Phyllo Potato Pastries

Truth be told everyone...I've been having a hard time getting back into the swing of things in the kitchen and with the blog post-holidays. Does anybody else feel somewhat adrift? ...No? Just me?

Ok that's cool. I'll do better y'all, pinky promise!

Now...this is a pretty classic Kayle recipe--there's potatoes...and there's carbs. But it's fun and different and kinda classy (I think) because flaky and delicious phyllo dough is wrapped around shredded and seasoned potatoes and onions and it's all baked to tasty perfection.

I think these are great especially as an entertaining food--because the recipe makes a lot, and there's something about phyllo dough that just screams "I'M FOR GUESTS!" to me *shrug*. Unfortunately we were not having any company when I made these so it was up to Michael and I to eat them all. And if any eaters were ever up to the task...it was us. 

They're quite delicious and I'm definitely keeping them in mind next time I need something to bring to a party!

Whole Wheat Italian Gougères

I had such lofty intentions to make these "Italian" gougeres. I thought roasted garlic and Parmesan cheese....perfection! I considered adding additional seasonings but didn't think they'd be needed.

Welll....learn from my mistake my friends. These gougeres ARE tasty. But-the way I made them they turned out a bit bland. As a result, I've adjusted the below recipe to use more cheese and garlic and I urge you to add some seasonings. They'll be better that way.

Don't let me scare you away though! LOOK AT THE PHOTOS-these are tasty tasty, pretty pretty gougeres! Plus--they're whole wheat and have flax meal in them! So a bit healthier! In fact, you can even tweak this recipe and change out the flavor combos to your taste. You could use cheddar and scallions or onions or...I dunno...whatever you like! But first...let's give this Italian version a try, shall we?

Alright-I'm trying to be normal and just talk about food like I would any other week....how am I doing? Convincing? You totally can't tell that I'm getting married this Saturday and am kind of freaking out because I'm so excited/nervous/anxious/worried/excited again....right?

Oh good. Because you know I've totally tried to barely even talk about my wedding on here.*

*sarcasm...yes...I know I've been incessant and can talk of almost nothing else. Sorry!

Michael insisted I start calling these "puffs". He felt like I was being snobby with my constant "I made gougeres!" "Do you want a gougere?" "Don't forget there are gougeres..." His initial request was that I refer to them as "biscuits" which they are NOT biscuits. They're way to light and airy and soft! So then he amended I could call them puffs. Which...since gougeres are made from choux pastry just like cream puffs...I sort of can accept that.

So...puffs or gougeres...Italian or French or just perfectly YOU...give 'em a try!

Caramelized Onion and Cheddar Gougères-Virtual Baby Shower for Taylor {Greens n' Chocolate}

The food blogging community is seriously amazing. I have made some of the best friends who understand me in a way that I would never have thought possible-especially since I haven't met the grand majority of them. But I read their posts and comments and social media posts almost every day, and I really feel that I know these incredible ladies and that they know me! Which is why I love coming together with other bloggers to celebrate when great things happen in the lives of one of our own. Today is one of those days--we're celebrating Taylor from Greens n' Chocolate as she prepares to welcome her sweet baby boy into the world with a VIRTUAL BABY SHOWER!!!

In my experience with showers and get-togethers of most kinds, small bites/appetizers/snacks are a big hit. Things you can just pick up, pop into your mouth, and carry on about your business. Which is why I decided these gougeres would be a great thing to share for today's baby shower!

What's a gougere-you ask? It's pretty much just choux pastry (choux is the same stuff you use to make cream puffs) that's mixed with cheese. And, in this case, some delicious lightly caramelized onions (cooked down method, not the kind where you add sugar and such) are also mixed in. Which makes for the most amazing light, yet chewy, and super flavorful savory treat.

I also got to break in my new KitchenAid stand mixer making these beauties (AND use an actual piping tip for the first time), which was insanely exciting for me. Almost as exciting as the way I felt when the smell of the gougeres started wafting from the oven.

I seriously couldn't stop eating these. They're sort of irresistible. You can't help but love them--sort of like babies :) Taylor-we're so excited for you and the hubs and I know you're going to make an amazing mom, CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Check out what Taylor's other friends brought to the party!

