puff cookies Archives - Proud Italian Cook

If your looking for a quick holiday appetizer to pull together on a moments notice have no fear, these bite size bundles are the perfect thing!

Providing you have a box or two of puff pastry tucked away in your freezer. You have some don’t you? If not you should!

Take it straight out of the freezer, lay it on your counter, in ten or fifteen minutes you’ll be able to separate the sheets. Then sprinkle a little flour on your counter and with a pizza cutter, cut the sheet into thirds, then each third into four slices, for a total of 12 per sheet, if you cut into the other sheet you’ll have a whopping 24 appetizers!

Now place each square into a mini muffin pan, I didn’t have to grease mine but it has been called to my attention that you might have to depending on the type of muffin tins you might have. My tins are not non stick but they are fairly new so maybe the butter in the pastry was just enough.

Now the fun begins, the fillings are endless! I had less than a cup of caramelized onions sitting in my fridge so I took a bowl and mixed the onions with gorgonzola cheese and toasted walnuts, that’s how I made mine here.
Each puff pastry cup only requires a heaping tablespoon so you don’t need much filling at all.
Think, tomato, basil and goat cheese, roasted peppers and fontina, spinach, artichoke and feta, crabmeat and cream cheese, gouda and apple, roasted mushrooms with gruyere, Do you have a jar of fig jam or even chutney in your fridge? How about a little brie and fig? You get the picture, use what you have, it’s all good!
They take 20 minutes in a 375 oven, in the meantime open a cold bottle of wine, they’ll be done in no time!

I know this is a busy time for everyone, myself included, I’ve shopped, wrapped, planned my Christmas menu and baked my last cookie, with a little help from my granddaughter!

Puff Cookies, they’re tradition in my house! One bite brings back happy memories to me.
Now if I could just stop at one bite, that would be a good thing!

But what I really wanted to do was to take this opportunity to thank you, all my readers, for the wonderful support you’ve given me, and to wish you all a very Happy Holiday filled with an over abundance of happiness, amazing food, surrounded by those you love!
xox

By now you’re probably deep into baking all your favorite holiday treats, pulling out recipes you haven’t made in a year or so. I started my baking last week, placed them in pretty tins ready to give away and share with family and friends. Here is a few of the things I baked so far.

Traditional ANISE BISCOTTI, it’s a huge favorite of my husband and brother-in-law, they love that sweet licorice taste of the anise. These biscotti are perfect for dunking in your coffee or espresso and great to have on hand when someone stops by.

To get that true anise flavor I always use anise oil instead of the extract, usually found in an Italian market or on line, and along with that I also mix in some anise seed, the oil is really strong so you don’t need very much but the flavor and smell lingers forever (or as long as your biscotti last,) in fact there’s still a lingering aroma of anise inside my house and I finished baking them a week ago!

The dough comes together very quickly it’s the baking that will take you the longest since you have to twice bake them. After first baking your logs you want to make sure they cool down before you cut into them for that second baking otherwise you’ll have a pile of crumbs. I use a heavy serrated knife to cut through mine, but I just recently got a great tip from my sister-in-laws from Florida, they cut their biscotti with an electric knife! Isn’t that a great idea? I’ll be on the lookout for electric knife for next year to try.

The great thing about biscotti is that they last weeks after you bake them and they taste just as good as the first day, if properly stored. I like to put mine in tin cans layered between wax paper, they stay all nice and crunchy that way!

ANISE BISCOTTI

Ingredients

5 cups unbleached flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup of softened butter (2 sticks)
4 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon of anise oil,( that’s correct 1/2 of a teaspoon). or 2 tablespoons of anise extract

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon of anise seed

Nuts are optional, I would use at least 1 cup of sliced almonds for this recipe

Directions

Sift dry ingredients together, including the anise seed. Set aside. In a large bowl with a mixer beat butter, sugar, until fluffy, add eggs one at a time along with the anise oil or extract. Add flour mixture and beat on low until blended. Divide mixture into 4 parts. Each part becomes a log measuring around 2 1/2 inches by 9 or 10 inches long. Place logs on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven 25 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom, check your oven, every one is different.

Remove from the oven and let them cool down on a rack. Carefully cut them 1/2 inch thick, turn each piece on their side and bake on each side for 5 to 8 minutes or until lightly golden on each side.

Makes around 60 biscotti depending on size.

If you were to ask me what my personal favorite biscotti was I would have to say it would be this FIG and PISTACHIO version. Dried fig with just a hint of orange and anise flavors the crunchy biscotti that is studded with pistachio’s. You can’t beat this with a warm cup of espresso on the side, every bite is so full of flavor! If you like figs you will love these!

I’ve shared them on my blog before, so if you’re craving these crunchy goodies you can check out the recipe here.

Next up is PUFF COOKIES, I make them every year and I always will, they remind me of my mom and aunt. You’re probably familiar with these almost every nationality has their own version of them, also known as Mexican Wedding cookies, but to me and my family they’ll always be Puff Cookies!

Like puffs of snow these rich and buttery cookies just melt in your mouth, great as a gift in a pretty tin or just placed on a platter for any special occasion, either way they will be most appreciated. I also shared these on my blog way back when I first started blogging, you can find the recipe here.

And finally, I always like to put a new cookie into the mix, well new for me anyway. I’ve tasted RICOTTA COOKIES before but I haven’t ever made them myself until I saw Claudia’s version over at Journey of an Italian Cook. Poor thing she lives in Minnesota and just got hit by that big blizzard recently, stuck in the house she’s been cooking and baking up a storm! (no pun intended). I’m sure her family has been very grateful for the snowfall!

These cookies are truly addictive, the taste and the texture is perfect, not to sweet, just right!

Please, go out and get some ricotta, you still have time to make these and add them to your cookie tray, I promise you won’t regret it!

I’m sending you over to Claudia’s blog to get the recipe, the only thing I changed up was that I doubled the lemon zest in the batter, and then for the glaze, instead of 1 teaspoon of vanilla I did 1 teaspoon of lemon extract and more fresh lemon zest. I had a lemon theme going on and it went wonderful with the ricotta flavor, I will make these over and over again and so will you!

Happy Baking, and Buon Appetito!