Pastry - How to Bake Everything: Simple Recipes for the Best Baking - Mark Bittman

How to Bake Everything: Simple Recipes for the Best Baking - Mark Bittman (2016)

Pastry

If you’ve ever set foot in a French patisserie or walked past one and inhaled its aroma, you know the allure of classic pastry, which in a way is the pinnacle of baking. It starts with the most basic ingredients and, like magic, transforms them into something entirely different and universally awe-inspiring. From airy Cream Puffs to infinitely flaky Real Puff Pastry and Phyllo Dough, the common denominators among all pastries are little more than flour and fat. Sometimes, as in Croissants and Danish Pastry Dough, yeast comes into play. At any rate, it’s nothing less than astounding to see the wild assortment you can make from such a simple foundation.

Pastry has a reputation for being intimidating, finicky, and just plain difficult, but trust me: It’s none of those things. Yes, precision is important and pastry making doesn’t lend itself to instant gratification, but all of the following recipes are straightforward, and you’re likely to succeed on your first try with any of them, as long as you pay attention to the details and remain patient. Going through the process will make you a better baker—and a better cook—and the results of your handiwork will be impressive and satisfying.

A few basic doughs—see The “Mother Doughs”—are springboards for nearly everything in this chapter, and from there you get to improvise your heart out. (There are also a handful of delicious wild cards that belong in any pastry lover’s repertoire; see pages 497-504.) Whereas with other categories of baked goods—like breads, cakes, and cookies—each version might use a different dough or batter, the variety in pastry comes from technique and assembly. If you can make one dough, you can make them all.

The Basics of Choux Pastry

Pâte à choux, or cream puff pastry, is miraculous. There are no secrets here, just a few minutes of hard work resulting in an easily shaped dough that can be baked and filled with anything creamy—think Cream Puffs or Éclairs—or eaten on its own. Adaptations are a breeze: Add a bit of cheese and make Gougères; coat it in sugar and you have Sugar Puffs.

Part of the process requires a bit of elbow grease. You must vigorously stir the dough at two points to ensure it gets distinctly puffed and hollow in the oven. But it isn’t hard to do and you won’t find a more gratifying dough for easy crowd-pleasing.

The “Mother Doughs”

Almost every recipe in this chapter results from one of a handful of simple doughs. If you start by learning how to make these, you can build from them to make just about any pastry. And since they store well, you can make a big batch, freeze it, and work your way through several recipes—just follow the storage instructions in each recipe.

DOUGH: Cream Puff Pastry aka Choux Pastry

FINAL RECIPE: Cream Puffs, Sugar Puffs, Gougères, Éclairs, French Crullers, Paris-Brest, Croquembouche, Gâteau St. Honoré

DOUGH: Real Puff Pastry or Shortcut Puff Pastry

FINAL RECIPE: Cinnamon-Sugar Twists, Palmiers, Apple Turnovers, Lemon Turnovers, Strawberry Toaster Pastries, Spanish Cream Puffs, Galette des Rois, Berry Jalousie, Brandied Fruit Pastries (Eccles Cakes), Almond Rolls, Raspberry Napoleon, Puff Pastry Cups (Vols-au-Vent), Gâteau St. Honoré

DOUGH: Phyllo Dough

FINAL RECIPE: Baklava, Phyllo Fruit Pastries, Anything-Filled Phyllo Cups, Pear Croustade, Shortcut Apple Strudel, Bread Pudding Strudel

Recipes

Cream Puff Pastry (Pâte à Choux)

Cream Puffs

Sugar Puffs (Chouquettes)

Gougères

Éclairs

French Crullers

Paris-Brest

Croquembouche

Cream Puff Pastry (Pâte à Choux)

Makes: Enough for at least 2 dozen pastries, depending on size

Time: 15 minutes

A miracle of cooking, almost absurdly easy yet impressive and tasty. The dough expands to at least double its size while baking, leaving an airy texture that’s fun on its own and great for filling; hence its use for dozens of pastries like Cream Puffs (right) and Éclairs. Just a few minutes of intense but nearly foolproof work and this will be in your repertoire forever.

  • 1 stick butter
  • 2 tablespoons sugar (optional)
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup flour
  • 4 eggs

1. Combine the butter, the sugar if you're using it, and the salt with 1 cup water in a medium saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to low and add the flour all at once; stir constantly with a wooden spoon or flexible spatula until the mixture pulls away from the pan and forms a ball, about 30 seconds.

2. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool for a minute, then vigorously beat in the eggs one at a time (this takes a little bit of work; feel free to use an electric mixer or do it in a food processor). Stop beating when the mixture is glossy.

3. Trying not to overhandle it, shape the dough and bake or deep-fry immediately according to any of the following recipes or transfer it to a bowl or container, cover with a layer of plastic wrap pressed onto the surface, and refrigerate for up to 2 days. You can freeze the dough if you shape it first: pipe or scoop it into the shape that you want, freeze on a baking sheet until firm, and then transfer to an airtight container and keep frozen for no more than 1 week. Transfer directly to the oven when it’s time to bake; thawing produces condensation that can make the dough too wet to crisp up.

VANILLA BEAN CREAM PUFF PASTRY Use the sugar; with a sharp knife, split a vanilla bean open lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Mix them into the finished dough.

CHOCOLATE CREAM PUFF PASTRY Use the sugar and add ¼ cup cocoa powder when you add the flour.

ALMOND CREAM PUFF PASTRY A subtle nutty flavor that works well with just about any sweet filling: Use the sugar. Stir ½ teaspoons almond extract into the finished dough.

Cream Puffs

Makes: About 3 dozen

Time: About 1 hour

A delightful bite-sized dessert that’s easy to make and sure to impress. You can vary the dough, filling, and topping endlessly to achieve many different looks and flavors; see How to Customize Choux Pastry for some starters. For a truly showstopping presentation, check out the Croquembouche.

  • Butter for greasing (optional)
  • 1 recipe Cream Puff Pastry (left)
  • 1 recipe Vanilla Pastry Cream

1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Grease 2 baking sheets with butter or line them with parchment paper.

2. Scrape the cream puff pastry dough into a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip or a freezer bag with a corner snipped off or just scoop the batter into mounds using 2 spoons.

3. Pipe or spoon the dough onto the sheets in mounds about 1 inch wide and a little more than 1 inch tall, spacing them 2 inches apart (see illustrations). If the dough has a pointy tip, moisten your finger and gently smooth it down so that it doesn’t burn. To make these in advance, you can freeze the sheets until the puffs are firm, then move them to a zipper bag and keep frozen for no more than a week. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until they’re golden brown, nicely puffed up, and sound hollow when tapped. To make the puffs crisper, you can turn off the oven, prick each puff with a skewer or knife to release steam, and let sit in the oven for another 5 minutes or so. Cool on a rack. These can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days, but wait to fill them until just before serving.

4. To fill the puffs, put the pastry cream in a pastry bag fitted with a large tip or in a zipper bag with a small piece of the corner cut off. Poke a small hole in the side of the puffs, insert the bag, and slowly squeeze in about 1 teaspoon of filling, taking care not to make them burst. Or cut the cap off the pastries, spoon the filling into the middle (you can get away with adding more filling this way), and close them up like sandwiches.

PROFITEROLES Always a hit at dinner parties: Use a saucepan or microwave to gently heat Rich Chocolate Sauce so that it’s warm, not hot. Just before serving, cut the tops off of each pastry and fill with a small scoop of ice cream, then replace the top. Drizzle with the chocolate sauce.

Making Cream Puffs

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STEP 1
Pipe the cream puff pastry onto the baking sheets.

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Alternatively, use 2 spoons to scoop it into mounds.

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STEP 2
To fill, use a pastry bag to pipe pastry cream into the baked puffs.

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Or, you can cut off the tops of the puffs, spoon the filling into the middle, and close them up like sandwiches.

Sugar Puffs (Chouquettes)

Makes: About 3 dozen

Time: About 45 minutes

A favorite snack in France, these tidbits are placed near the register at bakeries since they’re so irresistible. They use the same dough as Cream Puffs, but instead of being filled, they’re coated with pearl sugar for a nice crunch. If you can’t find that, use the coarsest sugar you can find, like turbinado, or crushed sugar cubes. See the list that follows for more unorthodox alternatives.

  • Butter for greasing (optional)
  • 1 recipe Cream Puff Pastry with sugar
  • 1 cup coarse sugar, preferably pearl sugar

1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Grease 2 baking sheets with butter or line them with parchment paper.

2. Scrape the cream puff pastry dough into a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip or a freezer bag with the corner snipped off or use 2 spoons to scoop the batter into mounds about 1 inch wide, a little taller than 1 inch, about 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. At this point you can freeze the sheets until the puffs have firmed up, then put them in a zipper bag and freeze for no longer than a week.

3. Sprinkle each puff with about a teaspoon of the sugar, enough to completely cover it, and gently press it so that it sticks. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until they’re nicely puffed up and golden. Cool on a rack and store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

5 Other Coatings for Puffs

  • Finely chopped nuts (tent the puffs with foil after 15 minutes to prevent burning)
  • Sesame seeds
  • Shredded unsweetened coconut
  • Dried fruit, chopped
  • Miniature chocolate chips (these hold their shape better than chopped chocolate)

Gougères

Makes: About 4 dozen

Time: About 1 hour

The savory, cheesy version of Cream Puffs. These make a wonderful party appetizer, but they’re so simple and delicious that you can eat them anytime. Use any hard or semihard cheese—like Gruyère, Cheddar, Swiss, Parmesan, pecorino, or a combination—and try adding minced fresh herbs like thyme, chives, or rosemary, or ¼ teaspoon each of spices like black pepper, cayenne, chili powder, nutmeg, or even cumin to make the flavor your own.

  • 1 stick butter, plus more for greasing (optional)
  • ½ cup milk
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon dry mustard (optional)
  • 1 cup flour
  • 4 eggs
  • 1½ cups finely grated hard or semihard cheese

1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Grease 2 baking sheets with butter or line them with parchment paper.

2. Combine the butter, milk, ½ cup water, salt, and dry mustard if you’re using it in a saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring often. Decrease the heat to low and pour in the flour; stir constantly until the mixture forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pan, about 30 seconds.

3. Take off the heat and let cool for a minute, then add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until completely incorporated. (An electric mixer or food processor can make this part easier.) Stop when the mixture is glossy, then stir in the cheese. Gently transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip or a freezer bag with a corner snipped off or use 2 spoons to make mounds of batter about 1 inch wide and a little more than 1 inch tall, about 2 inches apart on the sheets. At this point you can freeze the baking sheets until the puffs are firm, then move them to a zipper bag and keep frozen for no more than a week.

4. Bake for about 35 minutes, until they’re very puffy and a deep golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. If you like, you can make them crisper by using a skewer or sharp knife to prick each one on the side, then turning the oven off and placing the puffs back inside for 5 minutes or so to release steam. Transfer to a rack and serve warm or at room temperature or store in an airtight container for up to 2 days and reheat in a 200°F oven for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

GOUGÈRE SANDWICHES An elegant snack for picnics, parties, or weekdays: Let the gougères cool and then split them in half across the middle. Fill as you would any sandwich: with whipped goat cheese and herbs, tapenade, sliced ham, crispy bacon and chopped tomatoes, or arugula and some extra cheese, for starters.

GOUGÈRE PIZZAS An odd but delicious hybrid: Add ½ teaspoon minced fresh oregano in place of the dry mustard. Cut cooked gougères in half and fill with a teaspoon of good tomato sauce and a bit of mozzarella; you can also add a slice of pepperoni, a spoonful of cooked mushrooms or onions, or anything else you like on your pizza. Close up like a sandwich and serve warm.

GOUGÈRE CROUTONS A good use for stale gougères: Dry the puffs out in a 200°F oven until they are very brittle. Chop or grate them up and sprinkle over salads or use as you would bread crumbs.

How to Customize Choux Pastry

Cream puff pastry is incredibly versatile. You can make the dough savory or sweet, flavored or not; bake it in many different shapes; add any filling or topping you like. Here’s a rundown.

7 Cream Puff Flavor Combinations

Make these your own. Here are some favorites, but each component can be mixed and matched seamlessly, or experiment with your favorite frostings or sauces.

PASTRY

Cream Puff Pastry or Vanilla Bean Cream Puff Pastry

Chocolate Cream Puff Pastry

Almond Cream Puff Pastry

FILLING

Vanilla Pastry Cream

Lemon Curd

Boozy Pastry Cream made with Bourbon

Coffee Pastry Cream

Almond Pastry Cream

Chocolate Pastry Cream

Orange Curd

TOPPING (OPTIONAL)

Caramel Sauce

Lemon Glaze

Maple Glaze

Rich Chocolate Sauce

Butterscotch Sauce

Dulce de Leche

Coconut Glaze

Jam Glaze

8 More Sweet Fillings

The sky’s the limit here. Strictly speaking, they won’t necessarily be cream puffs if you change the filling, but who cares? The only rule: Wait until the last minute to fill them to prevent sogginess.

  • Whipped Cream and fresh or macerated berries
  • Fruit Jam or Orange Marmalade
  • Ice cream
  • Fruit Compote
  • Chocolate Ganache
  • Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread
  • Marshmallow Sauce
  • Caramel Sauce or Dulce de Leche

10 Savory Fillings

Leave out the sugar in Cream Puff Pastry or make a batch of Gougères and you have the basis for a fantastic savory snack or hors d’oeuvre. Split the puffs in half or pipe in any of these fillings:

  • Cream cheese with lox and capers
  • Whipped Butter with minced herbs, anchovies, horseradish, or capers
  • Whipped goat cheese with chopped fresh herbs or dried tomatoes
  • Whipped blue cheese with chopped toasted walnuts and bacon
  • Scrambled eggs alone or with one of the other options
  • Brie with Dijon mustard and ham
  • Pâté
  • Spinach and artichoke dip
  • Chicken salad, egg salad, or shrimp salad
  • Finely chopped sautéed mushrooms with shallots and thyme

The Different Shapes of Choux

LONG

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HOW TO MAKE IT Pipe dough in 4-inch lines

WAYS TO USE IT Éclairs

PUFFS

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HOW TO MAKE IT Pipe dough in 1-inch balls

WAYS TO USE IT Cream Puffs, Sugar Puffs, Gougères

RINGS

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HOW TO MAKE IT Pipe dough in hollow circles of any size

WAYS TO USE IT Paris-Brest, French Crullers

ROUNDS

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HOW TO MAKE IT Pipe dough in spirals to make full circles

WAYS TO USE IT Sliced in half and sandwiched with any filling

TOWERS

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HOW TO MAKE IT Bake puffs and stack in structures

WAYS TO USE IT Croquembouche

Éclairs

Makes: About 2 dozen

Time: About 1 hour

Éclairs differ from cream puffs only in their iconic shape and the fact that they are typically glazed. Traditionally, they’re filled with Vanilla Pastry Cream, but the variations offer other flavors. Plus, you can use any of the ideas from 7 Cream Puff Flavor Combinations.

  • Butter for greasing (optional)
  • 1 recipe Cream Puff Pastry
  • 1 recipe Vanilla Pastry Cream
  • 1 recipe Rich Chocolate Sauce

1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Grease 2 baking sheets with butter or line them with parchment paper.

2. Scrape the cream puff pastry dough into a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip or a freezer bag with a corner snipped off. Pipe the dough in lines about 4 inches long onto the baking sheets. At this point you can freeze the sheets, then transfer the hardened pastry to a zipper bag and keep for about a week.

3. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until puffed and golden. Let cool completely, then use a skewer or paring knife to poke a hole in the end of the shell. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a round tip with the pastry cream, insert the tip into the hole, and gently pipe in the filling, about 2 tablespoons for each éclair; you can also slice the top off the shell and spoon the filling into the middle, then close them up like sandwiches.

4. Put the chocolate sauce in a wide shallow bowl. Turn the éclair upside down and dip the top in the sauce, letting the excess drip off. Let set for a few minutes, then eat immediately.

LEMONY ÉCLAIRS Bright, refreshing, and creamy: Swap Lemon Curd for the pastry cream and Lemon Glaze for the chocolate sauce.

MASCARPONE ÉCLAIRS WITH BALSAMIC SYRUP A lightly sweetened Italian spin: Combine ½ cup each cream and mascarpone cheese and whip until smooth, then beat in ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar. Use this to fill the éclairs, then drizzle Balsamic Syrup over the top.

RED, WHITE, AND BLUE ÉCLAIRS This makes an elegant Fourth of July dessert, but it’s equally good all summer long: Combine blueberries, raspberries, and quartered strawberries in a bowl. Split the top of the éclair from the bottom and add Whipped Cream along with a couple spoonfuls of the berry mixture. Replace the top of the éclair and finish with a drizzle of Fruit Sauce, Jam Glaze, or Vanilla Glaze.

CRUNCHY ÉCLAIRS This also works with finely chopped chocolate or even sesame seeds—anything to add a little texture: Toast and finely chop your favorite nut (or a combination). Immediately after glazing the éclair, sprinkle the nuts all over the top.

French Crullers

Makes: 1 to 2 dozen

Time: About 45 minutes

Choux pastry dough is super-easy and has so many uses—here, it’s piped into a circle and fried, resulting in a unique doughnut with a delicately crisp crust and light, creamy center. Like the crullers themselves, the honey glaze is wonderfully different, but you can also try these with any of the glazes.

  • 1 recipe Cream Puff Pastry
  • 2 quarts neutral oil (like vegetable or canola) for frying
  • 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • ¼ cup milk
  • ¼ cup honey

1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Scrape the cream puff pastry dough into a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip or a zipper bag with a corner cut off. Pipe the dough into rings about 3 inches in diameter, 2 inches apart on the sheets. For a thicker cruller, pipe the dough twice around the circle. Stick the sheets in the freezer for 15 minutes or until firm enough to handle. At this point you can move the doughnuts to a freezer bag and freeze for no longer than a week.

2. When you’re ready to fry, heat the oil to 375°F in a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven; this is easiest if you have a candy thermometer that you can clip to the side of the pot. Watch carefully to ensure that the oil doesn’t get too hot. Meanwhile, line a cooling rack or plate with paper towels.

3. Add the doughnuts to the oil, one at a time, and don’t crowd the pot. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes, until the bottoms are golden, then flip and cook for 1 or 2 minutes more (slightly longer if they are going in from the freezer). Transfer to the prepared plate or rack and repeat with the rest of the doughnuts, adjusting the heat as needed so that the oil doesn’t exceed 375°F.

4. Combine the confectioners’ sugar, milk, and honey in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Drizzle over the tops and sides of the doughnuts and eat immediately.

BAKED CRULLERS Heat the oven to 450°F. Pipe the crullers as directed onto the parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving 1 to 2 inches between them. Transfer to the oven and bake for 5 minutes, then lower the heat to 350°F and bake until golden, about 15 minutes more (don’t rotate the baking sheets). Turn off the oven, crack the door, and let the crullers sit for another 5 minutes before removing them and glazing.

