Tag Archives: sugar

Pear and Marzipan Pastries

23 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by in Cook, Read

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I am a little bit obsessed with brunch lately. Brunch has a lot going for it, to my mind. As a confirmed night owl, I am all for breakfast at noon, and inviting people over for brunch feels so much more do-able than homemade waffles for a crowd at 8 AM. Brunch is casual enough to remove the pressure associated with such portentous words as “dinner party,” yet it is still event enough to merit a few new recipes.

For me, brunch is about balance: breakfast and lunch, savory and sweet. This recipe is the perfect brunch candidate in the sweet category. The combination of buttery pastry, tender pears, and the richness of almond paste was inspired by a recipe from Gale Gand’s cookbook Brunch!. If you are joining me on the brunch bandwagon, her recipes are a good companion to have along for the ride. The one caveat might be that she has been an acclaimed pastry chef for so long, she’s a teensy bit out of touch with how things operate in a regular kitchen. (God bless her, it’s not her fault she hasn’t purchased puff pastry from a store in twenty years.)

I have no problem changing ingredients and ratios as I see fit, though; hence the recipe below, which I adjusted in several ways to tame the cloying sweetness of the original. Although a natural for breakfast, these charming little pastry parcels also make an indulgent dessert for a weeknight supper. They take very little time to put together, the most arduous task being peeling and coring a couple of pears. You can use marzipan and almond paste interchangeably here, depending on your preference and pantry. (See the Chewy Almond Macaroon recipe notes for more about both.) I also wouldn’t be opposed to finishing with a drizzle of creme fraiche — but then, would I ever? :)

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Pear and Marzipan Pastries
makes six

14 oz. all-butter puff pastry (one sheet, thawed overnight in refrigerator if frozen)
4 oz. marzipan or almond paste (I use Odense)
1/4 c. cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp. sour cream (preferably all-natural)
1/4 c. cinnamon sugar (I make mine in batches of 1/2 c. granulated sugar + 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon)
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt
2 ripe pears, peeled, cored, and sliced into about 18 wedges
a dash of freshly grated nutmeg
1 egg
coarse sugar (optional)

Oven 425F. Cut the puff pastry sheet into six squares of about equal size and arrange on parchment-lined baking sheet. Slice the marzipan into six equal portions, then shape each portion into a disc about 2″ wide and 1/2″ thick, and place one disc in the center of each pastry square. In a small mixing bowl, thoroughly whisk together cream cheese, sour cream, lemon juice, salt, and 3 tablespoons of the cinnamon sugar. Place a generous dollop on top of each marzipan round. Top the cream on each pastry with three overlapping wedges of pear, then sprinkle the tops of the pears with the remaining 1 tablespoon of cinnamon sugar and a sprinkling of freshly grated nutmeg.

Carefully gather the four corners of each pastry together at the top and twist them together to form a little parcel with a pastry topknot in the center. (Be sure to press the corners together well enough that they won’t come apart during baking.) Beat the egg in a small bowl, then brush the tops of each pastry lightly with the egg wash. Sprinkle on coarse sugar if desired, then bake for 25-30 minutes, until pastries are puffed and golden. Transfer immediately to cooling rack and allow to cool before eating.

These are fantastic warm from the oven or room temperature. They don’t reheat well, however, so eat them within a day of baking. (That’s not meant as a challenge. ;)

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Lemon Sugar Icebox Cookies

04 Saturday Feb 2012

Posted by in Cook

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Procrastination and baking do not generally compliment each other, but with this recipe, forgetting your cookie dough for a few weeks before you get around to baking it actually improves the final product. The extra time in the freezer allows the lemon flavor to really infuse and develop, producing buttery, fragrant cookies. The crisp coating of lemon sugar on the outside adds just a hint of crunch, and lemony tart icing drizzled on top completes the citrus trifecta.

Of course, these are wonderful even if you only freeze the dough the minimum one hour. Though these resemble shortbread in appearance, the addition of egg yolk makes for a more tender, less crumbly cookie than traditional shortbread. The dough comes together in a matter of minutes, just the time it takes to zest and juice a few lemons and blitz the ingredients in the food processor. I often double the recipe and keep a log in the freezer, ready to cut and bake for guests.

Not in the mood for lemon? See the Recipe Notes for several more flavor variations, including Orange-Ginger and Mocha-Vanilla. All of them also freeze well after baking — just wait to glaze until right before serving. It’s not often that procrastination is so beautifully rewarded. :)

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Lemon Sugar Icebox Cookies
makes 18 cookies

For cookies:
1 c. all-purpose flour (I prefer King Arthur)
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. kosher or coarse sea salt
1/2 c. unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into tablespoon-sized pieces
1 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 large egg yolk
1/4 c. granulated sugar (for rolling)

For icing:
1/2 c. powdered sugar, sifted
1-2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

In food processor, pulse flour, powdered sugar, salt, and one tablespoon lemon zest until thoroughly combined. Add butter and pulse again until it forms sandy crumbs. Add egg yolks and lemon juice and process until mixture forms a ball of dough. Place dough on a sheet of parchment paper and shape into a log 1-1/2″ in diameter. (Don’t stress if it’s not perfectly round — you’re not looking for something that appears factory-produced, just a uniform shape that will cook evenly.) Fold over ends of parchment and freeze dough for one hour or up to one month. If freezing more than a few hours, place parchment-wrapped dough in a layer of plastic wrap or a zip-seal plastic bag to protect it against freezer burn.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350F. Blitz granulated sugar and remaining two teaspoons lemon zest in food processor until well-combined. Roll frozen dough log in lemon sugar, pressing to achieve a solid, sugary coat. Using a sharp, non-serrated knife, slice into eighteen 1/4″-thick rounds. Place 1″ apart on parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes, until edges of cookies have just a hint of golden brown and centers are set. Be careful not to over-bake.

