Puff Pastry Adventures

My mom happened upon a puff pastry recipe just before New Year's Eve. As an avid fan of Top Chef, I've seen puff pastry used on several challenges -  mainly the ones where the chef goes home for using store-bought ingredients. The particular recipe was for spinach cheese spirals, and I must say it looked right up my alley.

Luckily, my dad bought us a box of puff pastry and a box of phyllo dough. For those of you who are not "in the know" when it comes to pastry/dough variety, puff pastry is like a thick pillsbury dough - easy to work with & roll out, whereas phyllo dough is composed of tiny, tissue paper thin sheets of dough that will make you question your sanity. Although delicious, particularly with baklava, phyllo dough can be a challenge for sure.

The spinach cheese spirals turned out well enough with the phyllo dough, & I saved the puff pastry for another recipe I stumbled upon - Raspberry & White Chocolate Hand Pies

After the challenges working with the phyllo dough, I was on pins and needles with the puff pastry, but it was a total breeze. I easily rolled it out, & cut 12 circles out of each sheet. Annabelle & I mixed cream cheese, sugar, & white chocolate chips. We plopped out about a tablespoon of this mixture onto the circles, then she diligently counted out three fresh raspberries to place on top.

Topless hand pies!

We brushed the sides with egg wash and closed them up. Like any pie, we stuck three holes in the top, and in the oven they went.

Hand model Baby D  

I would like to say I shared these with neighbors, co-workers & friends, but we didn't. We ate them all - every last one of them. They were buttery, crisp, juicy & since they contain fruit, I consider them a health food.

Literally bursting with flavor

Something that's great about this recipe is you could easily change out ingredients. I've thought about using dark chocolate & raspberries or white chocolate with blueberries or strawberries or even pineapple & honey. What ideas might you have to make some puff pastry pies? Whatever they are, totally try it!