CHURROS An addictive dessert from Spain, traditionally eaten with thick hot chocolate or Dulce de Leche: Pipe the dough directly into the oil, in straight lines about 4 inches long. Cook until golden, 1 to 2 minutes for each side. Combine ½ cup sugar with 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon in a shallow bowl or on a plate; when the churros are still warm, roll them in the cinnamon sugar to coat.

CHOUX BEIGNETS A shortcut for the yeast-raised version that’s all over New Orleans with no sacrifice in flavor or texture: Drop dough directly into the oil, about 1 heaping spoonful at a time; don’t overcrowd the pot. Turn the beignets every couple of minutes until they’re golden all over. Dust with plenty of confectioners’ sugar while still warm.

BUÑUELOS These are popular in many Spanish- speaking countries, and each rendition is a little different: Combine 1 cup packed brown sugar, 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, 1½ teaspoons aniseeds, 1cinnamon stick, and 1½ cups water in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then stop stirring and bring to a boil. Cook, undisturbed, for 5 minutes, or until the mixture is thick and syrupy. Fry the dough as in the preceding variation, then drizzle the syrup over the top.

Paris-Brest

Makes: One 11- to 12-inch cake

Time: About 1 hour

One of my favorite desserts, this celebration of the French cycling race is meant to look like a bicycle wheel. Choux pastry is piped into a round, baked until puffy, stuffed with almond cream, and studded with almonds. Basically, if an almond croissant mated with a doughnut-shaped éclair, a Paris-Brest would be born.

  • 1 recipe Cream Puff Pastry
  • 1 egg
  • ⅓ cup sliced almonds
  • 1 recipe Almond Pastry Cream, chilled Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

1. Heat the oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Scrape the cream puff pastry dough into a pastry bag fitted with a large tip or a zipper bag with a corner snipped off; a star-shaped tip will give you a great ridged top, but you can also use a round tip. Pipe the dough in a ring, about 9 inches in diameter. (If you don’t want to eyeball it, you can trace a circle onto the parchment with a pencil, then flip the paper so the pencil doesn’t touch the dough.) Pipe another circle immediately outside this first circle so that the rings touch, then pipe a third ring so that it sits atop the first two rings. (If you find yourself with extra dough, feel free to make 3 rings on bottom and 2 on top.)

3. Beat the egg in a bowl with 1 tablespoon water, then brush to cover the rings. Sprinkle the almonds over the top and bake for 10 minutes, then decrease the heat to 375°F and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes, until puffed and deeply golden. Turn off the oven, crack the oven door, and leave the pastry inside for 15 minutes or so; it should be very crisp and dry when you take it out.

4. Let cool, then carefully cut the pastry in half horizontally, separating the top from the bottom. Pipe or spoon the pastry cream in an even layer over the bottom half; depending on your preferences, you might not use all of it. Top with the other layer and dust with confectioners’ sugar.

INDIVIDUAL PARIS-BREST Start the piping by making circles about 3 inches across. Bake and fill as directed, checking the pastries for doneness at 20 minutes once you decrease the heat to 375°F. Makes about 4 individual pastries.

PARIS-BREST WITH PRALINE CREAM Well worth the extra work: Swap hazelnuts for the peanuts in Peanut Brittle and make ½ batch. Once it’s completely cooled, break it into pieces and grind in a food processor until it’s almost the consistency of nut butter. Make ½ batch of Vanilla Pastry Cream and chill for at least an hour, then gradually add the ground brittle and beat until smooth. Refrigerate the cream while the pastry bakes, then use it to fill the pastry.

CHOCOLATE PARIS-BREST Fill the pastry with Chocolate Pastry Cream; instead of confectioners’ sugar, dust with cocoa powder.

Making Paris-Brest

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STEP 1
Pipe the dough in a ring, then pipe a second circle next to the first and a third circle on top to build the pastry.

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STEP 2
Slice the baked pastry in half horizontally and pipe or spoon the filling on the bottom half.

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STEP 3
Set the top half on the filling.

Croquembouche

Makes: 1 cake, enough for about 8 servings

Time: About 1½ hours

If cream puffs had ambitions, this is what they’d want to be when they grew up, a dazzling tower of caramel-glazed cream puffs that’s the centerpiece of many major French celebrations. Although it’s a project, it’s manageable for home bakers: The components are simple to make, and you can do the bulk of the work ahead of time. Feel free to change the flavors of the dough or pastry cream—half chocolate and half vanilla is not traditional but certainly crowd pleasing.

The only thing tricky about croquembouche (“crunch in mouth”) is the final construction. If you’re a perfectionist, try roughly stacking the puffs in the correct dimensions—at least the first for the bottom-most tiers of the cake—before you make the caramel so you can get a better sense of scale. If you’re laissez-faire, then make it whatever shape you like. It will taste fabulous whether it’s an elegant pyramid or a homely pile.

  • Butter for greasing (optional)
  • 1 recipe Cream Puff Pastry
  • ½ recipe Vanilla Pastry Cream
  • 2 cups sugar

1. Heat the oven to 400°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or grease them with butter.

2. Scrape the cream puff pastry dough into a pastry bag fitted with a wide round tip or a freezer bag with a corner snipped off and pipe it onto the sheet in mounds a little taller than 1 inch and about 1 inch wide (you’ll need about 3 dozen puffs), about 2 inches apart. At this point, you can freeze the sheets until the puffs are firm, then transfer them to a zipper bag and freeze for no more than a week.

3. Bake the puffs for 25 to 30 minutes, until they’re nicely puffed and sound hollow when tapped. Let cool completely on a rack. These can be made up to 2 days in advance and stored in an airtight container.

4. Fill the puffs no more than 6 hours before serving. Use a skewer or chopstick to poke a small hole in the side of each one. Put the pastry cream in another pastry bag fitted with a round tip or a zipper bag with a corner snipped off (make sure the hole is on the smaller side to give you more leverage), insert the bag in the hole, and gently squeeze in about a teaspoon of filling; don’t let the pastry cream spill out or burst.

5. Line a large plate or platter with parchment. Combine the sugar and ½ cup water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; stir just to moisten all the sugar, then leave the mixture alone until it comes to a boil and gradually turns a light amber (about 340°F on a candy thermometer). Remove from the heat.

6. Use tongs or, if you’re comfortable using them, chopsticks to dip the bottom of each puff in the caramel; try not to let any pastry cream mix into the pan. Working quickly, “glue” the puffs to the parchment in a ring about 8 inches in diameter (about 10 puffs). Fill the center of the circle with a few puffs to form a base, then glue a smaller circle of puffs on top of the base layer. Continue to stack the puffs in circles on top of each other in this way, gradually forming smaller circles until you form a cone. If the caramel starts to harden or thicken, put the saucepan back over low heat just until it reliquefies.

Building Cream Puff Structures

A tower of cream puffs is tough to resist, whether it’s an impeccable cone like Croquembouche (this page), more of a freewheeling shape, or even just a small puff on top of a bigger puff (call it a single-serving croquembouche). The caramel will hold the puffs together when it hardens, making shapes easy to improvise. No matter how you do it, it’s a gorgeous, surprising way to present dessert for special occasions, and people will have so much fun helping themselves to your handiwork.

The simplest way to make a cream puff “cake” is to assemble the puffs willy-nilly as in the Free-Form Croquembouche variation.

For more structure, place the caramel-dipped puffs inside a bowl, springform pan, or tube pan (line it first with plastic wrap if you’re nervous about sticking). Unmold it after it sets and drizzle with more caramel, glaze, or Rich Chocolate Sauce if you like.

7. Once you’ve finished building, make the spun sugar. Allow the remaining caramel to cool until it’s as thick as honey. Working quickly, dip a fork or spoon into the caramel and hold it over the croquembouche; quickly flick your wrist and keep the caramel moving so it falls around the puffs in super-thin, almost weblike strands. Redip the fork as needed until you have as much spun sugar as you like; if the caramel starts to harden in the pan, gently rewarm over low heat. Before the spun sugar sets, gently drape and shape it around the cake; if you like, shape it into a cloudlike “halo.” Serve within 2 hours (or sooner, if it’s very humid; moisture in the air will cause the caramel to soften). To serve, dip a metal spoon in warm water and scoop off 2 or 3 puffs per person. You may need to dip the spoon before removing each serving.

FREE-FORM CROQUEMBOUCHE A simpler approach: Forgo the traditional cone shape; instead, use the caramel only as glue to pile the cream puffs however you like. Skip the Jackson Pollock spun sugar technique (Step 7) and just drizzle the warm caramel over the cake at the end. Be careful not to lay it on too thick—you want an intermittent glaze, not a coating of shellac.

Making a Croquembouche

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STEP 1
Dip the bottom of each cream puff in the caramel.

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STEP 2
“Glue” the cream puffs in a ring.

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STEP 3
Add more cream puffs to fill in the bottom layer.

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STEP 4
Continue stacking the cream puffs in smaller circles until you form a cone.

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STEP 5
Dip a fork in the caramel and, with a flick of your wrist, drape it over the croquembouche in weblike strands. Gently shape the spun sugar.

The Basics of Puff Pastry

Puff pastry is a marvel: a sheet of dough that bakes into seemingly infinite, tissue-thin, sublimely buttery layers that melt in your mouth. Not many people make it from scratch, but those who do are rewarded with treats that are second to none, and I’m not kidding. Really, if you’re going to make pastry, this is the biggest bang for your buck, among the most versatile doughs you could produce for the investment of your time: shaped any number of ways, excellent with any filling or left alone for a phenomenal treat in its own right. You might as well make a big batch—it freezes flawlessly, and having some on hand is like money in the bank. There are really only two rules to follow:

1. Take your time. The process is long and somewhat involved but not difficult. Rushing it will guarantee mediocre results. I succeeded in making puff pastry on my first try, and so will you.

2. Be mindful of the temperature of the ingredients and your kitchen. If at any step in the process the butter feels oily, refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. Don’t try making this in a hot kitchen; you’ll never keep the butter cold enough. The dough should always be “doughy,” never oily nor so cold and hard it will be difficult to roll.

That said, it’s worth mentioning that some store-bought frozen puff pastry is not bad; check the ingredients: they should be mostly flour and butter. But it’s never as good as that you make yourself.

Croissants, Breton Butter Cakes, and Danish Pastry Dough are close cousins of puff pastry, and everything that is true about puff pastry can also be said of them. They’re distinct because they include yeast, so you’ll find them at the end of this section.

INGREDIENTS

BUTTER

Good butter is critical here, because it’s responsible for both the texture and the flavor that make puff pastry so fantastic. The steam escaping from the butter causes the layers of pastry to puff up and remain distinct from one another. By weight, there’s about as much butter as there is flour in puff pastry, and with so few other ingredients its flavor is at the forefront of every bite. Use the best quality you can find. Butter’s key role here means that a vegan version is tricky; however, if you’d like to veganize your pastries, Vegan Piecrust makes a fair substitute.

FLOUR

Not only does flour add structure to every layer of pastry; it also keeps the dough from sticking during many rounds of rolling, shaping, and folding, and when you add a bit of it to the butter slab (see page 462), it helps maintain an elastic consistency that doesn’t melt. Sprinkle it often using a light hand—too much extra flour will make the dough tough. It’s a good idea to dust off any excess with your hand or a brush each time you fold the dough so it doesn’t incorporate and gum up the layers.

Pastry flour, like cake flour, has a relatively low protein content, which means it can produce more tender baked goods, but I don’t bother with it. Even if the results are marginally more tender, many of these recipes, like Cream Puff Pastry and Croissants, actually need a bit of extra structure. Of course you can give it a shot and see what you think; if you can’t find pastry flour in a store, make your own by combining equal parts cake flour and all-purpose. (Whole wheat pastry flour is worth using, since whole wheat flour on its own can be a bit tough.)

EQUIPMENT

A good rolling pin is essential. A brush is useful for dusting off flour and applying egg wash (see Baking). A bench scraper can be helpful for squaring off the dough or sweeping under rolled-out dough to lift it cleanly from your work surface—think of it as an extension of your hand. You’ll want a kitchen scale, since the basic recipe for puff pastry yields about 2½ pounds of dough but many recipes using it call for less; weighing the dough is the best way to ensure you use the right amount.

An ordinary baking sheet is all you need to cook the vast majority of puff pastry creations, from palmiers to turnovers. Having two sheets means you won’t have to shape, proof, chill, and bake in batches. If you get into playing around with the dough, you may also decide to buy molds for creating specific shapes like cream horn molds or mini tart pans.

TECHNIQUES

MAKING THE DOUGH

Puff pastry dough consists of two components that are folded repeatedly together: the base dough, called a détrempe, and the butter slab (beurrage) that’s folded into it. Each is chilled separately before you begin the process of incorporating them, which is called lamination. From the beginning, pay attention to the temperature of both; you need them to be soft enough that they’re pliable but firm enough that they remain distinct.

Shaping the détrempe, butter slab, and, later, the laminated dough in specific dimensions may seem like a pain, but there’s a good reason for it: It ensures that the dough and butter incorporate seamlessly for as many layers as possible. Overall, the process is more tedious than difficult.

LAMINATING

Laminate means “to split into layers.” That’s what you are doing when you make puff pastry: combining the base dough and the butter in a way that ensures the final pastry has many layers. (Picture pulling apart a dinner roll, which is more cushion-like, versus a croissant, which has literally hundreds of tiny pockets of air and paper-thin folds that cling to one another as you pull.)

To laminate, you must first wrap the détrempe around the butter slab to enclose it. After a quick chill, you roll that out into a large rectangle, fold up the rectangle, and chill it before rolling it back out (sometimes, if the dough is still firm and your kitchen is cool, you can roll and fold twice before chilling). This process—roll, fold, and chill—constitutes one complete “turn,” and you’ll do several turns (each recipe calls for a different number of turns) before shaping and baking. With each turn, you increase the layers of flour and butter. A classic way to keep track of the number of turns you’ve completed is to make shallow fingerprints in the dough before you put it back in the fridge.

There are two common ways of folding the dough: letter style, where you fold the dough in three layers as you would fold a business letter before stuffing it into an envelope; and book style, where you fold both short sides of the dough into the center like window shutters and then fold the dough in half once more, for a total of four layers. One method is no easier or more difficult than the other, but book-style folds create more layers of flour and butter, which makes them ideal for Real Puff Pastry and Shortcut Puff Pastry. Yeasted puff pastries like Croissants and Danish Pastry Dough, while still super-flaky, shouldn’t have quite so many layers, so they use letter-style folds.

Lamination is the defining part of making any puff pastry, and the exactitude can scare people off. It shouldn’t: As long as you take it slow and follow the directions, it’s difficult to mess up. With all the stops and starts, it’s also a flexible process that you can break up into manageable chunks over days or even weeks—see the timeline on page 464.

Making Puff Pastry, Croissant Dough, and Danish Pastry Dough

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STEP 1
Once you remove the dough from the refrigerator, put it on a lightly floured surface and roll out to a large rectangle about ¼ inch thick. Put the butter slab in the center of the dough.

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STEP 2
Fold over the short sides of the dough and then the long sides to completely enclose the butter. If necessary, chill for at least 15 minutes; it should be cool but still pliable. Roll out the dough into a large rectangle.

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STEP 3
To make a book-style fold, bring each of the short ends of the rectangle together in the middle.

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STEP 4
Then fold in half along the seam in the center.

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STEP 5
Alternatively, to make a letter-style fold, fold the dough in thirds as if folding a letter.

FILLING

Puff pastry is the ideal crust for turnovers, toaster pastries, galettes, and more—collectively, there are nearly a hundred ideas for fillings between the lists on this page and the other recipes in this chapter. Take care not to overstuff them; if the pastries burst in the oven, the filling may scorch on the pan.

  • 15 More Fillings for Puff Pastry Twists or Palmiers
  • 8 Simple Ideas for Free-Form Tarts
  • How to Make Mini Pies and Tarts
  • 20 Fillings for Puff Pastry Cups and Phyllo Cups

BAKING

Many pastries are brushed with egg wash just before they go into the oven. This is nothing fancy: just an egg beaten with a tablespoon of water. A thin coat adds a lovely sheen and promotes even, deep browning, both hallmarks of terrific pastry. It also works to seal two layers of dough for filled pastries or tarts. If you’re out of eggs, milk is a suitable substitute.

Since the success of puff pastry lies in its crisp-yet-tender texture, take care not to let it get soggy. Anytime you add filling, slash the tops of the sealed pastries to make vents for excess moisture to escape. The dough has so much butter that greasing the sheets feels superfluous, but baking the pastries on a sheet of parchment goes a long way to promote even browning and to keep any rogue fillings from sticking to the sheets.

A Timeline for Laminated Doughs

The process of making any laminated dough alternates between active work and resting time. Luckily, you don’t need to do it all in one go—at many points along the way you can break up the work, coming back days or even weeks later to finish up. Be sure to maintain the correct temperature during all prep, and above all, don’t rush. If the dough gets too firm in the fridge, let it sit at room temperature until it’s malleable. As always, if you’ll be freezing anything, wrap it tightly and in multiple layers to avoid freezer burn, then thaw in the fridge before proceeding.