Allow to cool on sheet for a few minutes, then remove to rack to cool completely. While cookies cool, mix icing ingredients. Drizzle glaze from the back of a spoon on tops of cooled cookies and serve. Easy-peasy lemon squeezy! :)

Recipe Notes + Tips:
There are endless variations to this recipe using the same quick, basic dough. Try substituting fresh orange zest and juice for the lemon in the cookies and icing, plus add a 1/2 tsp. of ground ginger to the dough. Roll in finely chopped candied ginger before baking, and you have citrusy, spicy Orange-Ginger Icebox Cookies.

For a chocolate treat, trade out a tablespoon or two of the flour for the same amount of unsweetened cocoa and substitute a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste or real vanilla extract for the lemon juice in the cookie dough. Roll in chocolate jimmmies before baking and glaze with melted chocolate. For Mocha-Vanilla Icebox Cookies, follow the same directions for the chocolate cookies, but add a teaspoon of espresso powder to the dough and substitute brewed coffee for the lemon juice in the glaze.

The list of possible flavors is limited only by your imagination: Caribbean Coconut-Lime, toasty Butter Pecan, Mexican Hot Chocolate with a kick of cayenne and cinnamon…. There’s really no end to the combinations, just keep the proportions of dry and liquid ingredients the same as the original recipe. I’d love to hear what you come up with! :)

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I linked up this recipe to Fellowship Fridays on

Angela’s Sugar and Spice Pecans

01 Sunday Jan 2012

Posted by in Cook, Think

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It takes courage to cook for me. Severe food allergies can make the kitchen feel like a minefield — it requires a lot of attention to detail on the cook’s part (and a lot of trust on mine) to voluntarily enter this realm of label reading and ingredient monitoring. I love to cook and I love to feed other people, so I can understand that it must be frustrating to my friends and family for me to feel so off-limits when it comes to any kind of culinary care-giving.

This recipe is delicious, but it will always be among my favorites because it’s the first food gift anyone ever gave me after the onset of my food allergies in 2007. Angela certainly knew what she was getting into — she’s seen me through dozens of anaphylaxis episodes over the years and has even had the dubious honor of administering my epi-pen. It takes a real friend to stab you in the thigh with a syringe; it takes an even better one to make you food afterward, when she knows what’s at stake.

These only require a handful of ingredients, but the results are snacking perfection: salty-sweet, satisfyingly crunchy, warm with cinnamon and allspice. They have the added bonus of being gluten-free, sulfite-free, and stress-free. Everyone loves them, even the self-professed nut-haters. (You know who you are.)

For me, this recipe is just the right way to start off the new year because they are all about Possibility. The beautiful thing about hope is that it can bloom so unexpectedly: after a long, dark winter, in the midst of life’s compost. It can even come in the shape of a cellophane bag full of spiced pecans. When you make and share this recipe, I hope you can also share in a little piece of the comfort and faith they represent for me.

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Angela’s Sugar and Spice Pecans
makes 3 cups

1 large egg white
3/4 c. granulated sugar or vanilla sugar (see these Recipe Notes for vanilla sugar how-to)
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
3/4 tsp. salt (not coarse)
3 c. pecans

Oven 250F. In medium mixing bowl, beat egg white with whisk or electric mixer until it holds stiff peaks. In separate small mixing bowl, stir together sugar, salt, cinnamon, and allspice until thoroughly mixed. Fold pecans into egg white until they are coated. Don’t stir too energetically, you don’t want to lose all that air you just whipped into the egg white. Sprinkle in the sugar-spice mixture, stirring until all pecans are thoroughly coated with thick, gooey cinnamon yum. (That’s a very technical cooking term, I know. ;)

Spread out pecans in even layer on large parchment-lined baking sheet. (You can try it without parchment, but butter your baking sheet copiously and get someone else to do the dishes.) Bake for 45 minutes, stirring thoroughly every 15 minutes with silicon spatula to bring the gooey bits to the surface. Add an extra 15 minutes baking time if they are not crispy and dry at the end of the 45 minutes; if your oven doesn’t maintain low temperatures well, it may take longer. Allow to cool on baking sheet completely before eating or storing in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 weeks.

Quick tip: this recipe easily doubles, just use larger bowls to mix and bake for a full hour. If you make more than a double batch, bake on two cookie sheets to be sure your layer of nuts is not too thick.

Prayers and wishes for a healthy, happy, fulfilling 2012 for you and yours. :)