Puff Pastry Holly Leaves Recipes

Steps:

• Unfold pastry sheets onto a lightly floured surface. From each sheet, cut out 12 leaves with a floured 3-1/2-in. leaf-shaped cookie cutter. Place on ungreased baking sheets. With a toothpick, score veins in leaves. In a small bowl, beat egg and water; brush over pastry. , Bake at 400° for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool. , In a large bowl, combine the cheeses, parsley and pesto. Cut each pastry leaf in half. Spread 1 tablespoon cheese mixture over bottom half; replace top. Add a pimiento piece on each for a holly berry. Refrigerate leftovers.

Steps:

• Cut 8 ounces (2 sticks) butter into 1/2 to 1/4-inch dice, place on a plate and refrigerate while preparing remaining ingredients.Measure water and add salt; stir to dissolve and set aside.
• Coarsely dice remaining 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter. Place flour in work bowl of food processor fitted with metal blade; add 4 tablespoons butter and pulse until butter is absorbed -- about ten to twelve 1-second pulses.
• Add remaining butter and pulse once or twice to distribute. Add water and pulse 3 or 4 times, just until dough forms a rough ball. Do not over-process.
• Flour work surface and scrape dough from work bowl. Shape dough into a rough rectangle and place between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Press dough with rolling pin to flatten, then roll back and forth several times with rolling pin to make a 12 by 18 inch rectangle of dough.
• Peel away plastic wrap and invert dough to floured work surface. Peel away second piece of wrap. Fold dough in thirds in the width, folding the top third down and the bottom third up, to make a 6 by 18-inch rectangle, then roll up the dough from one of the 6-inch ends, making sure to roll end under dough. Press the dough into a square, wrap in plastic and refrigerate 1 hour, or until firm.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl; set aside. On a lightly floured surface, roll out puff pastry to 1/8 inch thick. Using a leaf cutter, cut out 12 leaves (or as many as you can), and place on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet. Place in freezer 20 minutes.
• Remove from freezer, and cut shallow veins in the leaves with a paring knife. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar, and bake until golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Steps:

• Unfold pastry sheets onto a lightly floured surface. From each sheet, cut out 12 leaves with a floured 3-1/2-in. leaf-shaped cookie cutter. Place on ungreased baking sheets. With a toothpick, score veins in leaves. In a small bowl, beat egg and water; brush over pastry. Bake at 400° for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool. In a large bowl, combine the cheeses, parsley and pesto. Split pastry leaves in half. Spread 1 tablespoon cheese mixture over bottom halves; replace tops. Add a pimiento piece on each for a holly berry. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 2 dozen.

Steps:

• To make Puffs:preheat oven 400f.
• Bring water, butter,sugar & salt to a roiling boil in a large saucepan.
• Add flour all at once, stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan clean. Remove from heat.
• Beat in eggs, one at at a time with a wooden spoon until paste is shiny& smooth Drop pastry by well rounded teasp, 1 1/2" apart on 2 ungreased cookie sheets Bake 35 minutes or until puffed and golden.
• Cool on a wire rack.
• Prepare carmelized sugar:.
• Heat sugar & lemon juice in a heavy medium sized skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon until the sugar is melted and light golden brown.
• Do not let it burn Remove from heat.
• Putting it together:.
• Place 14 puffs in a 9" circle on a platter.
• Fill in the center of the circle with about 5 more puffs.
• Working quickly and carefully dip the bottom of remaining puffs in the carmalized sugar (don't let it touch your skin), one at a time and place each on top of the base puffs in a slightly smaller circle Fill in the center with puffs.
• Continue making each circle smaller to form a tree shape.
• Drizzle the remaining sugar over the tree and decorate with the cherry halves You may refrigerate for 1-2 days.

Steps:

• Unravel the pastry, cut off a 4cm strip along the width and chill this piece until later. Cut the remaining pastry in half lengthways. Place the pastry pieces end to end, so you have one long rectangle, squashing the cut ends together to seal. Scatter over the marzipan and orange zest, leaving a border of about 1cm free along one side. Spoon the mincemeat along the centre, like you're making sausage rolls, then top with the apple.
• Brush a little beaten egg over the exposed pastry edge. Starting from the other side, roll into a long sausage, sealing with the eggwashed edge. Use a sharp knife or a pair of scissors to snip almost all the way into the pastry at a slight angle at 5cm intervals, keeping all the pieces attached along one edge. Coil into a ring, with the cut pieces on the outside to help it bend, and tuck one end into the other to give a neat finish. Brush the wreath with egg, then use the trimmings from earlier to make decorations, such as stars or holly leaves, and brush these with egg too. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and chill for 30 mins.
• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Bake the wreath for 20 mins or until golden brown. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm for dessert, or cold as an alternative to mince pies.