REAL PUFF PASTRY

  • ✵ MAKE THE DOUGH: Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or freeze for up to 2 months and thaw in the refrigerator
  • ✵ SHAPE THE BUTTER SLAB: Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or freeze for up to 2 months and thaw in the refrigerator
  • ✵ WRAP THE BUTTER IN THE DOUGH: Refrigerate for about 15 minutes, until the dough is pliable but not hard
  • ✵ LAMINATE THE DOUGH: Refrigerate for 30 minutes between turns (3 to 4 bookstyle turns total)
  • ✵ CHILL THE LAMINATED DOUGH: Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or freeze for up to 2 months and thaw in the refrigerator
  • ✵ SHAPE OR FILL; CHILL OR REST SHAPED DOUGH BEFORE BAKING: Refrigerate after shaping or filling for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days or freeze for up to 2 months and thaw in the refrigerator

SHORTCUT PUFF PASTRY

  • ✵ LAMINATE THE DOUGH: Refrigerate for 30 minutes between turns (3 to 4 bookstyle turns total)
  • ✵ CHILL THE LAMINATED DOUGH: Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or freeze for up to 2 months and thaw in the refrigerator
  • ✵ SHAPE OR FILL; CHILL OR REST SHAPED DOUGH BEFORE BAKING: Refrigerate after shaping or filling for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days or freeze for up to 2 months and thaw in the refrigerator

CROISSANTS

  • ✵ MAKE THE DOUGH: Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight
  • ✵ SHAPE THE BUTTER SLAB: Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or freeze for up to 2 months and thaw in the refrigerator
  • ✵ LAMINATE THE DOUGH: Refrigerate for 1 hour between turns (3 turns total)
  • ✵ CHILL THE LAMINATED DOUGH: Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight or freeze for up to 2 months and thaw in the refrigerator
  • ✵ SHAPE OR FILL; CHILL OR REST SHAPED DOUGH BEFORE BAKING: Let rest for 1 to 2 hours after shaping or filling or freeze first for up to 2 months and thaw in the refrigerator before letting rest in a warm place

DANISH PASTRIES

  • ✵ MAKE THE DOUGH: Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight
  • ✵ SHAPE THE BUTTER SLAB: Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or freeze for up to 2 months and thaw in the refrigerator
  • ✵ LAMINATE THE DOUGH: Refrigerate for 30 minutes between turns (4 turns total)
  • ✵ CHILL THE LAMINATED DOUGH: Refrigerate for at least 6 hours and up to 3 days or freeze for up to 2 months and thaw in the refrigerator
  • ✵ SHAPE OR FILL; CHILL OR REST SHAPED DOUGH BEFORE BAKING: Let rest for 1 to 2 hours after shaping or filling or freeze first for up to 2 months and thaw in the refrigerator before letting rest in a warm place

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Recipes

Real Puff Pastry

Shortcut Puff Pastry

Cinnamon-Sugar Twists

Palmiers

Apple Turnovers

Lemon Turnovers

Strawberry Toaster Pastries

Spanish Cream Puffs

Galette des Rois

Berry Jalousie

Eccles Cakes

Almond Rolls

Raspberry Napoleon

Puff Pastry Cups (Vols-au-Vent)

Gâteau St. Honoré

Real Puff Pastry

Makes: About 2½ pounds, enough for about 4 dozen small pastries

Time: 1 day, largely unattended

This is the buttery and flaky dough you see in French tarts, turnovers, and pot pies. It goes equally well with sweet and savory fillings and works as a pastry or as a crust for a pie or tart. Making it is a bit of an undertaking, but if you take your time and keep everything from getting too warm, it’s surprisingly straightforward, with not much hands-on work and a rhythm that feels meditative as you get used to it. It also makes a lot of dough that freezes perfectly. For something simpler but still flaky, try Shortcut Puff Pastry.

  • 4 cups flour, plus more for the work surface
  • 1½ teaspoons salt
  • 4 sticks cold butter
  • 1 cup ice water

1. Combine 3 cups of the flour with the salt in a large bowl or a food processor. Cube 4 tablespoons (½ stick) of the cold butter and work it into the flour mixture with your fingers or by pulsing with the food processor until it resembles cornmeal. Cut the remaining butter into chunks and set it aside for now. Add ¾ cup of the ice water and stir or pulse until incorporated, adding the remaining ¼ cup ice water a little at a time as needed until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl but is still a bit shaggy.

2. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead it until smooth, about 2 minutes, sprinkling more flour on the surface as needed. Shape it into a disk using a rolling pin and your hands, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

3. The remaining butter should still be cold and firm but not frigid. Put it between 2 large pieces of parchment paper or plastic wrap along with the remaining flour and pound it with a rolling pin to make a smooth, pliable sheet, pausing occasionally to fold the butter back on itself so the flour incorporates and the sheet doesn’t get too thin. If at any point the butter starts to look or feel greasy, put it back in the fridge for a few minutes. Shape it into a rectangle about 8 × 4 inches; trim the uneven borders, put them on top of the butter, and roll them in to incorporate. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 30 minutes or until it’s firm.

4. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into an approximately 14 × 12-inch rectangle; it should be about ¼ inch thick. Put the butter slab in the center of the dough and fold the short sides of the dough rectangle over it, then fold in the long sides so that the butter is fully enclosed (see illustrations, page 463). Pat gently to seal the edges (you can dab them with a little water to help seal). If it still feels cool and smooth, you can roll it out right away; if not, or if you’re uncertain, wrap it in plastic and chill for at least 15 minutes, until it’s cooled down but still pliable.

5. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and gently roll it out to a roughly 20 × 10-inch rectangle, rotating it occasionally for even thickness. Take your time and lightly sprinkle on more flour as needed to prevent sticking. If the dough ever starts to feel oily, stick it back in the refrigerator for a few minutes before proceeding.

6. Brush off any excess flour and make a book-style fold by bringing each of the short ends of the rectangle together in the middle, rolling lightly to press it together, then folding in half along the seam in the center to make a 10 × 5-inch rectangle. Rewrap and refrigerate for another 30 minutes. This is your first turn. Use your fingertip to make 1 shallow indentation in the dough to keep track; make 2 indentations after the second turn, and so forth.

7. Repeat Steps 5 and 6 at least twice more and preferably 3 more times; this makes the pastry even lighter and finer. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour—or wrap well and freeze for up to 2 months, then thaw completely in the fridge—before rolling and shaping. You may want to divide the dough into 1-pound pieces before wrapping and storing so you can quickly grab and use. This leaves you with an extra ½ pound, but since baking with puff pastry is just a matter of shaping and filling, you can easily halve any of the following recipes.

WHOLE WHEAT PUFF PASTRY This has a complex, nutty flavor with the same irresistibly tender consistency: Combine 2 cups each all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour in a bowl. Proceed with the recipe, using 3 cups of the mixture for the dough and incorporating the rest into the butter package.

Shortcut Puff Pastry

Makes: About 2½ pounds, enough for about 4 dozen small pastries

Time: About 2½ hours, largely unattended

This unorthodox technique—it closely resembles piecrust until you begin the rolling and folding process—gives you a dough that’s as versatile as Real Puff Pastry without all the waiting. The finished product isn’t quite so towering or intricately layered, but it’s still wonderfully crisp, golden, and tender.

  • 4 sticks cold butter
  • 4 cups flour
  • 1½ teaspoons salt
  • 1 cup ice water

1. Reserve ½ stick of the butter. Cut the rest into small cubes and freeze until firm, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the flour and salt in a large bowl or food processor. Cut the reserved butter into pieces and work it into the flour mixture with your fingers or by pulsing the processor once or twice; it should be combined but still in small, unincorporated chunks, about the size of peas.

2. Add the remaining butter from the freezer and work it in the same way you added the butter in Step 1. Add ¾ cup of the ice water and toss gently but thoroughly, until the flour evenly coats the chunks of butter. The dough will still be very crumbly, similar to that of an unrolled piecrust, but all the flour should be moistened; drizzle in the remaining water if there is any dry flour and stir until the water is evenly distributed.

3. Put a large piece of parchment paper on a work surface and lightly dust with flour. Empty the dough onto it and gently shape it into a log (you can use the parchment to work the dough without getting it too warm from your hands). Use a rolling pin to push it into a long rectangle, about 20 × 10 inches and ½ inch thick. It will seem impossible that the dough will come together, but keep at it; don’t worry about the crumbliness and don’t overwork. Lightly sprinkle on more flour as needed, but dust off any excess once you’ve shaped your rectangle.

4. Make a book-style fold by gently lifting the dough from each of the short ends and folding both to the center, then folding it in half along the center seam to make a 10 × 10-inch rectangle (see illustrations, page 463). A bench scraper, spatula, or the parchment can help you lift the dough if it’s too loose to handle. This is 1 turn; press a shallow fingerprint in the dough to help you keep track (make 2 indentations for the second turn, and so on). Wrap the dough tightly in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight. Take your time throughout this process—if at any point the dough starts to feel oily or warm before you’re finished rolling, chill it until it’s firm again, at least 15 minutes.

5. Repeat the rolling and folding from Step 4 twice or, preferably, three times, refrigerating as needed along the way; as you work, the dough will become more uniform. Dust off any excess flour, wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using. If you like, divide the dough into 1-pound pieces before wrapping and storing for easy access. You’ll have an extra ½ pound, but you can easily halve any of the following recipes to use it. Tightly wrapped, this dough freezes beautifully for as long as 2 months; transfer to the fridge to thaw completely before you shape it.

Cinnamon-Sugar Twists

Makes: 18 to 24 twists

Time: About 30 minutes

These are as impressive as they are easy, with the airy crispness of the best piecrusts joined with sublime buttery richness. All the twists mean plenty of nooks and crannies that get deeply golden as they bake. There’s plenty of room to adapt them to your own taste. See the variation that follows or the list on page 468.

  • 1 pound puff pastry dough, homemade or store-bought, chilled
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted

1. Heat the oven to 400°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangle about ⅛ inch thick. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Brush the melted butter over the surface of the dough, then sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly lengthwise over half of the dough.

3. Fold the pastry in half lengthwise, with the untopped dough covering the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Gently roll with the rolling pin to seal the 2 halves together, then use a sharp knife to cut long vertical strips ½ inch wide. Twist each strip a couple times, pinching the ends to seal, then place them on the prepared baking sheets. If any cinnamon-sugar falls out while you’re twisting, dust it over the twists before baking.

4. Bake the twists for 10 to 15 minutes, until they’re nicely golden. Let cool completely before serving. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 day.

CHEESE TWISTS These make an easy, impressive appetizer. Use any hard cheese and swap the herbs and spices as you like: Instead of the cinnamon-sugar mixture, combine ¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese with 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves and ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper. For a little more spice, brush the pastry with 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard in place of the butter before topping it.

CARAMEL-PECAN TWISTS Chewy, crunchy, and crisp: Omit the melted butter, sugar, and cinnamon; instead, drizzle half the pastry with ¾ cup Caramel Sauce) and top with ¾ cup finely chopped toasted pecans.

Palmiers

Makes: 2 to 3 dozen cookies

Time: About 1 hour, largely unattended

One of my favorites, and quite easy once you’ve made the pastry, these are crisp, buttery, and distinctively shaped. The sugar filling couldn’t be simpler and gets nicely caramelized as it bakes. See the list on page 468 for many other sweet and savory filling ideas.

  • 1 cup sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 pound puff pastry dough, homemade or store-bought, chilled

1. Combine the sugar and salt, then sprinkle half the mixture evenly over a work surface. Put the dough on top of the sugar and roll it into a rectangle about 14 inches long and less than ¼ inch thick so that all the sugar gets pressed into the dough. Sprinkle the rest of the sugar evenly over the top of the dough and lightly roll it with the pin so that the sugar sticks.

7 Pastries to Make with Vegan Crust

Good pie crust, like Puff Pastry, is tender, flaky, and golden, so vegan pie crust makes a terrific substitute in many recipes that call for puff pastry. Follow the assembly directions for any of these pastries, swapping in your favorite vegan filling:

  • Cinnamon-Sugar Twists (this page)
  • Palmiers (this page)
  • Apple Turnovers
  • Lemon Turnovers
  • Strawberry Toaster Pastries
  • Eccles Cakes
  • Almond Rolls

15 More Fillings for Puff Pastry Twists or Palmiers

Puff pastry really lets you play around, as you’ll see. These measurements are for a pound of dough, but you can easily scale them up or down and, as long as the filling isn’t too coarse (which can tear the delicate pastry), you have free rein. For palmiers, you can replace all the sugar in the original recipe with any of these sweet fillings or decrease the sugar to ½ cup, sprinkle it only under the dough, and add these options with it. If you are using a savory filling, omit the sugar entirely.

SWEET FILLINGS

  • Brown sugar or turbinado sugar, ½ cup
  • Up to ¾ teaspoon ginger, cinnamon, and/or cardamom
  • Honey, ½ cup
  • Jam: ½ cup Fruit Jam or Orange Marmalade, heated gently if necessary to loosen it up for spreading
  • Chocolate Ganache, ½ cup
  • Caramel Sauce or Dulce de Leche, ½ cup, sprinkled with ¾ teaspoon coarse salt if you like
  • Balsamic Syrup, ⅓ cup
  • Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread, ½ cup
  • Frangipane, ½ cup
  • Grated citrus zest, 1 tablespoon, with 1 cup sugar
  • Toasted nuts or dried fruit, finely chopped, ¾ cup

SAVORY FILLINGS

  • Pesto or olives, ½ cup
  • ½ cup finely grated cheese like Gruyère, cheddar, or Parmesan
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 3 tablespoons good-quality olive oil and 1 teaspoon sea salt

2. Starting on one of the long sides, roll the dough inward in a tight spiral like you would a carpet and stop halfway, then repeat on the other side so that the two spirals meet in the middle (see illustrations, page 469). Gently fold the dough in half along the center fold and press to seal, then wrap the log in plastic and chill for at least 30 minutes. At this point you can freeze it for up to a month, then slice and bake the cookies directly from the freezer.

3. Heat the oven to 400°F. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into ¼- to ½-inch-thick slices and arrange them an inch or two apart on baking sheets. (If you don’t have multiple baking sheets, keep the rest of the dough chilled and cut it just before baking.) Bake the cookies, flipping them after 7 minutes or so, until they’re golden and crisp on both sides, 12 to 15 minutes total. Transfer to a rack to cool completely and eat within a day or two, before they lose their crispness; store in an airtight container.

Apple Turnovers

Makes: 18

Time: About 45 minutes, plus time to chill

These little pockets combine the familiar flavors of apple pie with the shattering, buttery crust of puff pastry. There’s lots of room to tinker: Try a different citrus, change up the spices, or use a different filling entirely—see the variations.

  • 3 or 4 tart apples (1 pound)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • ⅓ cup sugar, plus more for the work surface and for sprinkling
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest, or more to taste
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon, or more to taste
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 pound puff pastry dough, homemade or store-bought, chilled
  • 1 egg

1.Peel and core the apples. Grate them in a food processor or on the coarse side of a box grater or finely chop them. Immediately toss them with the lemon juice, then add the sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest, and spices. Taste and add more lemon zest or cinnamon if you like.

2. Coat a work surface with sugar and roll the dough into a rectangle about 24 × 12 inches (it should be less than ¼ inch thick). Lightly sprinkle sugar over the top of the dough and cut it into 4-inch squares.

3. Put a heaping tablespoon of the apple filling in the center of each square. Beat the egg in a bowl with 1 tablespoon water; brush this along the edges of 2 adjacent sides of each pastry, then fold the unwashed edges diagonally over the filling to form a triangle. Press gently or pinch to seal and, if you like, use the tines of a fork to crimp the edges. Brush the tops with more of the egg wash and sprinkle with a bit of sugar. Slash the top of each turnover with a paring knife so that steam can escape. Arrange the turnovers about 1 inch apart on a baking sheet and chill for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

4. Heat the oven to 400°F. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until they’re golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store for a day in an airtight container.

BLUEBERRY (OR ANY BERRY) TURNOVERS Use 1½ cups fresh or thawed frozen berries; chop strawberries; leave others whole.

PEACH TURNOVERS Plums and pears are also excellent here: Switch the apples for 1½ cups sliced peaches. Omit the cinnamon and add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or, better yet, the seeds from a vanilla bean).

APPLE-CHEDDAR TURNOVERS If you’ve never had this combination, it may seem strange, but apple and sharp cheddar cheese are perfect together: Leave out the lemon, spices, and sugar (don’t coat your work surface with sugar either). Combine the apple and cornstarch with 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese; if you like, add 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves. Lightly flour the pastry as needed when you roll it out.

CARAMEL APPLE TURNOVERS Leave the sugar out of the apple mixture and use just a scant tablespoon to fill each square of dough. Top the filling with 2 teaspoons Caramel Sauce.

CHERRY-CHOCOLATE TURNOVERS Pockets of melted chocolate soften the cherries’ sweet-tartness: Instead of apples, chop 1 pound pitted fresh cherries or use 1½ cups thawed frozen cherries. Chop 4 ounces dark chocolate and add it to the filling along with 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; skip the spices if you wish.

PASTELITOS These Cuban pastries have a cream filling similar to that of a Cheese Danish that’s studded with tangy guava paste; look for it in the Latin-American aisle or online: In place of the apple filling, beat 6 ounces softened cream cheese with ¼ cup sour cream, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, and 1 egg yolk. Cut 8 ounces guava paste into small cubes and fold them into the cream cheese mixture.

JÉSUITES Almond pastries named for the triangular hats worn by Jesuit priests: Combine ⅔ cup toasted blanched almonds and ⅓ cup sugar in a food processor and chop until they’re finely ground. Pulse in 1 egg, 5 tablespoons butter, and 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon flour until you have a paste. Substitute this for the apple filling, distributing the filling evenly among the puff pastry squares.

Making Palmiers

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STEP 1
Roll out a sheet of puff pastry dough on a sugar-dusted surface until it is about ¼ inch thick. Sprinkle sugar over the dough.

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STEP 2
Roll 1 long side toward the center.

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STEP 3
Then roll the other side, so that the 2 spirals meet in the center.

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STEP 4
Fold the dough in half along the center fold.

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STEP 5
Press to seal.

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STEP 6
Cut slices from the roll and bake.

Lemon Turnovers

Makes: 18 turnovers

Time: About 45 minutes, plus time to chill

You don’t often see turnovers with creamy filling, but the contrast with crisp, flaky puff pastry is a no-brainer.

  • ½ cup Lemon Curd
  • ½ cup (4 ounces) cream cheese, softened
  • ¼ cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 tablespoons flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1 pound puff pastry dough, homemade or store-bought, chilled
  • 1 egg

1. Beat together the lemon curd, cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk, and flour until smooth and fluffy. Refrigerate while you prepare the dough.

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangle about 24 × 12 inches and about ¼ inch thick, then cut it into 4-inch squares. Beat the egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush this onto one of the edges of each square, then halfway up its adjacent sides. Fill the squares with 1 tablespoon of the lemon curd mixture (do not overfill or the pastries will leak while they bake). Fold the squares in half so that the unwashed sides meet the egg-washed edges to form rectangles. Press or pinch the edges gently to seal well and crimp them with the tines of a fork if you like, then brush more egg wash over the tops and sprinkle with a bit of sugar. Use a paring knife to make a very small cut in the top of each pastry (not too big or the lemon curd will burn) so steam can escape. Arrange the turnovers about 1 inch apart on a baking sheet and chill for at least 30 minutes or up to a few hours.

3. Heat the oven to 400°F. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until they’re golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store in an airtight container for up to a day.

CHOCOLATE TURNOVERS These couldn’t be simpler to fill; for a nuttier flavor, use Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread: Chop 6 ounces of chocolate; fill the center of each piece of dough with about 1 tablespoon of chocolate, resisting the urge to overfill.

JAM TURNOVERS Use raspberry or strawberry jam and lemon for something more traditional, or mango preserves with lime for a more tropical taste: Use jam instead of lemon curd and add 1 tablespoon fresh citrus zest.

CREAM HORNS These classic Eastern European pastries are shaped like cones and baked before they’re filled, so you get a nice contrast in texture: Cut the dough into roughly 6 × 1-inch strips and gently roll them to thin them out a bit more. Wrap each strip around a cream horn mold, starting at the tip and slightly overlapping the dough as you work your way up (see illustration above). Press each end gently to seal and transfer the molds to a baking sheet. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, then bake for about 12 minutes, until the dough is puffed and golden. Remove the molds and cool to room temperature. Fill a pastry bag with Whipped Cream or Vanilla Pastry Cream and pipe enough to fill each horn. The empty horns will keep for a day in an airtight container. If they get soggy, recrisp them for about 5 minutes in the oven at 250°F and cool completely before filling.