Mrs. Olson's Kitchen-Quick Jam

Girl Versus Dough-Cheesy Polenta Bites with Blueberry Corn Relish

Fit Foodie Finds-DIY Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch Clif Bars

Making Thyme for Health-Lemon Cupcakes with Fresh Blueberry Icing 

The Cooking Actress-Caramelized Onion and Cheddar Gougères

Cookie Monster Cooking-Strawberry, Cucumber and Mozzarella Phyllo Cups

Garnish with Lemon-Mini Pavlovas with Blueberries and Kiwi

A Kitchen Addiction-Blueberry Lemon Donut Muffins

The Lemon Bowl-Blackberry Ginger Smash with Thyme

Turkey Spinach Provolone Pastry

Oh haiiii. Remember that whole wheat puff pastry we made Friday? Well, I made that pastry dough in order to facilitate the making of this recipe. This recipe, which popped into my brain a couple weeks ago and which I knew I MUST MAKE a-tothe-sap!

Now you might be thinking, "Why would you become obsessed with the idea of turkey and cheese inside of puff pastry?" I'm glad you asked. Back in NYC, Michael and I had a beloved bakery: Martha's. While we normally went there for the sweet treats, there was one savory piece of deliciousness that we also visited for: these delicious savory pastries that were highlighted on lunch specials. They had a few different kinds but we especially loved the turkey-swiss ones.

So I was like..."Yeah. Let's make that. But with provolone. And some spinach because that's healthy and it doesn't hurt. And, hey, let's make whole wheat puff pastry dough....YEAH! I'M MAKING THAT TONIGHT"--this was my thought process at work the other day. So I made the pastry dough and then I made these. The circle of delicious food blogger life.

It was probably the best idea I've had in quite some time.

I can tell this is a new favorite. And I can tell because I'm already gearing up to make these again. And it took us barely more than a day to plow through the 8 I made the first time. So...yeah. New addiction.

But seriously...you cannot blame us.

Listen up: these savory pastries are portable (ok...they're sort of giant so portable is questionable. Whatever.), quick and easy to make (if you already have some puff pastry chilling out in your refrigerator), customizable (oh you wanna make some ham and cheese pastries? OK! You want to make some sort of vegetarian version-maybe spinach and feta? Go to town! SKY IS THE LIMIT!), and oh...sooo...DELICIOUS.

Flaky, buttery, (and, if whole wheat, hearty), pastry gives way to melted and delicious cheese, a little hint of spinach, and some smoky turkey. Plus 1 of them is giant so half of one kind of fills you up. Mmmmm....You know what? I'm gonna go make myself some of these right. NOW!

Whole Wheat Puff Pastry

Forgive these pictures. I normally try to wait to make and photograph food until the light is good but one night I came home from work and decided I AM MAKING WHOLE WHEAT PUFF PASTRY TONIGHT, LIGHT BE DAMNED!

So....I did. Thusly the lighting in these photos is meh. But stick with me because homemade puff pastry is awesome, but now...not only can you make it preservative-free, you can also make it WITH WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR! I mean...I'm not gonna say it's healthy. There's a lot of butter. But ya know...it's better.

Don't be intimidated by the idea of making homemade puff pastry. It's slightly time intensive but only because you have to chill the dough a bunch of times-so you can do other stuff while the dough chills. You can do laundry, make other food, clean, watch TV....ya know...productive stuff.

But the actual work put in is crazy simple. The hardest part is using your muscles to roll out the dough. Which isn't hard. If my wimpy arms can do it, so can yours!

Then, once you've made your puff pastry, you divide it into thirds--or fourths (because a package of puff pastry is generally about 1 lb. and these recipe yields 3-4 lbs.--this will make it easier to use when you're making recipes that call for the storebought stuff) and then stick it in the refrigerator or freezer. Hooray! And when you bake up the pastry it's wonderfully flaky and buttery (although, sure, less flaky than with white flour) and has this awesome earthy, almost nutty, quality from the whole wheat flour. It's awesome. 

You'll see!

Parmesan Gougeres

Confession: I maaaay have overbaked these. So they're a smidge overbrowned.

