Oh Pastry...How I Miss Thee!!

Do you remember the old Meryvn’s commercials with the woman who is standing outside before the store is open and she’s pressing herself against the glass doors, chanting “open open open”? Sometimes I feel like that woman but instead I’m standing in front of the glass doors of the Von’s pastry cabinet. Like her, I can’t have what I want the most.

When people find out that I'm a diabetic, they tell me they would never be able to deal with not eating their favorite sweets. A lot of people ask me what sweets I miss the most since being diagnosed as a diabetic. Cake is and always will be number one but breakfast pastries are a very close second. Since I'm not willing to give up sleep in the morning, I don’t have time to make myself a high protein breakfast like my doctor and nutritionist encourage me to eat. So what's left when you are in a rush....donuts, muffins, bagels, pop tarts, danishes....all things that are so accessible but so forbidden for me to eat. So once again I was faced with the same dilemma that I had with cake….I had to learn to make it myself and find some alternatives. About 2 weeks ago, I had the most intense craving for something very specific: almond pastry. The almond pastry in the Von's pastry cabinet was taunting me with its flaky goodness, sugary icing, smooth almond filling, and crunchy toasted almonds. My daydreaming of each of the individual components of the pastry made me think: Actually, this wouldn’t be too hard to make myself. Then I started to look at the other items in the case: chocolate croissant (yup I can make that), muffins (not a pastry but of course I could make those), donuts (err, that’s a tough one). With all this hard thinking and trying to figure out ingredients and how to do it easily and quickly, this is what ultimately inspired puff pastry week.

Almond Pastry Bites

puff pastry, almond paste (not marzipan) or almond pie filling (can), 1 egg, 1 tbsp water, sliced almonds

Cut puff pastry dough into small 3 inch squares. Place 1/2-1 tsp of almond paste or almond pie filling in the center of the square . Fold one corner of the square to the opposite corner (like a turnover). Beat egg and water in a small bowl to make an egg wash. Brush on the top of the pastry with the egg wash. Sprinkle sugar or sugar substitute over egg wash and place almond slices on top. Bake at 400 for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

(Sueshine Note: almond filling can be replaced by any flavor pie filling such as apple or cherry or any fruit preserve to make a turnover. Just be mindful of the sugar content. Smuckers has several sugar free or no sugar added flavors)

Chocolate croissants

 puff pastry, sugarfree chocolate squares, 1 egg, 1 tbsp of water

Cut puff pastry dough into long triangles (like the ready made Pillsbury croissant dough in the tube). Place chocolate square on the wide side of the triangle and roll, tucking the end  in the middle of the croissant. Curve ends into a crescent. Beat egg and water in a small bowl to make an egg wash. Brush on the top of the croissant. Bake at 400 for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Drizzle with melted chocolate.

One of the hardest things to recreate is a donut. Let's be honest, a donut is not healthy. I mean, its deep fried dough usually filled with some super sweet jelly, covered in glaze, then covered in sprinkles. That could send almost anyone into a sugar coma. Again while I was researching on www.puffpastry.com, a receipe definitely caught my eye. Gail Simmons (editor for Food and Wine, judge on Top Chef) had a whole collection of recipes with puff pastry including, PB & J doughnuts. My mouth instantly started to water. Could I even remember the last time I had a donut that wasn't a plain cake donut? (not glaze, no sprinkles....just plain, dry, and almost made me choke). I definitely needed to find a way to make this a little more diabetic friendly.

PB&J Puff Pastry Donut

1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup Simple Jif peanut butter

3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar (Sueshine note: to make powdered sugar with Splenda, mix 3/4 cup granulated Splenda and 2 tablespoons cornstarch. Mix ingredients in a blender until a fine texture. Makes 1 cup of powdered sugar)1 package (17.3 ounces) Pepperidge Farm® Puff Pastry Sheets, thawed
4 teaspoons Smuckers Sugar Free Strawberry jam

Heat the oven to 400°F. Beat the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork.
Stir the peanut butter, heavy cream and confectioners' sugar in a small bowl until the mixture is smooth.
Unfold 1 pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Using a round cutter, cut the pastry sheet into 9 (3-inch) circles. Repeat with the remaining pastry sheet.
Place 9 pastry circles onto a baking sheet. Spoon about 1 teaspoon peanut butter mixture in the center of each pastry circle. Top each with about 1/2 teaspoon jam. Brush the edges of the pastry circles with the egg mixture. Place the remaining pastry circles over the filling. Press the edges firmly to seal. Using a sharp knife, cut a small slit in the top of each filled pastry.
Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Let the pastries cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with additional confectioners' sugar

Source: adapted from www.puffpastry.com

So it's not EXACTLY like a donut but it's as close as I can get to one right now. The fact that it isn't deep fried alone makes it a little better.

Well that's it for puff pastry week....which actually turned into 2 weeks but until I become famous, I'm stuck at my 9-5, tired and stressed at the end of the day. But that's okay...the wonder that is puff pastry makes it fast and easy for me to make a quick dessert....or even provides memories of what I dream I could still eat. A diabetic girl's dream could come true...I just gotta work at it a little and make it happen myself ;)