will put aside two pieces- one for V and one for me, but the rest goes in the tummies of his colleagues. Brilliant!

Today I decided to make Apple Turnovers for his office. For that, the puff pastry was already ready, I just needed to make the filling- the chunky apple preserve. So that’s why I had to suck up my cold and make the preserve, else I would have had to wait till next Thursday- a thing that an impatient me can’t do! (Here’s the recipe for the Apple Turnovers) I am glad I did because the joy of making homemade preserves is a pretty good mood lifter. And with an outcome so delectable, I was on top of the world!

Now, I did not have any canning pot or canning tongs. So I used whatever was available. I did take a risk, though, because the jars are pretty hot and without the proper tools, either you could end up breaking the jars, or worse, scalding yourself pretty bad. Fortunately, nothing happened to me. But, to be on the safer side I would suggest, if you plan to make preserves and jams more often, get the right tools!

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PUFF PASTRY 101

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Look at me! While ranting about trying to lose weight, losing a ring and other mundane stuff I forgot to mention about my winnings in Vegas. Ooh yes, baby, I won, gambling in Vegas. To tell you the truth, I did not forget but I was in a double mind to mention it- since I do not want to endorse gambling on such a public forum (yes, yes I am the morally right kind of person 😉 ). So why mention today. Well, the reason why I mention it today is that I put my winnings into buying a new cookbook! Well, its funny because I remember telling V before leaving for Vegas that I’ll only play for enough money to buy this cookbook that I had been eyeing for some time now (people gamble for the enjoyment, to pay debts, buy drinks, while I play to buy cookbooks 🙂 ) . And that’s exactly what happened! I won only enough to buy me that book. This was destiny. That book was in my destiny! God wanted me to have it. So even though I just played twice on the slot machine- the moment I hit my target amount I immediately encashed it. No, this time I was not going to be greedy.

A few days back, the book (that I bought from my hard earned money), arrived in a shipment from Amazon. Happy and excited, I opened the package, and behold the beauty! There it lay Sarabeth’s Bakery From My Hand to Yours Sarabeth’s Bakery: From My Hands to Yours – in a large white colored cover with a simple yet beautiful picture of a lady whose hands are shown holding a batch of freshly made brioche in her apron! Yes, it had me floored. For the first few moments I was just flipping through the pages, feeling the smooth and crisp paper, oggling at the beautiful pictures (I am such a sucker for cookbooks!). 🙂

It was on my bed side table that night, and I read through the first few pages and instantly knew I made a good decision in buying this book. The book is designed with elegant simplicity. Her tips and techniques are what makes this book worth buying. I do wish though she had included the recipe for her famous orange-apricot marmalade that kick started her career.

Yesterday I chose to try Sarabeth’s version of Puff Pastry.

As Sarabeth describes:

With countless amazingly, thin, buttery layers that shatter when bitten into, puff pastry is the classic layered dough.

The secret to Sarabeth’s dough is that she uses heavy cream instead of water. Ok! I know what you thinking- “heavy cream! Wasn’t it fatty enough with the butter! “. But Sarabeth believes that the added butterfat from the heavy cream gives the pastry another dimension of flavor and crispiness. Hmmm.. It just means I have to gym harder!

You can use puff pastry in a number of things. It can be used in making palmiers, tarts, mille-feuille. I will be using it to make Apple Turnovers to send to V’s office. (That’s why I am not too worried about the butter and the heavy cream going in the dough- as long as I don’t have to eat them all!)

PUFF PASTRY 101

The dough should be made at least 2 days before using. It has two parts the D’etrempe and the Beurrage

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