Shaping Cream Horns

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Roll each strip of dough around a cream horn mold, starting at the tip and slightly overlapping the dough as you work your way up.

Strawberry Toaster Pastries

Makes: 12

Time: About 45 minutes

If not for their familiar shape and irresistible tangy glaze, you could almost mistake these for turnovers, but those two details make all the difference. As the name suggests, you can easily freeze and reheat these in the toaster oven, so they’re great make-ahead treats. You can use pie dough instead of puff pastry if you prefer, and vary the flavor by changing the jam—use your favorite since it’s front and center. You may never buy Pop Tarts again once you taste these.

  • 1 cup strawberry jam, homemade or store-bought
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • Flour for dusting
  • 1 pound puff pastry dough, homemade or store-bought, chilled
  • 1 egg
  • 1 recipe Lemon Glaze

1. Put the jam in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk the cornstarch with 1 tablespoon cold water, then stir this into the jam until combined. Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature; it will thicken as it cools. (Alternatively, chill it in the refrigerator until ready to use with a piece of plastic pressed onto its surface to prevent a film from forming.)

2. Roll the dough into a 24 × 12-inch rectangle about ¼ inch thick on a lightly floured surface, then cut it into 4 × 3-inch pieces (for a total of 24). Dust off any excess flour and reserve half the rectangles.

3. Spread a heaping tablespoon of the jam mixture into the center of the remaining rectangles, leaving a 1-inch border; be careful not to overfill. Beat the egg with 1 tablespoon water, paint this along the edges of the pastry, and top with one of the reserved rectangles. Press the edges to seal well so that the pastries don’t split open during baking. If you like, crimp them with the tines of a fork. Brush more egg wash over the tops of the pastries and use a fork to prick the tops a couple times so steam can escape. Arrange on a baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

4. Heat the oven to 400°F. Bake the pastries for 15 to 18 minutes, until they’re golden brown, then immediately transfer to a rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature, drizzled with the lemon glaze, or tightly wrap the unglazed pastries and freeze for up to a month, then reheat in a toaster or oven for a few minutes before glazing.

CRANBERRY-GINGER TOASTER PASTRIES If you’ve got leftover cranberry sauce, just swap it for the jam in the original recipe: Combine 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries with ½ cup each sugar and water, 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger, and the cornstarch slurry. Proceed with the recipe, letting the mixture cook for several minutes until it’s jammy and the berries break down a bit.

CHOCOLATE-CINNAMON TOASTER PASTRIES Omit the jam and cornstarch. Combine ¼ cup sugar with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; finely chop 6 ounces dark chocolate. Fill each pastry with a heaping tablespoon of chopped chocolate, then sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon sugar over the chocolate. Glaze the finished pastries with Chocolate Ganache Glaze.

APPLE TOASTER PASTRIES Peel, core, and grate 2 apples. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in the saucepan, then add the apples, ½ cup sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and the cornstarch slurry. Cook, stirring often, until the mixture is thick. Cool to room temperature before using, then top the pastries with Vanilla Glaze.

Spanish Cream Puffs

Makes: 32

Time: 1¼ hours

Unlike the more common Cream Puffs, these are made with squares of puff pastry that are stacked with the filling and glazed with honey, so they’re incredibly flaky and subtly sweet (and they’re easy to assemble, too). The filling is infused with saffron, a mild and distinctive floral spice that’s ubiquitous in Spanish cooking, but swap in Vanilla Pastry Cream for a more classic flavor or branch out with some of the variations.

  • 2 cups cream, half-and-half, or whole milk
  • ⅛ teaspoon saffron threads
  • 1⅓ cups granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons flour, plus more for dusting
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 pound puff pastry dough, homemade or store-bought, chilled
  • 1 egg
  • ⅔ cup honey
  • Confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling

1. Put the cream and saffron in a saucepan over medium heat. Once it starts to simmer, remove from the heat, cover, and let steep for 20 minutes. Use a fork to strain out the saffron threads.

2. Combine ⅔ cup of the granulated sugar with the flour, cornstarch, and salt in a large bowl, then beat in the egg yolks until smooth. Slowly add half the infused cream, whisking vigorously all the while, then pour this into the saucepan with the rest of the cream and stir until combined. Cook over medium to medium-low heat, whisking regularly, until the custard is just about to boil, 5 to 8 minutes.

3. Lower the heat so that the mixture bubbles gently and cook, whisking almost constantly, until the mixture coats the back of a spoon; when you draw your finger through the coating, a distinct trail should remain. Stir in the butter and strain through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl, then press a layer of plastic wrap directly on the surface and refrigerate until cool or for up to a day.

4. Heat the oven to 400°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 24 × 12-inch rectangle that’s no more than ¼ inch thick. Cut it into 3-inch squares and place them about 1 inch apart on baking sheets. Beat the egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush a bit over each square, then bake until puffed and golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool completely.

5. To make the glaze, put the honey in a saucepan with ⅔ cup water and the remaining ⅔ cup granulated sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, then decrease the heat and simmer for a few minutes before removing from the heat. Meanwhile, split each pastry in half crosswise; spoon a generous dollop of the saffron cream, a heaping tablespoon or so, between the halves and close them like sandwiches. Spoon a thin layer of glaze over the tops of the finished pastries, then sprinkle with a generous layer of confectioners’ sugar. Serve right away.

FLAKY DULCE DE LECHE PUFFS This milky caramel is beloved in Spain and a natural, irresistible filling here: Simply use Dulce de Leche in place of the saffron pastry cream.

FLAKY PISTACHIO CREAM PUFFS Use a food processor to purée 1 cup pistachios into a paste, like nut butter. Omit the saffron and heat the cream on its own; as soon as it’s just barely simmering, remove from the heat and immediately use half of it to temper the egg mixture as directed in Step 2. Skip the butter and strain the cream, then beat in the pistachio paste and ½ teaspoon almond extract.

FLAKY ROSE WATER CREAM PUFFS Rose water adds a unique exotic flavor that pairs well with the original recipe or the pistachio variation: Stir 2 teaspoons rose water into the finished honey glaze. Give it a taste; if you like a stronger rose flavor, add another teaspoon.

FLAKY LEMON-GINGER CREAM PUFFS Bold, tart, and just a little spicy: Use a paring knife or vegetable peeler to strip the yellow zest from a lemon; add this to the cream in place of the saffron threads. Remove the lemon peel from the cream after steeping and before proceeding with the cream. Add ¾ teaspoon ground ginger or 1½ tablespoons minced fresh ginger to the saucepan with the other ingredients for the honey glaze. Mince ¾ cup candied ginger and sprinkle it over the pastries immediately after drizzling the syrup.

FLAKY MAPLE-ORANGE CREAM PUFFS Maple adds a distinctly American twist: Peel the zest (without the white pith) from an orange and steep it in the cream instead of the saffron. Substitute maple syrup for the honey in the glaze.

Galette des Rois

Makes: 1 cake, enough for 8 to 10 servings

Time: 45 minutes, plus time to chill

This predecessor of New Orleans’s purple, green, and yellow Mardi Gras cake is eaten in France throughout January, as a celebration of the Feast of the Epiphany, but with its luscious filling and flaky layers of crust it’s good enough to eat year-round. It’s a tradition to place a small trinket, dried bean, or whole almond over the filling. Whoever ends up with it is king for the day.

The almond filling is easy to make; it’s also fabulous with 1 tablespoon grated orange zest, which adds a little extra dimension. For many other ways to vary the filling, see All About Galettes.

  • 1 pound puff pastry dough, homemade or store-bought, chilled
  • Flour for dusting
  • 1 recipe (1½ cups) Frangipane
  • 1 egg yolk

1. Divide the dough in half. Lightly sprinkle flour on a piece of parchment paper and roll out one piece of dough into a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Trim the edges with a paring knife; eyeball it or use a large plate, lid, or cake pan as a stencil. Dust off excess flour and repeat with the other piece of dough. Use the parchment paper to transfer each round to a baking sheet (it’s fine if they overlap slightly), cover with plastic wrap, and chill for 15 minutes, or longer if the dough feels warm.

2. Spread the frangipane in an even layer over one of the dough rounds, leaving a 1-inch border. Beat the egg yolk in a bowl with 1 tablespoon water, then brush the egg wash along the edge of the dough; try not to let it dribble over the sides.

3. Place the other circle of dough directly on top of this and press the edges gently to seal. If you like, flute the edges with a fork and score the top in a decorative pattern (see illustrations below). Brush more egg wash over the top of the galette, then use the tip of a paring knife to cut a few incisions in the dough so that steam can escape. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight; wrapped well, this also freezes nicely for up to a week. (Let thaw in the refrigerator before baking.)

4. When you’re ready to bake, heat the oven to 375°F. Bake the galette until it’s nicely puffed and a deep golden brown, about 30 minutes. Use the parchment to immediately transfer the galette to a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

CHOCOLATE-HAZELNUT GALETTE DES ROIS Substitute ground toasted blanched hazelnuts for the almond flour in the Frangipane. Chop 4 ounces dark chocolate and sprinkle it evenly over the filling.

FREE-FORM GALETTE A more rustic—and far simpler—assembly and presentation: On a lightly floured surface, roll all the dough into a single layer about ¼ inch thick. Aim for it to be somewhat round, but no need for it to be symmetrical. Spread the filling over the crust, leaving a 2-inch border; fold up the edges to partially cover the filling and leave the center exposed. Brush with egg wash and bake as directed.

Puff Pastry Scraps

Buttery, flaky, crisp, and tender, puff pastry is such a luxury that every last scrap is valuable, especially if you’ve gone to the trouble to make your own. Don’t waste an ounce.

You can bake the scraps as is and use them to garnish ice cream or fruit. Or top with melted butter, sugar, and ground cinnamon or cardamom—or, for a savory version, olive oil and finely grated cheese or minced fresh herbs—and bake in a 400°F oven until golden brown. This is the ultimate cook’s treat.

You can also fill larger scraps with jam, caramel, chopped chocolate, or ground nuts; fold them over to seal roughly or top with scraps that are roughly the same size and bake—they’ll be delicious even if they’re not symmetrical.

If you’re not ready to use the trimmings right away, roll them together into a ball, wrap tightly, and freeze. The dough keeps extremely well, so you can stockpile it until you have enough to use for a recipe.

Scoring Galette des Rois

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STEP 1
Score the top of the galette with a decorative pattern.

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STEP 2
Brush with egg wash and cut a few small incisions for steam to escape.

Berry Jalousie

Makes: 1 tart, enough for 8 to 10 servings

Time: About 45 minutes

The unusual name is a reference to a style of window shutters; like its namesake, the pastry is long, large, and narrow, with many slats that allow the top crust to crisp up beautifully. Whether you’re filling it with fresh berries, warm compote, or pumpkin custard (see the variations), it’s equally good at brunch or for dessert alongside a scoop of ice cream and perfect for serving a crowd since every slice is impressive.

  • 2 cups strawberries, hulled
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
  • Flour for dusting
  • 1 pound puff pastry dough, homemade or store-bought, chilled
  • ⅔ cup raspberry jam, homemade or store-bought
  • 1 egg

1. Roughly chop the strawberries and toss them with the sugar and lemon zest. Transfer this mixture to a strainer set over a bowl and let sit and drain while you prepare the jalousie.

2. Heat the oven to 400°F. Lightly sprinkle flour over a piece of parchment paper, set the dough on it, and roll into a 15 × 12-inch rectangle; cut this in half lengthwise. (Note that if your baking sheet is smaller than average, you should make the dough only so long that it can fit comfortably on the sheet or divide the dough in half and make 2 smaller ones.) Spread the jam down the center of one piece of dough, leaving a 1-inch border, then spoon the drained macerated berries over the jam, transferring as little excess juice with them as possible.

3. Beat the egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush it along the border of the dough. Top with the other piece of dough, press the edges to seal, and lightly coat the top with more egg wash. Use the tines of a fork to crimp the sides, then use a paring knife to cut slits along the width of the top crust, every 2 inches or so, so that steam can escape. At this point, you can bake right away or cover and refrigerate overnight.

4. Use the parchment paper to transfer the jalousie to a baking sheet. Bake until it is nicely puffed up and golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Immediately transfer to a cooling rack and cool to room temperature. Cut into slices to serve.

STRAWBERRY CREAM CHEESE JALOUSIE Bring 6 ounces cream cheese to room temperature and beat it until fluffy; spread it over the dough in lieu of the jam.

PEAR-ALMOND JALOUSIE Peel, core, and chop 2 large ripe pears. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan over medium heat; add the pears and sugar and omit the zest. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the fruit is tender and caramelized, then remove from the heat and add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Chill or cool to room temperature. Use Frangipane in place of the raspberry jam.

APPLE-WALNUT JALOUSIE Follow the preceding variation, substituting apples for the pears and cinnamon for the vanilla. Follow the directions for Frangipane but use ground walnuts in place of the almond flour.

APRICOT-PISTACHIO JALOUSIE Use pistachio cream (follow the directions for Frangipane, using ground pistachios in place of the almond flour) instead of the jam. Pit and thinly slice 4 apricots; omit the lemon and sugar and toss the slices with ½ teaspoon cardamom, then spoon this over the pistachio cream.

PUMPKIN SPICE JALOUSIE Toast and finely chop 2 cups pecans. Make the filling for Pumpkin Pie you won’t use a full recipe. Spread it evenly in a thin but generous layer over the dough, then scatter the pecans over it.

Eccles Cakes

Makes: About 1 dozen

Time: About 45 minutes, plus time to chill

Britain isn’t known for its pastries, but these round little pies—with their spiced, boozy filling—are worth remembering. Named for a town outside of Manchester, they’re traditionally made with currants, but just about any dried fruit works well here.

  • ¼ cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup raisins
  • ½ cup brandy
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • Flour for dusting
  • 1 pound puff pastry dough, homemade or store-bought, chilled
  • 1 egg
  • Granulated sugar for sprinkling

1. Put the brown sugar and butter in a saucepan and melt over medium heat. Add the raisins, brandy, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thick and syrupy, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.

2. Meanwhile, roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to just less than ¼-inch thickness. Use a cookie or biscuit cutter, the rim of a thin drinking glass, or a paring knife to cut out 3-inch circles. Top half the circles with a tablespoon of filling. Gather the scraps together and use a rolling pin to shape them into a disk, taking care not to overwork; wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill for another 30 minutes or so, until firm and cool to the touch, before repeating.

3. Beat the egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush it along the border of the filled circles, then top with another piece of dough and press the edges to seal. Paint more egg wash over the tops, lightly sprinkle with granulated sugar, and cut 3 slits into each with a paring knife. Transfer the pastries to a baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

4. Heat the oven to 400°F and bake the pastries for about 15 minutes, until puffed and golden. Serve warm. These will keep, stored in an airtight container, for a day or two; reheat for a few minutes in a 200°F oven.

CRANBERRY AND GRAND MARNIER PASTRIES Use dried cranberries instead of the raisins and Grand Marnier (or other orange liqueur) instead of the brandy. For a lighter, fruitier flavor, skip the spices and add 1 tablespoon grated orange zest to the finished sauce.

DRIED MANGO AND RUM PASTRIES Substitute chopped dried mango for the raisins and spiced rum for the brandy; simmer until the fruit is tender. Omit the spices and stir 1 teaspoon vanilla extract into the sauce after you finish cooking it.

Almond Rolls

Makes: About 2 dozen slices, depending on size

Time: 30 minutes

With their flaky crust and marzipanlike center, these are known as banket in the Netherlands, where they’re a popular morning treat. Since you bake whole logs that are sliced after baking, they make a fun presentation that serves a crowd and also freezes beautifully—just wrap tightly in plastic wrap and aluminum foil, thaw in the fridge, and then bring to room temperature to serve.

  • 1½ cups almond paste (about 15 ounces)
  • ⅔ cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
  • 3 eggs
  • ¾ teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 pound puff pastry dough, homemade or store-bought, chilled
  • Flour for dusting

1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Use a food processor or an electric mixer to blend together the almond paste, sugar, 2 of the eggs, and the almond extract until incorporated; if your mixer is handheld, crumble the almond paste by hand before adding it to the bowl.

2. Cut the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece into a 12-inch square, then cut the squares in half to make four 12 × 6-inch rectangles. Spread the filling in a thin layer over each piece, leaving a ½-inch border, then, starting from one long side, roll each piece into a log, pinching and tucking the ends under to seal.

3. Place the logs on a baking sheet, seam side down. Beat the remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water, brush it over the tops, and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on a rack for a few minutes before cutting into fat slices.

SHORTCUT RAISIN BUNS Sprinkle 1 cup raisins evenly over the almond filling. Chill the rolled log for about 30 minutes so it’s easier to handle, then cut into 1- to 2-inch slices and top with egg wash and sugar before baking. These will bake faster—around 10 minutes.

MOCHA-ALMOND ROLLS Since these are traditionally eaten with coffee, why not build the coffee flavor into the pastry itself? Blend ¼ cup cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon espresso powder with the other filling ingredients.

ALMOND-CARDAMOM ROLLS Cardamom is near-ubiquitous in Scandinavian desserts: Add ¾ teaspoon freshly ground cardamom to the filling.

Raspberry Napoleon

Makes: 6 pastries

Time: About 1 hour, plus time to set

Imagine a pastry sandwich: layer after layer of puff pastry, cream, jam, and glaze. The alternating rows give plenty of textural contrast and stunning visual effect. As impressive as these tall, creamy confections are, making them is basically just an assembly job.

  • 1 pound puff pastry dough, homemade or store-bought, chilled
  • Flour for dusting
  • ¾ cup raspberry jam, homemade or store-bought
  • ½ recipe Vanilla Pastry Cream, very cold
  • Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

1. Heat the oven to 400°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut the dough in half and roll each half on a lightly floured surface into a 12-inch square. Prick the dough all over with a fork.

2. Put each square on a baking sheet and bake until they’re crisp and golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Prick the dough with a fork once or twice throughout baking so it doesn’t puff up too high, then let cool completely on the sheets.

3. Transfer the pastries to a cutting board and cut them each into nine 4-inch squares, leaving you with 18 pieces. Spread the jam over 12 of these pieces and top the remaining 6 pieces with a thin, even layer of pastry cream (a heaping tablespoon or so).

4. Place one jam-coated square, jam side down, over each of the squares with pastry cream to make a sandwich. Spread more pastry cream over the tops of these squares, then stack them with the remaining jam-topped squares. Top with plenty of confectioners’ sugar and let set in the refrigerator or at room temperature for about an hour before serving.

STRAWBERRY-LEMON NAPOLEON Use strawberry jam instead of raspberry and Lemon Curd instead of pastry cream.

MOCHA NAPOLEON Swap the jam for Chocolate Ganache and use Coffee Pastry Cream garnish with cocoa powder instead of or in addition to the confectioners’ sugar.

NAPOLEON WITH WHIPPED CREAM AND BERRIES It doesn’t get much simpler than this: Top each layer with Whipped Cream and your favorite fresh berries.

