Tea Party

I invited a friend over recently for a little tea party.  I didn't tell her, but she was the guinea pig for my latest recipes.

 

I had made some pumpkin banana bread and wanted to try little finger sandwiches, using that for the bread, and some Philadelphia honey pecan cream cheese.

I thinly sliced the pumpkin banana bread that had been baked the night before.  I thought it would hold together better if given time to cool and for the moisture of the bananas to come through.

I spread the slices with the cream cheese and cut them into fourths.

 

I placed them on a tiered server.

I had also made some almond croissants and put those out as well.

 

Lee had recently gotten me a cute beehive tea set from Poplar Forest.  We had tea from the White Oak Tea Tavern.

 

We visited half the day and tried not to eat too many of the special treats.  The food and the company were marvelous and I want to do it again.  But a person can only have so many days of special treats, or they won't be special, now will they?

Almond Croissants

I have been obsessed with using Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry lately.  It keeps in the freezer and I can thaw it the night before and make a few treats for the bed and breakfast guests.

I have been making chocolate croissants using Nutella a lot.  But, strange as it is to imagine, not everyone is a chocolate fan.  No, seriously.  There are people like that!  Otherwise perfectly normal people!

I decided to see if I could make an almond croissant.  They are my second favorite flavor of croissant.

I bought a can of almond paste and some puff pastry and started to experiment.  (Cue mad scientist music here...it is around Halloween, after all.  Oh.  And a Vincent Price laugh!)

 


Almond Croissants

1/2 package puff pastry, thawed overnight in the refrigerator
1/2 can almond paste
1 egg
1 Tablespoon water
sliced almonds

2 Tablespoons powdered sugar

 

I chose to make half of a box, but you can certainly make the whole box and the whole can of almond paste.  I just didn't need that many croissants.

Heat oven to 375°.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.  Set aside.

Beat the egg and water in a small bowl to use as an egg wash.

 

Remove one of the sheets of puff pastry and return the other to the freezer.  One suggestion I found was to sprinkle the work surface with sugar, rather than flour and this sounded like a great idea.  It did make the bottom of the croissants a bit browner and made a crispy sugar crunch on the bottom.  But I'm OK with that!

 

I wanted to make small croissants, but you could make bigger ones.  I chose to cut the sheet of puff pastry in thirds, along the fold lines.  If you wanted bigger croissants, then just cut the long rectangles from corner to corner making 6 long triangles.  I cut the long rectangles in half and then cut the short rectangles into triangles.

 

It helped to remove both ends of the can of almond paste and push it out onto a cutting board.  I separated one lump of almond paste and cut off sections of about 1 teaspoon. 

 

I pressed on these to make a thin pancake and formed them to fit inside the triangle, leaving room for the egg wash.

 

Brush the egg wash on the edges and roll up the triangle, set it on the prepared pan and gently shape it into a crescent.

 

After you fill and roll all the triangles, use the egg wash to brush all the croissants.  Sprinkle with a few sliced almonds.

Bake for 18 to 22 minutes.  You want them to be a nice golden brown to have a crispy outside.  Let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes.

 

Put a square of waxed paper under a cooling rack and place the croissants on it.  Sprinkle the warm croissants with powdered sugar in a small strainer.  Serve warm.

The clean up is easy, because you can just carefully roll up the waxed paper and toss.

These were truly delicious.  Make yourself some.  Make a bunch, because your family will take them when you aren't looking.

Don't ask me how I know this.