I recently bought a two-pack of frozen puff pastry and used it to create the perfect lazy dinner and dessert – puff pastry pizza and croissants! Two well-established favourites given a puff pastry update! You can make your own puff pastry for these recipes but I prefer to buy frozen sheets and let them defrost for a few hours at room temperature.
Puff pastry pizza
A simple crowd pleaser, puff pastry pizzas are a cheap alternative to a takeaway and are tastier than store bought pizza bases!
Ingredients:
Puff pastry
Tomato puree
Cheese
Pizza toppings
Method:
Preheat oven to 220°C (200°C for fan ovens) or Gas Mark 7.
Cut your puff pastry sheet into four rectangles to make your pizza bases. Arrange them on baking trays lined with greaseproof paper. You should fit two per tray.
Mix a heaped tablespoon of tomato puree with two spoonfuls of water and spread onto your pizza bases, leaving a one centimetre border around the edge of each one.
Scatter on your pizza toppings – my favourites are olives and red peppers.
Top with cheese – mozzarella and cheddar are always good, or if you want a Mediterranean twist you could try feta cheese.
Bake for 20 minutes or until toppings are cooked and pastry looks golden.
Serve warm with homemade potato wedges and a salad for a beautiful dinner or lunch.
Puff pastry chocolate croissants
This is such a fun, easy recipe to make, and the finished croissants really are delicious. This is also a quick and cheap way to learn how to roll croissant dough into the famous crescent shaped pastries – you don’t want to spend hours folding, rolling and chilling homemade croissant dough only to ruin it in the rolling process!
Ingredients:
Puff pastry
Nutella (or another chocolate flavour spread)
One egg
Method:
Preheat oven to 220°C (200°C for fan ovens) or Gas Mark 7.
Start by cutting your puff pastry into isosceles triangles (see picture for guidance). You then want to cut a little slit on the short side of each triangle to help the croissants curve around. Spread a teaspoon of chocolate spread along this edge.
Follow the diagram to help you roll them up – first fold over your chocolate covered edge, then wrap the rest of the triangle around it, using a little water or egg to stick the point of the triangle down.
Arrange your croissants on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and brush each one with some beaten egg to give them a glazed appearance.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden.
Once they are out of the oven, transfer to a wire cooling rack.
And that’s it! Enjoy your croissants on their own or warm with ice cream. You could substitute the chocolate spread for chocolate chips, peanut butter, jam or even apple sauce.
Images credit:
Croissant rolling image: http://bigbaketheory.com/2012/02/20/croissants/
Finished Chocolate croissants: http://www.inspiredtaste.net/20300/sinfully-easy-chocolate-croissant-recipe/
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