PEACH-BOURBON NAPOLEON Make Boozy Pastry Cream with bourbon. Peel and pit 2 or 3 ripe peaches, slice them thinly, and stack them over the pastry cream in lieu of jam.

Puff Pastry Cups (Vols-au-Vent)

Makes: About 6

Time: About 45 minutes, plus time to chill

The perfect all-purpose pastry shells for any filling, sweet or savory, with hollow centers, tall sides that let you see every layer, and little lids that you can use to top off the finished dish or eat separately as a cook’s treat. Although these look elegant, assembling them is pretty simple, and you can make them as big or small as you like. The variation offers a shortcut. See page 492 for a list of filling ideas or try using these as the crust for cooked savory fillings.

  • Flour for dusting
  • 1 pound puff pastry dough, homemade or store-bought, chilled
  • Neutral oil (like grapeseed or corn) for dipping
  • 1 egg

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangle about ⅓ inch thick. Fill a bowl with a shallow layer of oil, then dip a 3-inch round cookie cutter in the oil and let the excess drip off. Cut as many circles as you can from the dough (you should have about 6), pressing the cutter straight down to make the cleanest cut possible. Dip a 2-inch round cookie cutter in the oil and use it to punch out the center of each circle. These rings will be the sides of your cups; reserve and refrigerate the centers to use as “lids” for your cups, if you like. Arrange the rings on the prepared baking sheet and refrigerate.

2. Knead all remaining scraps of dough into one ball; no need to be super-gentle as you normally would with puff pastry, but don’t let the dough get overly warm either—refrigerate the dough if it starts to warm up or look or feel greasy. Lightly flour your surface once again and roll the dough to less than ¼-inch thickness. Dip the 3-inch cutter in a bit more oil and cut as many circles as you have rings of dough; these are the bases of your cups. Prick these circles all over with a fork.

3. Combine the egg with 1 tablespoon water and beat vigorously until it’s very smooth. Brush this all over the bases, then top each base with a ring (keep the tops refrigerated, if you’re using them). Very carefully and lightly brush the egg wash over the tops of the rings, taking care not to let it dribble down the sides. Refrigerate for at least an hour and up to a few days, covered. Or wrap tightly and freeze for no more than a few weeks.

4. Heat the oven to 400°F. Bake the pastries until they’re puffed tall and a nice golden brown; this should take 20 to 25 minutes (a few minutes longer if you’re baking the pastry directly from the freezer) but check after 15. If the pastries start to get dark before they’ve really puffed, tent them with foil. Bake the small circles, too, if you’re using them. Cool the pastries completely, then fill them shortly before serving. These are best the day they’re made, but you can make them ahead and store the unfilled cups in an airtight container for a day or two.

MUFFIN-PAN PUFF PASTRY CUPS These come together in a fraction of the time: Heat the oven to 400°F and grease the cups of a muffin pan. Roll the dough to ¼-inch thickness and cut it into 3-inch squares, then press each square into a muffin cup, folding the corners up the sides, and prick all over with a fork to keep the pastry from puffing up while it bakes. Brush with the egg wash and bake until golden, about 20 minutes.

Gâteau St. Honoré

Makes: One 10-inch cake, enough for 8 to 10 servings

Time: About 2½ hours

This is perhaps the ultimate pastry. With a crown of caramel-coated cream puffs atop a puff pastry base and a luxurious center of pastry cream and whipped cream, this classic French “cake” is the culmination of many basic techniques and recipes, and is fun to eat. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and you can spread the prep over the course of days or even weeks to keep it manageable.

For such a celebratory and elaborate dessert, you should feel free to customize the flavors at will. Variations abound, including one elevated with a hidden layer of cream puff pastry and one flavored with chocolate—see the ideas that follow.

  • Flour for dusting
  • ½ pound puff pastry dough, homemade or store-bought, chilled
  • ½ recipe Cream Puff Pastry
  • 1 recipe Vanilla Pastry Cream
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup Whipped Cream

1. Heat the oven to 400°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the puff pastry into an approximately 10-inch square, then trim the corners to make a 10-inch circle; use a plate, pot lid, or cake pan as a stencil if you like, but don’t obsess over the precise measurements. Transfer this to a prepared baking sheet, prick it all over with a fork, and refrigerate while you prepare the cream puffs.

2. Put the cream puff pastry dough into a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip or a zipper bag with a corner snipped off. Pipe it onto the other baking sheet in mounds about 1 inch wide and a little taller than 1 inch, about 2 inches apart; you should have about 18 of them. Moisten your fingertip and gently smooth out any pointy tips on the puffs.

3. Bake the puff pastry base and the cream puffs at the same time until they’re deep golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes; the cream puffs should be crisp and hollow. Check periodically during baking in case one sheet finishes before the other. Let cool completely on racks. These can also be baked separately; both freeze wonderfully for up to several weeks if wrapped tightly.

4. Use a skewer or chopstick to poke a small hole in the side or bottom of each cream puff. Reserve and refrigerate 1 cup of the pastry cream and put the rest in a pastry bag fitted with a round tip. Pipe some cream into each puff so they’re full but not bursting. Keep the puffs on a parchment-lined baking sheet while you make the caramel.

5. Combine the sugar and ¼ cup water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; stir just until all the sugar is moistened, then leave it alone until it comes to a boil and becomes light amber (about 340°F on a candy thermometer). Remove from the heat.

6. Using tongs or, if you’re comfortable using them, chopsticks, or working very carefully by hand, dip the top of each puff in the caramel; don’t let any pastry cream seep into the pan, and don’t submerge the puffs too much or they’ll be coated in an impenetrable shell. Set the puffs, caramel side down, on the parchment-lined sheet and let harden.

7. Put the puff pastry base on your serving platter and keep it handy. Set the saucepan with the caramel over high heat for 30 seconds or so, just until the caramel is liquid again. Dip the other side of each cream puff in the caramel (again, try not to let the caramel come too high up the sides of each one), then arrange the puffs along the border of the base, using the hot caramel to cement them in place. If you have a few cream puffs left over, that’s okay—consider them a baker’s treat. At this point, you can proceed immediately or refrigerate the cake for up to 6 hours.

8. Fold together the remaining pastry cream and the whipped cream. Spread the mixture in the center of the cake or use a pastry bag fitted with a star tip to pipe it in a spiral that covers the base. Serve within a few hours and keep refrigerated until shortly before it’s time to eat.

TALLER GÂTEAU ST. HONORÉ Increase the cream puff pastry dough to 1 recipe’s worth. After you pipe 18 puffs, pipe the remaining cream puff dough over the unbaked base, first along the outer edge to form a ring, and then spiraling inward until you’ve used it all. Don’t worry about making it pretty. Proceed with the recipe.

CHOCOLATE GÂTEAU ST. HONORÉ Use Chocolate Cream Puff Pastry and Chocolate Pastry Cream. If you like, drizzle cooled Chocolate Ganache Glaze over the cake before serving.

Assembling Gâteau St. Honoré

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STEP 1
Dip the top of each cream puff in the caramel; set them, caramel side down, on a parchment-lined baking sheet for the caramel to harden. Dip the other side of each cream puff in caramel.

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STEP 2
Arrange the cream puffs in a ring around the border of the puff pastry base.

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STEP 3
Pipe or spread the pastry cream over the base.

Yeasted Puff Pastries

Like puff pastry, Croissants, Breton Butter Cakes, and Danish Pastry Dough are made from laminated doughs that bake into dozens of light, buttery layers. Whereas puff pastry gets all its lift from the butter, yeast is added to these doughs for leavening and a more complex flavor. Make sure you follow the timelines in the recipes and don’t let the doughs proof too long or your hard-earned layers may start to blend together.

A couple of other ingredients set these doughs apart. Milk enriches them; sugar activates the yeast and lends a bit of sweetness. In Breton Butter Cakes, sugar is also sprinkled over the dough with each folding to create gooey, caramelized layers—irresistible. And for Danish Pastry Dough, you have the option to add cardamom and vanilla for a distinctive but subtle twist.

If you don’t feel like going to the trouble to make any of these doughs, you can make the finished pastries with puff pastry dough, store-bought or homemade. It won’t produce the classic results, but it’s an excellent all-purpose substitute.

Recipes

Croissants

Flaky Raisin Buns (Pain aux Raisins)

Breton Butter Cakes (Kouign-Amann)

Danish Pastry Dough

Cheese Danish

Croissants

Makes: About 20 croissants

Time: 1½ to 3 days, largely unattended

These are undeniably time-consuming—the whole process takes 2 to 3 days—but the actual hands-on work is easy, and there is nothing like serving fresh-made croissants—made by you—to morning guests. The dough, like puff pastry, freezes beautifully, and since the recipe makes a big batch, you can keep it in reserve to bake fresh whenever you like (freeze either the dough itself or the shaped, unproofed pastries). See the variations that follow or the list on page 499 for more ways to fill them, and refer back to this chart for help with making the timing fit your schedule.

  • 4 cups flour, plus more for dusting
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon instant yeast
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1⅓ cups whole milk, lukewarm
  • 2½ sticks cold butter
  • 1 egg

1. Combine the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a large bowl, then add the milk. Stir everything together by hand until it comes together to form a sticky dough, then turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead just until it’s smooth and pliable; you can also use a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add a little more flour as needed if the dough starts to stick and take care not to overwork. Transfer the dough to a bowl, cover tightly, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

2. Cut the butter into chunks. Put the chunks between 2 large pieces of parchment paper or plastic wrap and pound the butter with a rolling pin. As it starts to soften and come together, continue to roll evenly until you have a rectangle that’s roughly 8 × 4 inches. Trim the ends, put the scraps on top, and roll it out once more to incorporate the scraps. Leave the butter wrapped and refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes.

3. Transfer the chilled dough to a lightly floured surface and punch it down a couple of times to release some of the air. Roll it into a roughly 16 × 8-inch rectangle, rotating as needed to keep the thickness even.

4. Brush any excess flour off the dough, unwrap the butter, and place it in the center of the dough with the long sides running parallel to each other. Fold the short ends of the dough over the butter, then fold in the long sides (see illustrations, page 463). Press gently to seal the edges. If the dough still feels cool, proceed to Step 5; otherwise, wrap it in plastic and chill for at least 30 minutes.

5. Flip the dough over so that the seals are on the bottom, then roll it into a long, thin rectangle, about 24 × 10 inches; make sure you keep the thickness even and the edges as straight as possible. Make a letter-style fold by folding the dough in thirds as you would a business letter, brushing off any excess flour with each layer. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. This process of rolling, folding, and chilling is 1 turn; repeat it 2 more times. (Use your finger to make a dimple in the dough for each completed turn if you have trouble keeping track.) Once you’re finished, refrigerate the dough for at least 6 hours or overnight; you can also freeze it at this point, then thaw completely in the fridge before proceeding.

6. When you’re ready to bake, cut the dough in half crosswise; wrap one half and refrigerate it while you work with the other. Lightly flour a work surface and roll the first dough half into a rectangle that measures roughly 25 × 10 inches. If it ever starts to feel oily or resists rolling, cover and refrigerate it for 10 minutes or so, just until it cools down, before continuing (fold it first if it won’t fit in the fridge, but don’t worry about precision). Trim the short ends from the long rectangle so they’re straight, but try to cut off as little dough as possible.

7. Measuring lengthwise, cut straight across the dough every 5 inches or so to make five 10 × 5-inch rectangles, then cut each rectangle in half diagonally into 2 long, narrow triangles (see illustrations, page 482). Starting with the short side of the triangle, roll the dough toward the point to shape the croissants. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and arrange the croissants a few inches apart, then repeat Steps 6 and 7 with the other half of the dough. Leave the sheets in a warm place and let the croissants rise for 1 to 2 hours, until they’ve nearly doubled in size. You can wrap the shaped dough tightly and freeze it right away, before it rises; frozen croissants should be completely thawed in the fridge and then allowed to rise at room temperature before baking.

8. Heat the oven to 400°F. Beat the egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush it over the top of each croissant. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through. Eat within a day; leftovers can be reheated in a 200°F oven for 10 minutes.

QUICKER CROISSANT DOUGH No, there’s no getting around the lamination process, but this recipe, like Shortcut Puff Pastry, spares you the steps of making dough and butter separately and then folding them together: Cut the butter into pieces and stick them in the freezer. Combine the dry ingredients. Before you add the milk, add the butter pieces to the flour mixture, then use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour until it’s broken down to the size of peas. (Alternatively, pulse the mixture in a food processor, but be careful not to overprocess.) Add the milk, then mix and knead as directed, until eventually you have a smooth and pliable dough, then wrap the dough loosely in plastic wrap, form it into a rectangle, and refrigerate for 2 hours or until the dough is firm. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a long rectangle, then fold as directed in Step 5. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes, then repeat this process of rolling and folding 2 more times, refrigerating as needed if the butter starts to get too warm and the dough becomes greasy. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours or overnight. Proceed with Step 6.

PUFF PASTRY CROISSANTS Technically, they’re not really croissants because they’re unyeasted, which saves time, but they’re still unbelievably good; you can use this method for any of the variations too: Use Real Puff Pastry or Shortcut Puff Pastry in place of the dough; roll and cut as directed, starting with Step 6.

ALMOND CROISSANTS Spoon about 1 tablespoon Frangipane onto the short side of each dough triangle, leaving a 1-inch border. Starting from that side, roll the dough around the filling. After brushing the croissants with egg wash, sprinkle each with about 2 teaspoons sliced almonds.

PAIN AU CHOCOLAT A classic for a reason: Chop 4 ounces dark chocolate and spoon 1 tablespoon onto the short side of each dough triangle, leaving about a 1-inch border. Roll the dough around the chocolate and proceed with the recipe. To make the traditional rectangular shape, roll each dough half into a 25 × 10-inch rectangle as directed in Step 6, then cut the dough into 5-inch squares. Put the chocolate in the center. Fold one side over the chocolate, then fold the other side over the first; use egg wash to seal. Let rise as directed, then bake seam side down so the pastries don’t open up.

HAM AND CHEESE CROISSANTS Cut about 8 ounces ham into thin slices about 3 inches long and grate 4 ounces Swiss, Gruyère, or cheddar cheese to make about 1 cup. Follow the preceding variation, adding the cheese as you would the chocolate and topping it with a slice or two of ham.

JAM CROISSANTS Spread 2 teaspoons jam (raspberry is a child pleaser) over each dough triangle, leaving a bit of space around the edges, before rolling them up.

Shaping Croissants

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STEP 1
Roll out half the dough into a rectangle that measures roughly 25 × 10 inches. Cut the dough every 5 inches or so to make five 10 × 5-inch rectangles, then cut each rectangle in half diagonally into 2 long, narrow triangles.

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STEP 2
Starting at the short side, roll up each triangle.

Flaky Raisin Buns (Pain aux Raisins)

Makes: About 20

Time: About 1 hour, plus time to proof

Beloved in France, this croissant cousin contains a creamy, nutty filling and is studded with raisins. You can also make it—or any of its variations—with puff pastry (for homemade) or, for a softer and eggier bun, Brioche.

  • 1 cup raisins
  • ½ recipe Frangipane
  • Flour for dusting
  • ½ recipe dough for Croissants
  • 1 egg

1. Fill a small saucepan with water and bring it to a boil. Put the raisins in a heatproof bowl, then cover them with the boiling water and let soak while you make the frangipane. Drain the raisins and press out excess water.

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangle about 24 × 10 inches; loosely wrap it and refrigerate for 10 minutes or so if it gets too warm or oily while you roll it out.

3. Spread the frangipane in a thin layer to completely coat the dough, then sprinkle the raisins evenly over the frangipane. Starting with one of the long sides, roll the dough tightly into a log. Place the log on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and cover it loosely (you may have to drape the log diagonally to fit); refrigerate for about 30 minutes or until the log is cold and slightly firm before slicing and baking.

4. Meanwhile, line another baking sheet with parchment paper. (If you have only one baking sheet, use the parchment to transfer the log off the sheet onto your work surface.) Cut the log into 1-inch slices and place the rounds about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Refrigerate any remaining dough if the pastries won’t all fit comfortably. Tuck the tail of each pastry underneath it to seal. Leave in a warm place to rise until the pastries puff up and almost double in size, 2 to 3 hours.

5. Heat the oven to 400°F. Beat the egg in a bowl with 1 tablespoon water and brush the egg wash over the top of each pastry. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve within a day or two.

FLAKY CINNAMON BUNS Instead of using the frangipane, soften 4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter and spread it all over the dough. Combine ¾ cup light brown sugar with 2 tablespoons cinnamon and sprinkle the mixture evenly over the butter; omit the raisins. Proceed with the recipe, then frost with Cream Cheese Frosting or Vanilla Glaze.

FLAKY PISTACHIO-CARDAMOM BUNS A fabulous but unexpected flavor combination: Follow the preceding variation, using ¼ cup honey in place of the butter and 1 tablespoon cardamom in place of the cinnamon. Finely chop 1 cup pistachios and scatter them over the honey layer.

FLAKY PECAN STICKY BUNS A hybrid of two breakfast knockouts: Omit the frangipane. Combine ¾ cup Caramel Sauce with 2 tablespoons cinnamon; brush this over the rolled-out dough. Instead of raisins, top with 1 cup finely chopped toasted pecans.

FLAKY DATE-NUT BUNS Dates add a subtle sweetness that’s not too rich with the buttery dough: Omit the frangipane. Swap 1 cup pitted dates for the raisins; once they’re drained, blitz them in a food processor with 1 tablespoon cinnamon, adding water 1 tablespoon at a time if needed until you have a loose paste. Spread this over the dough, then scatter on 1 cup finely chopped walnuts.

Breton Butter Cakes (Kouign-Amann)

Makes: 12 pastries

Time: About 3 hours

Kouign-Amann (pronounced KWEEN ah-MAHN), which tastes like a caramelized croissant, hails from Brittany, where top-notch salted butter is made. And that’s what this cake is all about: salted butter (and sugar, which melts into soft, sweet caramel between the pastry’s layers). Use superfine sugar or make your own to avoid a gritty texture.

  • 2¼ cups flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1 tablespoon instant yeast
  • ½ cup warm water
  • 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) salted butter, chilled, plus more for greasing
  • 1 cup superfine sugar, plus more for dusting

1. Combine the flour, yeast, and warm water in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Use a dough hook or your hands to knead the dough until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes for the mixer or 10 minutes by hand. If the mixture is shaggy and doesn’t come together easily, you may need to add a few drops of room-temperature water, up to ¼ cup, to get a smooth ball. Grease a separate large bowl with butter and add the dough; cover with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Place it in the warmest spot of the house and let rise until about double in size, about 1 hour. Transfer the dough to the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up to several hours.

2. Reserve 2 tablespoons butter and cut the rest into the tiniest pieces you can manage. Spread them out on a flat plate and place in the freezer until you’re ready to use.

3. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and use a rolling pin to shape it into a large rectangle, about 24 × 8 inches. Scatter the cold butter evenly over the middle of the dough, leaving a border uncovered all around. Sprinkle with ¼ cup of the sugar and press it lightly into the dough.

4. Fold the right side of the dough so that its edge meets the center, then fold the left side to the right, as you would a letter (see illustration, page 463). Seal the edges to keep the butter in place, then quickly roll the dough out into a rectangle again. Fold the dough like a letter once more, then place it on a lightly floured baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. This is 1 turn; repeat the process 2 more times, sprinkling on ¼ cup sugar each time before you fold. Use your finger to make an indentation in the dough for each completed turn if you’re worried you’ll lose track.

5. Grease a muffin tin generously with butter and place it on a baking sheet (this will protect the inside of your oven from any runaway molten caramel). Sprinkle a surface with sugar. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and place it on the sugar-covered surface. Roll it into a rectangle again and use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 12 equal squares.

6. Fold the edges of each square toward each other to form little cups and place each in the muffin tin. Set them aside to rise, about 30 minutes, or until puffy. Heat the oven to 415°F. Melt the reserved 2 tablespoons butter.

7. Drizzle the pastries with the melted butter and sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup sugar over them. Place the baking sheet with the muffin tin in the oven and immediately lower the temperature to 375°F. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the cakes are a deep caramel color. Let the cakes cool slightly in the pan, only about 5 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack. If you leave them in the pan for too long, they will start to stick. These are best enjoyed immediately, when warm.

Shaping Breton Butter Cakes

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STEP 1
Fold the edges of each dough square to form little cups.

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STEP 2
Place each pastry in the muffin tin.

CINNAMON-SUGAR KOUIGN-AMANN Spice up the classic recipe: Stir 2 teaspoons cinnamon into the sugar.

Danish Pastry Dough

Makes: About 3 pounds

Time: 1½ hours, plus time to chill

The first time you make Danish, you’ll be amazed that they came out of your own kitchen. The dough is similar to croissant dough but richer and sweeter; use it as the basis for Cheese Danish and many other flaky breakfast treats. Cardamom is distinctive, and used in many Scandinavian pastries.

  • 4¼ cups flour, plus more for dusting
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon instant yeast
  • 1½ teaspoons cardamom (optional)
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1⅓ cups lukewarm milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 sticks cold butter

1. Whisk together the flour, sugar, yeast, cardamom, and salt. Lightly beat the egg and add it to the flour mixture along with the milk and vanilla. Stir until the dough comes together but is still pretty sticky; continue to knead by hand on a lightly floured surface or in a stand mixer with the dough hook just until the dough is smooth and elastic. Sprinkle more flour over the dough and your work surface as needed if it becomes sticky, but take care not to overwork the dough. Transfer the dough to a bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

2. Cut the butter into chunks and place between 2 large pieces of parchment paper or plastic wrap. Use a rolling pin to pound the butter into a roughly 8-inch square. Trim the sides, put the scraps on top, and roll out once more until it’s evenly thick. If at any point the butter starts to get oily, transfer it to the fridge for 10 minutes or so, until it firms back up but is still pliable. Cover the finished square with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes while you prepare the dough.

3. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangle that’s about 18 × 12 inches. Cut the butter in half so you have two 4 × 8-inch rectangles; place one in the center of the dough so its 4-inch side is parallel to the dough’s 18-inch side (see illustrations below). Fold one side of the dough over the butter, brushing off excess flour as you work; top with the other rectangle of butter, then fold the other side of dough over the top. Gently roll to help seal the edges. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

4. Roll the chilled dough into a long, thin rectangle, about 24 × 12 inches; try to maintain an even thickness and keep the edges as straight as possible. Fold the dough in thirds as you would a letter. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes. This process constitutes 1 turn; repeat it 3 more times. If you can’t remember how many you’ve completed, make a thumbprint in the dough after each turn. Wrap the dough and refrigerate it for at least 6 hours or up to 3 days before using. You can wrap tightly and freeze for 2 months; thaw completely in the fridge before proceeding.

Making Danish Dough

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STEP 1
Roll the dough into a rectangle, about 18 × 12 inches; set one half of the butter in the center.

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STEP 2
Fold one side of the dough over the butter.

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STEP 3
Set the second rectangle of butter on top.

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STEP 4
Then fold the other side of the dough over the top.

Cheese Danish

Makes: About 3 dozen pastries

Time: 1 hour, plus time to rise

If I had to pick a favorite Danish, it would be this one, and its ubiquity suggests that I’m not alone. Its tangy, creamy filling is nearly impossible to resist. The sweeter, softer Danish Pastry Dough is its best match, but frozen or homemade puff pastry—or croissant dough, if you happen to have it on hand—are both excellent too. And don’t stop at cheese: See other filling ideas following, all incomparably better than what’s typically found in the diner case.

  • ¼ cup flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1 recipe Danish Pastry Dough
  • 1½ cups (12 ounces) cream cheese, softened
  • ½ cup ricotta cheese or sour cream, drained if necessary
  • ⅔ cup sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • Vanilla Glaze (optional)

1. Lightly dust a surface with flour. Take a piece of dough a little bigger than a golf ball and roll it into a 3- to 3½-inch round, then use your fingers to shape it gently so its edges are slightly thicker than the center, creating a shallow well for the filling. Repeat with all the dough, sprinkling more flour onto the surface as needed. If the dough becomes sticky, return it to the refrigerator to chill until it’s easy to handle again. Arrange the rounds about 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours.

2. While the dough rises, make the filling. Beat together the cream cheese, ricotta, sugar, and egg yolks until creamy, then add the flour, zest, vanilla, and salt, mixing just until smooth. Chill for at least 30 minutes and up to a day.

3. Heat the oven to 400°F. Beat the egg with a tablespoon of water. Gently press down on the shallow well you made in each piece of dough to reflatten it a bit, then fill with a heaping tablespoon of filling. Brush the edges of each pastry with egg wash.

4. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden brown, then transfer to a rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature; if you like, drizzle with Vanilla Glaze.

BLUEBERRY-CHEESE DANISH Spoon ½ cup blueberry jam into the filling and swirl it around just until it is “marbled”—it should be dispersed, but the mixture shouldn’t be uniform. Fill the pastries, then top with a few fresh blueberries before baking.

CHOCOLATE-MASCARPONE DANISH Mascarpone is the creamy cheese used for tiramisu; here it’s luxurious enough to serve as dessert: Use only 1 cup cream cheese and add 1 cup mascarpone in place of the ricotta. Chop 4 ounces dark chocolate and fold it into the filling. Garnish the pastries with cocoa powder instead of using the Vanilla Glaze.

COCONUT-LIME DANISH The tropical flavors here are unexpected, rich, and light: Swap the ricotta for full-fat coconut milk and use lime zest instead of lemon. Stir ½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut into the finished filling.

ALMOND-ORANGE DANISH Use orange for the citrus zest and add ½ teaspoon almond extract when you add the vanilla. Sprinkle sliced almonds over the pastries after brushing them with egg wash.

BEAR CLAWS So called because the slits make these pastries look (sort of) like paws; they also add some extra crispiness: Use a food processor or electric mixer to blend together 1½ cups almond paste, ⅔ cup sugar, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and ¾ teaspoon almond extract. Rather than shape individual pieces of dough, divide it into 4 equal pieces and roll each into a 12 × 6-inch rectangle, then spread the filling in a thin layer over each, leaving a ½-inch border. Fold in half lengthwise, cut into 4-inch-long pastries, and cut 4 evenly spaced ½-inch incisions down the side of each piece (see illustrations). Slightly curve the edges and arrange all the pastries on parchment-lined sheets. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for about 1 hour. Proceed with the recipe and top the cooled pastries with Vanilla Glaze and sliced toasted almonds.

Making Bear Claws

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STEP 1
Cut each filled dough piece into three 4-inch-long pastries.

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STEP 2
Cut 4 evenly spaced ½-inch incisions down the side of each piece and slightly curve the edges to look like paws.

The Basics of Phyllo and Strudels

Phyllo is a simple pastry made of ultra-thin sheets of dough that bake into dozens of golden, ethereal layers. (Phyllo is “leaf” in Greek.) You can buy it fresh in Greek, Turkish, and other Mediterranean markets and frozen pretty much everywhere. Whole wheat versions are increasingly available; they turn darker brown and have a subtle nutty flavor but become just as flaky and crisp.

Commercial phyllo dough and homemade phyllo dough behave quite differently. Making it from scratch takes patience and realistic expectations: it will never be as thin as commercial varieties, so your results will be delicious but not the same. Because commercial phyllo is so much lighter than even the thinnest homemade versions, there’s no perfect rule of thumb for substituting them. Essentially, you’ve got to balance weight with layers. If you use one sheet of homemade for every sheet of commercial, the results will be heavy with a dough that eclipses the filling; on the other hand, using ½ pound of homemade in place of the same amount of commercial won’t leave you with many layers at all. In general, let 1 sheet of homemade phyllo replace every 2 sheets of store-bought. (Baklava, is the outlier, since it has so many layers.)

Since it makes a crisp, layered crust, phyllo is a great substitute for puff pastry. During the layering phase, it’s essential to brush each sheet with melted fat (butter for desserts; oil for savories). This is what allows the sheets to separate during baking and become so flaky. Taking shortcuts with the butter or oil will yield a flat, raw-looking pastry with little or no flavor. Go buttery or go home.

Use fillings that are flavorful—almost overseasoned, because the pastry itself is bland—but not too moist or the phyllo will become soggy. Phyllo can be used for sweet or savory dishes, according to the filling.

Strudel is the German and Eastern European equivalent of phyllo. The dough is much more supple, which is why bread flour, with its high elasticity, is ideal. Since it must be rolled out in one impossibly thin layer, you can’t really make the from-scratch version in advance, but you can substitute commercial phyllo with excellent and near-identical results. (Commercial strudel dough isn’t available.)

Phyllo dough keeps in the fridge for up to a week and in the freezer for about a year. Defrost the frozen dough in the refrigerator 24 hours before you plan to use it (thawing at room temperature makes the sheets stick together). Once it’s thawed, unroll the sheets into one layer and take what you need; carefully reroll, wrap tightly, and freeze any extras. Because phyllo dries out quickly, work with one sheet at a time, keeping the others covered with a damp towel. Allow lots of work space and have a pizza cutter handy if you own one. Don’t stress over mistakes; just patch them with scraps of dough and a bit of butter or oil as you would any other dough.

Recipes

Phyllo Dough

Baklava

Phyllo Fruit Pastries

Anything-Filled Phyllo Cups

Pear Croustade

Strudel Dough

Traditional Apple Strudel

Shortcut Apple Strudel

Bread Pudding Strudel

Phyllo Dough

Makes: About 12 sheets (2 pounds)

Time: About 1¼ hours, plus time to rest

When you make your own phyllo, the result is inevitably thicker and not quite as flaky as the store-bought version, but it’s equally delicious and brings added satisfaction. (See The Basics of Phyllo, for instructions on how to swap one for the other.) Don’t drive yourself crazy with the rolling—you will still get wonderful crispness, which makes an excellent all-purpose crust and gives pastries like Baklava their distinct crunch. There’s no limit to potential filling options; see this list for ideas.

  • 3½-4½ cups flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup olive oil, plus more for greasing
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or fresh lemon juice

1. Combine 3¼ cups of the flour and the salt in a large bowl, then add the oil, vinegar, and 1¼ cups lukewarm water and start kneading. If you’re using a stand mixer with the dough hook, start on low speed and increase the speed to medium after 2 or 3 minutes; if you’re working by hand, start kneading in the bowl, then empty it onto a lightly floured surface once it starts to come together. Keep kneading for about 10 minutes (longer if you’re kneading by hand), adding more flour as needed, ¼ cup at a time, until the dough is very smooth, almost satiny, and elastic (if you press a finger into the dough, it should spring back).

2. Wipe a thin layer of oil to coat the inside of a clean bowl. Add the dough, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let rest at room temperature for 1 hour; you can also press plastic onto the dough’s surface and refrigerate it for up to a week, then bring it back to room temperature before unwrapping and using.

3. Sprinkle more flour over the work surface and grab a handful of dough about the size of a plum; keep the remainder in a tightly wrapped bowl so it stays moist. Alternatively, divide all the dough into little balls (you should have about 12) in advance, place them back in the bowl, and cover tightly. Using quick, short strokes, start rolling it out, focusing your pressure on the center of the dough so it spreads outward and rotating it 90 degrees after every few passes to keep an even thickness. A rolling pin works well, but a long, thin wooden dowel is especially helpful for getting the dough super-thin. Keep rolling until the dough starts to become transparent—the idea is to get the dough as thin as you possibly can.

4. Lightly flour a baking sheet. Pick up the sheet of dough so it rests on the backs of your hands; splay your fingers to help support the dough and gently work your hands outward in a circular motion to keep stretching it until it’s translucent and tissuelike, at least 18 inches in diameter (as you would for strudel dough, although the dimensions will be different; see illustration, page 494). A few tears in the dough are normal—just patch any holes by pulling it over itself and sealing with a bit of water. Rest the dough on the prepared baking sheet, dust it with a bit of flour, and loosely cover it with a cloth or plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.

5. Repeat this process until you’ve used all the dough, layering each piece over the others with a bit of flour sprinkled in between. Use right away or wrap tightly and freeze, with a sheet of wax paper between each sheet of dough, for up to a few months.

Baklava

Makes: 4 dozen pieces

Time: About 1½ hours

Buttery and nutty, sticky-sweet and crunchy, this is one of the most wonderful, foolproof, impressive, and delicious desserts on the planet, and it feeds a crowd.

Depending on your phyllo, you may have more or fewer sheets than the recipe uses. Don’t worry about precision, but plan to use about one-third of your total sheets for the bottom layer, one-third to stack alternately with the nuts in the center, and one-third to top it all off. For homemade Phyllo Dough, this means 4 sheets on the bottom, 1 sheet between layers of nuts, and 4 sheets as the lid.

  • 2 sticks butter, melted
  • 1 pound (about 4 cups) walnuts
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 18 sheets store-bought phyllo dough, about 14 × 10 inches, thawed if frozen, or 1 recipe Phyllo Dough
  • 1½ cups sugar
  • ½ cup honey
  • 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1. Heat the oven to 350°F and brush the bottom of a 13 × 9-inch baking dish with some of the melted butter. Finely chop the nuts, by hand or in a food processor, and combine them with the cinnamon.

2. Unfold the phyllo and cut it into roughly 14 × 10-inch pieces; no need to be exact, and you can tile together scraps or smaller sheets as you go to make a single layer; just be sure the phyllo covers the bottom of the baking dish and inches up the sides a little. Keep the remaining phyllo under a damp towel while you work so it doesn’t dry out.

3. Lay 2 layers of phyllo inside the prepared baking dish. Tuck the excess dough up along the sides; this will keep the nuts from burning as the baklava bakes. Brush butter all over the surface of the dough and repeat twice to form the base layer.

4. Sprinkle 1 cup of the nut mixture in a single, even layer over the buttered phyllo. Top with 2 sheets of phyllo, tuck up along the sides, and brush with butter. Repeat 3 times, until you’ve used all the nuts and the topmost layer is a sheet of buttered phyllo. Stack 2 sheets of phyllo over this, brush with butter, and top with 2 last sheets of phyllo. Brush generously with butter. At this point you can bake right away or cover and refrigerate for up to 1 week.

5. To bake, score the top of the baklava with a sharp knife, first lengthwise into 4 sections, then widthwise into 6 sections, and finally diagonally across the scored rectangles, to make 48 triangles (see illustration, page 490). Bake until golden brown, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

6. While the baklava bakes, combine the sugar, honey, and lemon juice in a saucepan with 1 cup water and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar and set aside to cool completely. (You can make this hours, days, even weeks in advance and keep refrigerated until you’re ready to use.)

7. When the baklava is still hot, cut through your score marks with a sharp, thin-bladed knife. Pour the syrup all over, tilting the pan so it really spreads. Cool to room temperature, then serve. Baklava keeps well in an airtight container at room temperature for several days.

WALNUT PHYLLO CIGARS Easier and faster: Instead of a baking dish, assemble these on a cutting board. Start with 2 sheets of phyllo, brush with butter, then repeat twice. Spread a heaping cup of nuts in a mound along the length of the dough, leaving a 1-inch border; tuck in the sides and roll into a log. Repeat this process to make 2 more logs. Brush each with butter and bake until golden, then cut into 2- to 3-inch pieces before liberally coating with syrup.

MAPLE-PECAN BAKLAVA Swap pecans for the walnuts. Use maple syrup and orange juice in place of the honey and lemon; add 1 tablespoon grated orange zest to the syrup once it’s off the heat.

PISTACHIO-CARDAMOM BAKLAVA These have an elegant, delicate, and unusual flavor: Use pistachios and ¾ teaspoon cardamom for the nut filling. Add 1 tablespoon rose water to the syrup.

DATE-NUT BAKLAVA Dates add another layer of texture: Use only 3 cups walnuts (about 12 ounces) and chop in a food processor with 1 cup pitted dates until the mixture is thoroughly combined but not uniform.

BAKLAVA CUPS A shortcut with all the same great flavors and textures: Prepare the walnut-cinnamon mixture and the honey syrup. Before baking Anything-Filled Phyllo Cups, fill each with a bit of the nut mixture and bake as directed, covering the pan with foil if the nuts start to brown too quickly. Drizzle with the syrup and cool completely. You’ll have a little more filling than you need for 1 recipe of phyllo cups, so plan to make extra, or use the extra filling as a topping for ice cream or yogurt.

Scoring Baklava

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Score the top of the baklava with a sharp knife, first lengthwise into 4 sections, then widthwise into 6 sections, and finally diagonally across the scored rectangles, to make 48 triangles.

5 Ways to Customize Baklava

  • Use different nuts—try hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios, pecans, or even peanuts.
  • Add 2 teaspoons orange blossom water or rose water to the syrup for a mildly floral taste.
  • Add 1 teaspoon ginger, ½ teaspoon cardamom, or ¼ teaspoon nutmeg instead of or in addition to the cinnamon.
  • Add 1 tablespoon grated citrus zest to the syrup.
  • Chop the nuts with 1 cup dried fruit—like raisins, cranberries, cherries, or apricots—or 4 ounces dark chocolate.

Phyllo Fruit Pastries

Makes: About 15 pastries

Time: 30 minutes

Like puff pastry, phyllo has endless uses; just change its filling and shape to make something new. These squares are open-faced for an elegant and simple pastry you can serve as breakfast, dessert, or an appetizer. For the filling, use any fruit you like—apples, pears, plums, cherries, berries, oranges, pineapple, and mango are all delicious—or try one of the richer or savory variations.

  • 4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter, melted
  • 8 sheets (about 4 ounces) store-bought phyllo dough, about 14 × 10 inches, thawed if frozen, or 4 sheets (⅓ recipe) Phyllo Dough
  • About 6 peaches (2 pounds), halved, pitted, and thinly sliced
  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • Fresh mint leaves for garnish (optional)

1. Heat the oven to 400°F and wipe a bit of the melted butter in a thin layer over a baking sheet. Put a damp towel over the stack of phyllo dough so it doesn’t dry out while you work.