Sorry. It's okay though because they still turned out AWESOME!

Gougeres are pretty much French cheese puffs, made with choux (the same sort of pastry that brings you cream puffs). For these Gougeres I worked with what I had--which is Parmesan cheese and some chives and basil from my overflowing herb garden. But you can totally customize these to your preferences/what's in your kitchen!

So here we have airy little mounds of heaven. They're all crisp on the outside and they taste like Parmesan and herbs and they're so light on the inside. These gougeres are crazy addictive-I may have eaten the whole batch within an hour of baking them. Oops. 

It's ok, though. I can always make more. And maybe use cheddar and chives next time! ooooh yum!

Make em. Trust me. They're so much easier than you'd think (don't let the French name fool ya) and they're whipped up crazy quick. Gougeres are also the perfect thing if you're entertaining-instant "oooohs" and "ahhhs" for minimal effort! Huzzah!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Breakfast Pastries

Things are just getting too real for me.

Michael started his new job Sunday (which....he hates). In 2 weeks we'll be moving to Ohio. And my stress levels are through the roooof. So...in times of great stress...you sometimes just need to revert to childhood. That's where these breakfast pastries come in. They're like the poptarts I so loved from my youth but...homemade. From scratch. And filled with delicious chocolate peanut butter instead of that weird chemical-y strawberry filling that I adored for some reason (ok...cuz it's tasty. But when I read what's in it I fuhreeeak out!)

Comfort. With less guilt (cuz I mean...they're still full of butter and all that good stuff.)

These pastries are incredibly flaky and melt in your mouth. And then...obviously...chocolate peanut butter is heaven on earth. Michael had some of these before he left and he said he really liked them (he just wishes the choc pb had been spread throughout the pastry a little more evenly. I agree. So keep that in mind when assembling these lovelies.)

Now...I know making pastries from scratch might sound intimidating and time intensive. But these really weren't. They were ridiculously simple to throw together-the hardest part was rolling them out and assembling them, but that still wasn't difficult. So impress your friends. Impress your S.O. Impress your mom (Mother's Day is in less than a month!). Impress that random dude on the corner. Impress whoever you choose to share these with! And if you don't want to share?

Impress yourself!

Puff Pastry Chocolate Croissants

oooh la la.

Imagine it's a relaxing Sunday morning in Paris. You're out on the balcony, sipping some cafe', and nibbling on a gorgeous, flaky, chocolate filled pastry. *sigh* so lovely.

Do you want to make that dream a reality?

...or...at least...the relaxing with some chocolate pastry part (and maybe coffee, if that's what you're into).

AND do you want to have homemade chocolate croissants that take like 5 minutes of prep time? And then, once they're baked, you have fresh, flaky, buttery pastries full of melted, decadent, dark chocolate....

...oooh. I'm sorry....I just need a minute. They're TOO GOOD!

Chocolate croissants have a super special place in my heart. There was a time in my life, when living in my last apartment, where I would pass my favorite bakery every day and almost every day...I would grab a chocolate croissant. Because I couldn't resist! Now, sadly (or perhaps fortunately?), I don't walk past that bakery anymore, and I have to walk about 20 minutes to get to it. So my chocolate croissant meter has been running pretty much on empty lately.

but now...NOW...I have the capabilities to bake myself up those chocolate filled little beauties at HOME!

Now, if you wanna make this really easy on yourself, you just buy puff pastry to make these (that's how the original recipe was used). But...if you're a little more crazy like me, and maybe want to make everything from scratch, you can use homemade puff pastry (I someday plan to tackle actual croissants, but until then...puff pastry). I happened to have half a batch of the homemade pastry in my freezer (1 batch of the homemade puff pastry makes 4 batches of this croissant recipe) so it was super simple for me, still, to just make these up one morning.

In fact...after using half of that half batch....the next day...I took out the rest of the pastry dough. Because...

I needed mooore.

So addictive. SO PERFECT. I'm really fully in loooove with this recipe. YOU NEED THIS IN YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW. RIGHT THIS SECOND! In fact...so do I....bye all, I'll be making myself some chocolate croissants.