2. Put a sheet of phyllo on the prepared sheet and brush butter evenly over it, then top with another piece of phyllo and repeat until all the dough is buttered and stacked. Cut into 3-inch squares (or leave whole for a large galette) and top each with a layer of overlapping peach slices. Lightly sprinkle the sugar over the fruit, about 1 teaspoon per square.

3. Bake until the crust is crisp and golden and the fruit is lightly caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. If you substitute firmer fruit such as apples, it will take another 5 to 10 minutes to become tender; tent the pastry with foil if it starts to get too brown. Cool for a few minutes and serve warm or at room temperature. A garnish of chopped fresh mint is fantastic but not necessary.

BRULÉED FRUIT PASTRIES A burned sugar topping lends these a little complexity: Hold off on sprinkling sugar over the fruit and bake until the phyllo is lightly golden, about 10 minutes. Add the sugar, turn on the broiler, and broil for about 2 minutes or until the sugar is nicely browned.

CHOCOLATE PHYLLO PASTRIES Omit the fruit and sugar. Bake the buttered phyllo until it’s golden; meanwhile, finely chop 6 ounces dark chocolate. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon chocolate over each pastry as soon as they’re out of the oven and still quite hot; after a minute, when the chocolate has melted, spread it over the phyllo in an even layer. If you like, finish with a pinch of coarse salt.

CARAMEL-COCONUT PHYLLO PASTRIES For a little extra richness, top the baked phyllo with finely chopped chocolate as in the preceding variation before adding the coconut: Brush the topmost layer of phyllo with Caramel Sauce rather than melted butter; omit the fruit and sugar. Bake as directed, then sprinkle with shredded unsweetened coconut. Serve as is or broil for a minute or two until the coconut is toasted.

CHEESE-AND-HERB PHYLLO PASTRIES Swap 2 cups crumbled feta, goat cheese, or blue cheese for the fruit and sugar and sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons over each square. Garnish the finished pastries with minced fresh rosemary, thyme, and/or parsley.

Anything-Filled Phyllo Cups

Makes: 1 dozen

Time: 20 minutes

These are pressed into muffin tins to make individual tartlets that double as edible bowls. Like Phyllo Fruit Pastries, they can be filled with just about anything, savory or sweet—see this list for some inspiration.

  • 4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter, melted
  • 6 sheets store-bought phyllo dough, about 14 × 10 inches, thawed if frozen, or 3 sheets (¼ recipe) Phyllo Dough
  • 6 tablespoons sugar (optional)

1. Heat the oven to 400°F and brush a thin layer of the melted butter in the cups of a standard muffin pan. Keep the phyllo in a stack and covered with a damp towel until you’re ready to use each sheet.

2. Brush one sheet of phyllo with the melted butter; if you’re using a sweet filling and adding sugar, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of it over the butter. Top with another sheet and repeat until all 6 sheets are stacked together; brush the top with more butter. Cut into 12 equal squares (they should be about 4 inches) and gently press each into a muffin cup, letting the corners flare out.

3. Bake until golden, 8 to 10 minutes; watch carefully so they don’t burn. Let cool completely in the pan before removing gently and filling.

Pear Croustade

Makes: One 9-inch tart

Time: 1 hour

This is a wonderful and unusual way to showcase fruit: layers of flaky phyllo with a caramelized, lightly boozy filling, a refreshing update to more traditional tarts. The crisp, torn crust makes you want to dive in.

  • 8 sheets (about 4 ounces) store-bought phyllo dough, about 14 × 10 inches, thawed if frozen, or 4 sheets (⅓ recipe) Phyllo Dough
  • 5 or 6 pears (2 pounds)
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, plus more for greasing
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ⅓ cup brandy
  • ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves (optional)
  • ½ teaspoon ginger (optional)
  • Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

1. Heat the oven to 400°F and butter a 9-inch springform pan. Keep the phyllo stacked and covered with a damp towel while you make the filling.

2. Peel, core, and chop the pears. Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, then add the pears, ½ cup of the granulated sugar, and the salt. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until the pears start to soften, then carefully add the brandy, turn the heat to high, and use a long match or lighter to ignite by placing the flame inside the outer edge of the pan. Once the flame subsides, return the heat to medium and continue to cook until the liquid has reduced to a syrup.

3. Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons butter. Drape one piece of phyllo across the springform pan and gently press it into the corners and up the sides, letting the ends hang over the sides. Brush a thin layer of butter over the sheet of phyllo, painting the phyllo up the sides and into the corners of the pan so it sticks, then sprinkle it all over with 2 teaspoons granulated sugar. Rotate the pan about 90 degrees and drape the next piece of phyllo over the first, bisecting it perpendicularly. Dust with granulated sugar and continue with all but one sheet of the phyllo, saving one for the end.

4. Let the pear mixture cool slightly, add the spices if you're using them, then spread the mixture in the pan. Fold the overhanging pieces of phyllo over the filling; tear some pieces, using the remaining piece of phyllo if needed, and sprinkle them to make a craggy, rustic top crust that completely covers the filling. Drizzle any remaining butter over the phyllo and bake until the crust is crisp, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool completely before removing the side of the springform pan. Serve within a day, dusted with confectioners’ sugar.

APPLE-BOURBON CROUSTADE Use apples instead of pears and bourbon instead of brandy; add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to the filling once it’s finished cooking.

20 Fillings for Puff Pastry Cups and Phyllo Cups

The possibilities for these are endless, and they’re a great make-ahead candidate—just bake the cups and prepare any no-cook or precooked filling, then assemble right before serving. They also make attractive edible containers for entertaining. No matter what you use, take care not to overfill or they could fall apart; aim for a total of about ¼ cup filling per cup.

  • Whipped Cream and chopped fresh fruit or Fruit Compote
  • Vanilla Pastry Cream and chopped fresh fruit
  • Yogurt (preferably Greek) with honey and chopped toasted nuts
  • Mascarpone cheese, chopped strawberries, and Balsamic Syrup
  • Any flavor ice cream, frozen yogurt, or sorbet
  • Chocolate Mousse or Lemon Mousse
  • Raspberry Fool
  • Tiramisu
  • Baklava filling
  • Chocolate Ganache and Coffee Whipped Cream
  • Peanut butter and Fruit Jam
  • Caramel Sauce and chopped pecans
  • Marshmallow Sauce, chopped chocolate, and crushed graham crackers
  • Lemon Curd and blueberries
  • Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread and chopped toasted hazelnuts
  • Almond Pastry Cream with sliced toasted almonds
  • Apple Butter and chopped toasted walnuts
  • Ricotta cheese (strained if necessary) with blanched peas, asparagus, and grated lemon zest
  • Cooked, drained greens (like spinach or kale) with grated Parmesan or Gruyère cheese
  • Whipped goat cheese and caramelized onions with minced fresh thyme

Strudel Dough

Makes: About 1 pound, enough for 1 large strudel

Time: About 45 minutes, plus time to rest

Like Phyllo Dough, this requires a little elbow grease; most strudel recipes call for storebought phyllo or puff pastry, which both work interchangeably with this dough for any strudel recipe. But the homemade version, as always, has superior flavor and texture, and it’s fun to stretch by hand. By the time you’re done, it should be thin enough that you could read the newspaper through it. Don’t skip the bread flour or the vinegar; both are key to making a stretchy but light dough.

  • 3 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil, plus more for greasing
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • ½ teaspoon salt

1. Combine the flour, oil, vinegar, and salt in a large bowl with ⅔ cup lukewarm water. Knead by hand or in a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook until the dough comes together and is smooth and pliable; this should take about 10 minutes (longer if you’re kneading by hand). If you are kneading by hand, feel free to turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface once it comes together to continue kneading. Don’t worry about overmixing—you want to really work this dough. Add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, if the dough is too dry.

2. Wipe the inside of a clean bowl with a thin layer of oil and add the dough. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for an hour, during which time you can prepare the strudel filling; you can also refrigerate it overnight and bring it back to room temperature before rolling.

3. Tear a big enough piece of parchment paper to cover a large surface (the kitchen table is ideal, but if that’s not an option, just use the biggest clean surface you can). Tack it down with paperweights or other heavy objects and put a tablecloth or large, smooth (not terry cloth) dish towel over the parchment. Both of these steps seem strange, but don’t skip them; as the dough gets thinner and more delicate, you’ll use the cloth to move it, and the parchment makes it easy to then transfer the rolled strudel to a baking sheet.

4. Lightly sprinkle flour all over the cloth. Put the dough on the cloth and roll it into a rectangle, working from the center outward. Use the cloth to rotate the dough on your work surface as needed to maintain an even thickness and dust flour to prevent it from sticking.

5. Once the dough is about 1/16 inch thick and you can start to see through it, let it rest for a couple of minutes, then carefully shimmy your hands under the dough so it rests on the back of your hands and work your hands outward to gently pull the dough (see illustration). Move up and down the rectangle, stretching it more and more; ignore any tears. When the dough is translucent and the rectangle measures at least 30 × 20 inches, trim the edges and fill right away.

Shredded Phyllo Topping

It may as well be a universal human truth: A crunchy, golden crust is impossible to resist. Phyllo is ideal for the job since it transforms into a rumpled, ethereal topping that beautifully complements almost any filling. Use it anywhere you’d add streusel or a top crust or just throw it atop any baked custard or fruit dish as a garnish. Bear in mind that super-thin phyllo is more prone to soak up excess moisture than flour-based crumb toppings, so it works better with thicker fillings. Make sure you have enough that there’s a good bit of volume, which makes for plenty of textural contrast. To make it, simply cut sheets of phyllo into thin strands (or reserve the inevitable shards of dough you’ll have if you use phyllo in a separate recipe).

Drizzle and toss with just enough melted butter to coat lightly; start with a little and add more butter if necessary. Sprinkle the shards generously over dishes; it will take 25 to 30 minutes to crisp up in a 400°F oven, so if your recipe’s filling has a longer bake time, add the topping partway through baking. Keep an eye on it as it bakes; if it starts to brown too quickly, tent aluminum foil over the whole thing.

Stretching Strudel Dough

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Set up a large piece of parchment and a cloth as described in the recipe on page 493. To stretch the dough thinner after rolling, shimmy your hands under the dough so it rests on the back of your hands and work your hands outward to gently pull the dough, moving up and down the rectangle. Keep stretching until it is translucent and the rectangle measures at least 30 × 20 inches, then fill right away.

Traditional Apple Strudel

MAKES: About 12 servings

TIME: About 1 hour

An impossibly crisp and many-layered crust wrapped around warm, tender filling is your reward for making the dough yourself. It’s fun, but involved, so you might not do it every time you crave strudel, but when you do, use this recipe. You can also use any of the filling variations, multiplying the ingredients by 1½ since the strudel dough makes a pastry that serves about 12. For a shortcut version, see the recipe that follows.

  • 8 apples (3 pounds)
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 recipe Strudel Dough
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, melted
  • 1 cup bread crumbs, preferably fresh, toasted in butter and then tossed with 1 tablespoon sugar

1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Peel and core the apples, then grate them in a food processor or on the coarse side of a box grater. Toss with the sugar, lemon zest and juice, cinnamon, and salt and put everything in a strainer while you prepare the dough.

2. Once the dough is completely stretched into a rectangle as directed in the recipe, spread it all over with melted butter. Starting about 6 inches from the short side of the dough and leaving a couple inches of border along the other remaining edges of the dough, sprinkle the bread crumbs in an even swath. This absorbs some of the juices in the filling so the crust doesn’t get too soggy or heavy. Press down on the apple mixture to squeeze out any excess juice, then pile it over the breadcrumbs.

3. Using the cloth underneath, lift the 6-inch edge of dough and fold it over the next 6 inches of filled dough (see illustrations, page 495). Tuck in the side borders, then keep using the cloth to roll the dough over itself into a log.

4. Once you finish rolling the strudel, use the cloth to move it onto the parchment underneath, then lift the parchment to transfer it to a baking sheet; if necessary, curve the strudel to fit on the sheet. Brush the top with melted butter. Bake until golden brown, 40 to 50 minutes, and serve warm or at room temperature.

Shortcut Apple Strudel

Makes: 8 servings

Time: 45 minutes

Phyllo makes a great ready-made substitute for traditional strudel sough since both are paper-thin and flaky when baked. And what’s not to love about a warm apple filling? Use the best fruit you can find, since its flavor is front and center here; see page 32for a rundown of the best apple varieties. All sorts of other fruits and fillings work too—see the variations for a few—but whatever you use, take care that it’s not too wet so that the delicate crust doesn’t get soggy.

  • 8 sheets (about 4 ounces) store-bought phyllo dough, about 14 × 10 inches, thawed if frozen
  • 3 or 4 apples (1 pound)
  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1½ teaspoons grated lemon zest
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter, melted
  • ½ cup raisins (optional)
  • ½ cup walnuts (optional)

1. Heat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. While you prepare the filling, keep the phyllo sheets covered with a damp towel to prevent them from drying out.

2. Peel and core the apples, then grate them in a food processor or on the coarse side of a box grater; you should have about 2½ cups. Toss with the sugar, lemon zest and juice, cinnamon, and salt and put everything in a strainer for at least 10 minutes to drain off any excess juices.

3. Put one sheet of phyllo on the prepared baking sheet, leaving the rest covered as you work, and brush it with butter; repeat with the rest of the sheets until you have a stack. If you’re using the raisins and walnuts, stir them into the apples. Pile the mixture in a mound along the long edge of the phyllo, leaving a 1-inch border on either end. Tuck in the sides, roll it into a log, and put seam side down on the prepared baking sheet.

4. Brush the top of the strudel with more butter and use a sharp knife to cut a couple of slits in the top. Bake until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Let rest for a few minutes; serve warm or at room temperature.

PEAR-GINGER STRUDEL Swap pears for the apples and 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger or ½ teaspoon ground ginger for the cinnamon.

CARAMEL-APPLE STRUDEL Rich, festive, and special: Instead of melted butter, spread a very thin layer of Caramel Sauce over each piece of phyllo (remember to keep that 1-inch border or you’ll have a sticky mess). If the caramel isn’t easily spreadable, warm it gently first. Brush the top of the strudel with melted butter before baking.

BANANA STRUDEL Increase the total butter to 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick). Instead of apples, peel and slice 3 to 4 bananas to make about 2½ cups fruit. Put 2 tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium heat, then add the bananas, cinnamon, and ⅓ cup packed brown sugar in place of the granulated sugar; if you like, add 2 tablespoons dark rum. Omit the lemon juice and zest. Cook, stirring frequently, until the bananas are just softened, about 2 minutes. Swap the raisins for ½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut and add it along with the walnuts. Set aside to cool for a few minutes before filling the phyllo.

CHERRY STRUDEL Following the Banana Strudel variation, substitute 2½ cups pitted and halved cherries (thawed frozen cherries are fine) for the bananas and granulated sugar for the brown sugar. Before you cook the fruit, toss it with the sugar with ¼ teaspoon salt and let drain in a strainer while you prepare the phyllo. Cook the fruit as directed. Instead of nuts and coconut, fold 1 cup ricotta or drained cottage cheese into the cherry mixture, along with kirsch if you’re using booze. Proceed with the recipe.

CHOCOLATE-PECAN STRUDEL Crazy-easy and so rich: For the filling, simply chop 6 ounces chocolate (you should have a little more than 1 cup) and combine with 1½ cups chopped pecans. Add ½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut and use almonds instead of pecans for an Almond Joy-like treat.

Filling a Traditional Strudel

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STEP 1
Using the cloth underneath the dough, lift the 6-inch edge that is not covered by bread crumbs and fold it over the next 6 inches of filled dough.

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STEP 2
Tuck in the side borders.

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STEP 3
Keep using the cloth to roll the dough over itself into a log.

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STEP 4
Finish rolling the strudel, and then use the cloth to move it onto the parchment underneath. Lift the parchment to transfer it to a baking sheet.

Bread Pudding Strudel

Makes: 8 servings

Time: 1 hour

Called milk-cream strudel (Millirahmstrudel) in Austria, this is as comforting as it sounds, with a tangy custard filling and a crisp crust that’s doused with Crème Anglaise.

  • 2 slices sandwich bread, preferably stale
  • ¼ cup milk
  • 8 sheets (about 4 ounces) store-bought phyllo dough, about 14 × 10 inches, thawed if frozen, or 4 sheets (⅓ recipe) Phyllo Dough
  • ⅓ cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened
  • 1 egg, separated
  • 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest or 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
  • Pinch of salt
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 tablespoons ricotta or cottage cheese, drained
  • 3 tablespoons sour cream
  • Crème Anglaise for serving

1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Trim the crusts from the bread and cut it into cubes; toss with the milk until coated and then set aside. While you make the filling, keep the phyllo stacked and covered with a damp towel so it doesn’t dry out.

2. Beat together the confectioners’ sugar and 4 tablespoons butter in a medium bowl until creamy, then add the egg yolk, lemon zest, salt, and vanilla. Fold in the ricotta and sour cream, then stir in the bread, leaving behind any excess milk. In a separate bowl, using clean beaters, beat the egg white to stiff peaks and then gently fold it into the rest of the filling.

3. Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons butter and use some to lightly coat a 13 × 9-inch baking dish. Put one sheet of phyllo on a piece of parchment paper and brush with butter; repeat with the rest of the phyllo until you have a stack. Put the bread mixture in a mound along the length of the dough, leaving a 1-inch border on the ends; tuck in the short sides and roll the dough into a log starting from one of the long sides, then place the log seam side down in the prepared baking dish, using the parchment to help you transfer it. If necessary, curve the strudel so it fits inside the dish.

4. Brush the top of the strudel with more butter and cut a couple of slits in the top to release steam. Bake until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Let rest for a few minutes before cutting into slices; top the whole thing with plenty of crème Anglaise and serve warm.

CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING STRUDEL Omit the lemon zest. Chop 4 ounces chocolate and add it with the bread. Serve with Rich Chocolate Sauce instead of crème Anglaise.

BANANA BREAD PUDDING STRUDEL You can do this with any quick bread, like Pumpkin Bread or Gingerbread: Use Banana Bread instead of sandwich bread and omit the milk. Instead of lemon zest, add ½ teaspoon cinnamon.

LEFTOVER POUND CAKE STRUDEL A new way to use up couple-days-old pound cake (see page 214); this is especially good because the cake is so dense: Use 2 slices (2 to 3 cups roughly crumbled) pound cake instead of sandwich bread. Omit the milk and sugar. Beat together the butter, egg yolk, lemon zest, salt, and vanilla until creamy, then proceed with the recipe.

Some Unique Pastries

The rest of this chapter focuses on a few specialty pastries that stand on their own. Few are as tricky as puff pastry and phyllo, but neither are they as simple as ordinary cookies or breads. Some are well-known celebration treats like Rugelach and Cannoli (this page). Others—Hungarian Plum Dumplings, Poppy Seed Roll, and Semolina-Date Pastries—you may be encountering for the first time in these pages. They are all delicious and not at all difficult to make.

Recipes

Cannoli

Cornetti

Rugelach

Hungarian Plum Dumplings

Poppy Seed Roll

Semolina-Date Pastries

Cannoli

Makes: About 18 cannoli

Time: 1 hour

One of the most beloved Southern Italian pastries, cannoli have an addictively crunchy shell and mildly sweet ricotta filling, both of which can be made a few days ahead. You can find cannoli molds online, and you really do need them to achieve the proper cannoli shape, but if you don’t want to commit to buying specialty equipment, see the variations for some unorthodox alternatives. Whatever you do, try dipping the shells in tempered chocolate for an extra treat.

  • 2 cups flour, plus more for dusting
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 egg, separated
  • ½ cup Marsala or dry white wine, or more as needed
  • 3 cups ricotta cheese
  • ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar, plus more for dusting
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • Neutral oil (like grapeseed or corn) for frying

1. Combine the flour, granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon, and the salt in a large bowl. Work in the butter with your fingers or a fork until the mixture resembles coarse meal, then stir in the egg yolk and wine; once the liquid is incorporated, dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead it for a few minutes until it’s smooth. If your dough is too dry, add another tablespoon of wine, or add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time if the dough is too sticky. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

2. If the ricotta seems loose or watery, strain it in a fine-mesh strainer before using. To make the filling, beat it with the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon until smooth and fluffy. Refrigerate until you’re ready to use it; this will keep for several days.

3. Fill a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven with about 2 inches oil, set it over medium heat, and bring it to 375°F, watching carefully because too-hot oil is a fire hazard and oil takes a while to cool down. Meanwhile, lightly dust a surface with flour and roll your dough into a large circle 1/8 inch thick or less. Cut the dough into roughly 4-inch circles (you can use a glass if you don’t have a cutter); working quickly, gather any scraps into a mound and roll them out in the same way. You should get about 18 circles total. For each pastry, wrap a circle around a cannoli mold (see headnote) so that the ends overlap slightly, using a bit of the egg white to seal.

4. Line a plate or cooling rack with paper towels. Carefully drop each mold into the oil, in batches, taking care not to overcrowd the pot, and fry for 2 or 3 minutes, until the dough is crispy and golden. Transfer to the prepared plate and cool for a minute before sliding the shells off the molds; tongs and a kitchen towel are helpful for this since the shells and molds will be extremely hot. If the molds are too hot to reuse right away, you can run them under cold water and dry thoroughly before wrapping in more dough.

5. Continue this process of wrapping the molds and frying the shells until you’ve used all the dough, adjusting the heat as needed to keep the oil at 375°F. Let the shells cool completely. You can store these in an airtight container at room temperature for a day or two.

6. Right before serving, put the filling in a pastry bag fitted with a large round or star tip or a zipper bag with a corner snipped off. Insert it into each side of the shells and pipe in enough filling to come out of the ends. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve immediately.

BAKED CANNOLI CUPS Crisp and golden without the deep-fryer: Heat the oven to 400°F and use oil to lightly grease the cups of a muffin tin or mini muffin tin. Roll and cut the dough—if you’re using a mini muffin tin, 2-inch circles will do—and press a piece into each cup. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden and crunchy. Cool and fill.

FREE-FORM CANNOLI You don’t get the characteristic shape, but with the crackling crust you’re not likely to miss it: Roll the dough as directed; fry it flat instead of shaping it around a mold. Let cool before topping with the filling.

CHOCOLATE CHUNK CANNOLI Chopped chocolate tastes the best, but feel free to swap it for mini chocolate chips, which are traditional: Finely chop 6 ounces dark chocolate; reserve about one-fourth of it and fold the rest into the whipped ricotta mixture. Put the reserved chocolate in a bowl and dip each end of the filled cannoli into it so that it sticks to the filling.

LEMON-PISTACHIO CANNOLI Citrus goes nicely with ricotta, and pistachios are a classic, colorful addition: Substitute 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest for the cinnamon. Finely chop 1 cup roasted pistachios and put them in a bowl; after you fill the cannoli, dip each end into the nuts so that they’re coated.

Cornetti

Makes: 16

Time: 1½ hours, plus time to rise

Along with a cappuccino, these are the quintessential Italian breakfast. Some versions are flaky, dead ringers for Croissants while others—like these—are softer and more like Brioche. The version you see all over Italy is filled with apricot marmelata (jam), but these are also excellent plain, topped with confectioners’ sugar or a Vanilla Glaze or filled with anything from the list below.

  • 5½ cups flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1 cup lukewarm whole milk
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon instant yeast
  • 1¼ teaspoons salt
  • 5 eggs
  • 2 sticks butter, at room temperature
  • Neutral oil for greasing (like grapeseed or corn)
  • 1 cup apricot jam, homemade or store-bought (optional)

1. Combine the flour, milk, sugar, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Beat 4 of the eggs and stir them into the mixture until everything is combined.

2. Cut the butter into chunks and, using your hands or a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, work it into the flour mixture. Continue to mix with the dough hook or dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand until it’s smooth and elastic; this should take 8 to 10 minutes in a mixer and 15 to 20 minutes if you’re kneading by hand. Sprinkle on flour as needed to prevent sticking or if your dough becomes too moist.

3. Wipe a thin coat of oil on the inside of a large bowl, add the dough, cover with plastic wrap, and leave in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.

4. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly flour your work surface and divide the dough in half. One at a time, roll each half into a roughly 16-inch circle and cut into 8 slices as you would a pizza.

5. If you’re using the apricot filling, spoon about 1 tablespoon jam onto the wider end of each slice. Starting from that end, roll each slice into a crescent shape and gently press the tapered end to seal. Place the cornetti a couple inches apart on the baking sheets and cover each sheet loosely with plastic wrap or a dish towel. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour. At this point you can wrap tightly and freeze until firm, then transfer to a zipper bag and keep frozen for up to several weeks; thaw on a sheet at room temperature, covered with plastic wrap, before baking.

6. Heat the oven to 400°F. Beat the remaining egg with a tablespoon of water and brush it over the tops of the cornetti, then bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature, within a day or two.

12 Fillings for Croissants, Danish, and Cornetti

Cornetti are typically filled, as are Danish pastries. A plain Croissant is wonderful, but it’s hard to take issue with some filling. Experiment freely with all of these, according to the filling directions in each recipe.

  • Honey
  • Fruit Jam or Orange Marmalade
  • Fruit Compote
  • Chocolate Ganache or chopped chocolate
  • Frangipane
  • Caramel Sauce or Dulce de Leche
  • Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread
  • Lemon Curd
  • Vanilla Pastry Cream
  • Apple Butter
  • Cooked, drained greens (like spinach or kale) and crumbled feta
  • Caramelized onions and crumbled blue cheese

Rugelach

Makes: About 2½ dozen cookies

Time: About 1 hours, plus time to chill

This Eastern European, mostly Jewish treat (I learned it from my grandmother) is a pastry masquerading as a cookie, with a delicious, rich, flaky cream cheese dough wrapped around a nutty filling. Here it’s sliced into pinwheels, which is easier than the traditional crescents (if you must have that shape, see the box on this page). It’s easy to customize the filling too—check out this chart.

  • 1 cup (8 ounces) cream cheese
  • 2 sticks butter, plus more for greasing
  • 2 cups flour, plus more for dusting
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup walnuts
  • ¾ cup raisins
  • ½ cup packed brown sugar
  • 1½ teaspoons cinnamon
  • ½ cup apricot preserves
  • 1 egg

1. Let the cream cheese and butter soften at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Combine them in a food processor with the flour, ¼ cup of the granulated sugar, the vanilla, and the salt; pulse until the dough is in pea-sized clumps.

2. Empty the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gather it into a ball, divide it in half, and roll each half into a log. The dough is a little crumbly, but it will come together as the butter warms up in your hands. Wrap each log tightly in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour; you can also freeze them for several weeks and thaw completely in the refrigerator before using.

3. Finely chop the walnuts and raisins together, then combine in a bowl with the brown sugar and cinnamon. On a lightly floured surface, roll one log into a rectangle ¼ inch thick (about 16 × 10 inches); leave the other log in the fridge while you work. Use an offset spatula or a bench scraper to periodically lift up the dough to make sure it isn’t sticking to the work surface before you fill it.

4. Spread half the preserves on the dough in a thin, even layer, then sprinkle half the nut mixture over the preserves and gently press it into the dough so it sticks. Starting with one long side, roll the dough into a tight log, pinch the ends to seal, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Repeat with the other piece of dough.

5. Heat the oven to 350°F and grease 2 baking sheets. Place the logs seam side down on a cutting board. Beat the remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush it over both logs, then sprinkle all over with the remaining ¼ cup granulated sugar.

6. Cut into 1-inch slices, arrange on the baking sheets, and pinch the seams of the pastry to seal (if you’re having a hard time getting them to stick, use a little extra egg wash). Bake until lightly browned, 20 to 25 minutes; rotate the sheets halfway through baking. Cool for about 2 minutes on the sheets before using a spatula to transfer the cookies to a rack to finish cooling.

How to Roll Crescent-Shaped Rugelach

Pinwheels are, by leaps and bounds, the easiest and fastest way to make rugelach. But you may want to make them in their traditional shape, which exposes more of the flaky, buttery dough and allows it to fully crisp up and get golden.

Instead of shaping the dough into 2 logs, divide it into 4 evenly sized disks and chill. Working one at a time, roll the disks into 10-inch circles and spread the preserves and nut mixture evenly over each. Cut each circle into 12 wedges (imagine you’re looking at a clock) and, starting from the outside edge and working your way in, roll the triangles into crescents. Pinch the ends slightly to curve them into a crescent shape, then refrigerate and bake as directed.

Hungarian Plum Dumplings

Makes: About 20

Time: 1½ hours

Tender dough, barely sweetened fruit filling, crisp crumb crust, these are unusual and beguiling. (They’re sometimes even served for dinner in the old country.) Don’t be put off by the potatoes—they add creaminess without revealing themselves.

  • 1½ pounds (2 to 3) russet potatoes
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1¼ cups flour, plus more for dusting
  • ¼ cup plus 5 tablespoons sugar
  • 6 tablespoons (¾ stick) butter, softened
  • 12 ripe small plums
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ cup fresh bread crumbs
  • ½ cup walnuts, finely chopped

1. Peel and roughly chop the potatoes. Fill a pot with water and add the potatoes and salt; bring to a boil over high heat and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and pass through a potato ricer or mash until there are no lumps. Cool completely.

2. Put a pot of water on to boil. Mix the egg into the potatoes, then add the flour, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and 3 tablespoons of the butter; knead just until smooth and soft and the butter is fully incorporated, then shape into a log and wrap in plastic. Let rest while you prepare the filling. You can make this up to a day ahead; keep it refrigerated and bring it back to room temperature before using.

3. Halve, pit, and chop the plums; combine with ¼ cup of the sugar and the cinnamon. Cut the dough into 12 even slices and use your hands or a rolling pin to flatten each one on a lightly floured surface. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of the plum mixture and fold the dough around it, pinching the ends to seal. Roll each dumpling between your palms to shape it into a ball, then carefully add them to the boiling water. Stir a few times to keep them from sticking and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes, until the dough is firm.

4. Meanwhile, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the bread crumbs, walnuts, and remaining 3 tablespoons sugar and toast, stirring occasionally, until the bread crumbs are crisp and golden. Transfer to a shallow bowl.

5. Use a slotted spoon to take the dumplings out of the pot and let the water drain off each one. Roll the dumplings to coat in the bread crumb mixture and serve warm.

PEACH-BROWN SUGAR DUMPLINGS These are a sweet, unusual dessert that’s perfect for summer: Substitute about 6 peaches for the plums and peel them (see page 33) before pitting and chopping. Decrease the granulated sugar to 5 tablespoons so that you add it only to the dough and bread crumbs; add 2 tablespoons brown sugar to the peaches. Use pecans instead of walnuts for the crust.

CHERRY DUMPLINGS WITH COCOA CRUMBS Swap 12 ounces pitted cherries for the plums. Use almonds instead of walnuts for the crust; toss the finished breadcrumb mixture with 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder.

Rugelach Fillings

Rugelach’s rich, flaky dough pairs wonderfully with so many flavors and fillings. Below are some favorite combinations, but feel free to mix and match as you like; as long as you have about ½ cup of spread and no more than 2 cups of filling, anything goes.

FLAVOR: Chocolate-Orange Rugelach

SPREAD: ½ cup Orange Marmalade

FILLING: 4 ounces chopped dark chocolate, 2 tablespoons grated orange zest, and ¼ cup fresh orange juice

FLAVOR: Cherry-Almond Rugelach

SPREAD: ½ cup cherry jam, homemade or store-bought

FILLING: 1 cup chopped almonds, 3/4 cup dried cherries, ½ cup sugar, and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

FLAVOR: Raspberry-Pistachio Rugelach

SPREAD: ½ cup raspberry jam, homemade or store-bought

FILLING: 1 cup chopped pistachios, ½ cup sugar, and ¾ cup dried cranberries

FLAVOR: PB&J Rugelach

SPREAD: ⅓ cup peanut butter and ⅓ cup your favorite jam, homemade or store-bought

FILLING: ¾ cup raisins, ¾ cup chopped peanuts, and ½ cup sugar

FLAVOR: Chocolate-Hazelnut Rugelach

SPREAD: ½ cup Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread

FILLING: 1 cup chopped hazelnuts and 2 ounces chopped chocolate

FLAVOR: Cranberry-Orange Rugelach

SPREAD: ½ cup Orange Marmalade

FILLING: 1 cup dried cranberries, ½ cup packed brown sugar, 2 tablespoons grated orange zest, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, and ½ teaspoon nutmeg

FLAVOR: Lemon, Pine Nut, and Rosemary Rugelach

SPREAD: ½ cup Lemon Curd

FILLING: 1 cup pine nuts, ½ cup sugar, and 2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary

FLAVOR: Pumpkin Pie Rugelach

SPREAD: ½ cup unsweetened pumpkin purée

FILLING: 1 cup chopped walnuts, ½ cup packed brown sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, ½ teaspoon nutmeg, and ½ teaspoon ground cloves

FLAVOR: Peach-Pecan Rugelach

SPREAD: ½ cup Peach, Ginger, and Maple Compote

FILLING: 1 cup chopped pecans, ½ cup sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Poppy Seed Roll

Makes: 1 loaf, enough for about 12 servings

Time: 1½ hours, plus time to rise

Poppy seeds make a dense, earthy, and bittersweet filling that’s swirled with a rich yeasted dough. It’s a holiday favorite all over Eastern Europe, especially in Poland, but it’s simple enough to make year-round.

  • 1 cup poppy seeds
  • ¾ cup plus 1½ tablespoons milk
  • 2½ cups flour, plus more for dusting
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon instant yeast
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened
  • ¼ cup sour cream
  • 1 egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup walnuts
  • ¾ cup raisins
  • ½ cup confectioners’ sugar

1. Combine the poppy seeds and ½ cup of the milk in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from the heat and let stand for 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, combine the flour with ¼ cup of the granulated sugar, the yeast, and the salt in a large bowl. Use your fingers to work 6 tablespoons (¾ stick) of the butter into the dough until the pieces are no bigger than the size of peas, then stir in ¼ cup of the remaining milk, the sour cream, egg, and 1 teaspoon of the vanilla until just incorporated. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes until smooth and elastic, sprinkling on flour as needed so the dough doesn’t stick. Shape into a loaf and cover loosely with a dish towel while you prepare the filling.

3. Drain the poppy seeds in a fine-mesh strainer and discard the milk. Combine the drained poppy seeds with the walnuts and the remaining ¼ cup granulated sugar in a food processor. Pulse until finely ground. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium heat and add the poppy seed mixture; cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant. Remove from the heat and stir in the raisins and remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla.

4. Roll the dough into a roughly 12-inch square. Spread the filling all over it, leaving a 1-inch border, and roll it up like a spiral. Place seam side down on a baking sheet, cover with a towel, and leave in a warm place to rise for 1½ hours; it should double in size.

5. Heat the oven to 350°F. Bake the roll for 30 to 35 minutes, until it’s nicely golden. Let cool completely. Combine the confectioners’ sugar with the remaining 1½ tablespoons milk to make a glaze and drizzle it over the roll before slicing.

LEMON-POPPY SEED ROLL A hefty dose of lemon zest pairs perfectly with poppy seeds: Add 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest to the filling when you add the raisins and vanilla. Use lemon juice rather than milk in the glaze.

Semolina-Date Pastries

Makes: About 20

Time: 1 hour

Filled with a smooth date paste, drenched in honey, and scented with orange blossom water, these Moroccan treats—called makroud—are one of a kind. Semolina gives them a subtle crunch whether they’re fried or baked. Feel free to stray from tradition and substitute another dried fruit, like apricots or cranberries, for the dates.

  • 1½ cups dates
  • 2 cups fine or medium semolina
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
  • ⅔ cup plus 2 tablespoons orange blossom water
  • ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • Neutral oil (like vegetable or canola) for frying
  • 1½ cups honey

1. Pit and chop the dates and place in a steamer basket or a metal colander. Set the basket over a pot of simmering water and steam, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, combine the semolina, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Melt 7 tablespoons of the butter; add it to the semolina mixture, and use your hands to work it in so that every grain is coated. Gradually add 2/3 cup orange blossom water and knead gently until the dough comes together. Cover and refrigerate while you finish making the filling; you can make this up to a day ahead.

3. Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Combine the butter and dates in a food processor with the cinnamon and nutmeg and pulse until it forms a paste. Let cool completely.

4. Divide the dough in half and roll each piece into a long log about an inch in diameter. Dampen your hands and do the same with the filling to make 2 very thin logs that are as long as the dough. Cut a slit along the length of each piece of dough and use your fingers to widen the cavity, creating a tunnel for the filling. Put a strip of the filling in each log of dough, then pinch the dough up and around the filling to enclose it and roll to seal. Slightly flatten each roll and cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces.

5. Fill a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven with 1 inch of oil and heat to 375°F over medium heat. Meanwhile, warm the honey and remaining 2 tablespoons orange blossom water in a small saucepan over medium heat.

6. Line a plate with paper towels and fry the pastries until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side; don’t overcrowd the pot. Transfer to the prepared plate and let drain for a minute before drizzling generously with the warm scented honey. Cool to room temperature before serving. These will keep for a few days in an airtight container at room temperature.

BAKED SEMOLINA-DATE PASTRIES Add ¾ teaspoon baking powder to the semolina mixture before adding the melted butter in Step 2; prepare the pastries as directed. Heat the oven to 375°F and lightly grease a baking sheet with oil. Bake the pastries until golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Drizzle with the warm scented honey.