Bear Claws!!

You don’t  have to head to a gourmet bakeries to indulge in this sweet pastry. This recipe is very easy and you can fill it with whatever your taste buds are craving!!  Mine were craving apples :9

For this simple recipe the ingredients you will need are:

1 (1/4 oz) package active dry yeast                                                  
1/2 cup warm milk
2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1-1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

Butter mixture:
2 tablespoon all purpose flour
3/4 cup cold butter , cut into tablespoon sizes pieces
 

1. In a large bowl mixing bowl , dissolve yeast in warm milk. (make sure its not hot!! It will kill the yeast if its to hot) Stir in the sugar, salt, and egg; mix well. Add the flour all at once, stirring until mixed. set aside.

2. For butter mixture, (for this part I place the butter in between two parchment paper so it wouldn’t stick to the counter plus its better to do this while the butter is cold) chop the the butter in to pieces get a rolling pin and beat the butter until you get a small odd looking rectangle.

3. Next  roll the dough out into a rectangle, place the butter 1 inch above bottom edge and fold the sides over and pinch edges to seal.  Turn the dough and lightly roll into a rectangle. Fold third of the rectangle  and lightly roll in to a rectangle; repeat this three more times.  Then refrigerate for 30 mins.

4. Meanwhile start the filling; chop two apples into small pieces and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon (taste to see if its sweet enough.) then strain it.

5. Roll out the dough into a 12inch square; cut the square into three strips. Spread the filling down the middle of each strip and fold in the sides length wise and pinch closes. Cut each strip into three pieces. Cut  four 1 inch down each strip to make the bear claw shape.

6.  Place on a greased baking sheet about an inch or two apart. Curve folded side slightly  to separate  stripes and allow  the filling to show. Cover and let rise in a warm place for an hour.

7. Brush with egg. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-14 minutes or until puffy and golden. Remove to pan to wire rack. To make glazes combine 3/4 cup powder sugar with 2 to 3 teaspoons of water; brush over warm rolls. cool. (I sadly didn’t have powder sugar so I had to go without it, there were still delicious though )

This post was written by:

KAT VERA - (view all posts by Kat)
Kat is a lead pastry chef. When she isn’t in the kitchen she’s traveling space and time with Doctor Who and solving mysteries with Sherlock. Email her at kat@mind-speaks.com

Pie Pops!!!

So my lovely sister Mija got engaged some time ago and  her boss was nice enough to throw her an engagement party!! So to show how much I love her I offered to do the desserts and I decided to make apple and pumpkin pie pops! (If y’all do not know what pie pops are there basically miniature pies on a stick)*Note: I made two different version one I made with empanada (Mexican pastry)dough and the ones I made for the actual party were made out of  pie crust cause Empanada dough bloated to much which it did not fit in the little baggies but both versions are delicious . But in this I will be using the empanada version but you may substitute it for normal pie dough. So lets get started !! ^^

Ingredients you will need:

First preheat oven to 350 then prepare the Pumpkin filling;  mix all the ingredients together and set aside.  At this point you can use a normal pie crust recipe or the empanada one.  When doing the crust soak the dry yeast in water first then add the sugar and salt, mix and add the baking powder, cinnamon, and 1 cup of flour gradually mix in more flour until it forms a dough.

Once you’ve done that let it set for 5 mins in the fridge ( so it will be more easier to roll out) once that’s done  roll out the dough until its 1/2 thick and use a dough nut cutter (or whatever you want your the shape of you pie to be) I just cut them into squares.

Next is the filling process  now with this you want to be care full  if you want your pies to be mini you must only put a little bit of filling so they wont over flow and get messy. (Now you can have normal pies or you can put the sticks in. when doing so make sure you put it in all the way and let them cool before you move them so they wont fall out.) Bake for 15 to 20 mins it depends of the size and shape of the pie so make sure to keep a eye on it.

Now for the  Apple pie filling. First dice up the peeled apples make sure you cut them up small or at least small enough to fit in your dough. Place the apples in a bowl and add lemon juice and mix 1/2 sugar  with a few dashes of cinnamon (Note: make sure to taste the mixture to see its sweet enough) Now strain the apples so we wont get those extra juices just to make sure the mini pies do not over flow. mix the rest of the sugar, Cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, cornstarch in a separate bowl.

Now time for assembling the apple filling; as its show in the demonstration above first get the get the dough place (the stick at this point) the apples then sprinkle the flour mixture followed but dotting it with butter then close it with the top half.  You can top both pies with Cinnamon sugar to give it a little more sweetness and color. Crump the edges with a fork so the filling does not come out and bake.

~ Now the finishing produce should look like this!!!  I hope you like this recipe and if you should make them I would love to see pictures!! ^^

This post was written by:

KAT VERA - (view all posts by Kat)
Kat is a lead pastry chef. When she isn’t in the kitchen she’s traveling space and time with Doctor Who and solving mysteries with Sherlock. Email her at kat@mind-speaks.com

New Year Sweets <3

During the holidays time isn’t something you have a lot of…so here are some quick and easy sweets that anyone would love!!

~Monkey Bread~

Ingredients you will need:

• 2 cans of pre made cinnamon rolls
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts, if desired
• 1/2 cup raisins, if desired
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

1) Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a bundt pan with shortening or cooking spray. In large -storage plastic food bag, mix granulated sugar and cinnamon.
2) Separate rolls; cut each into quarters. Shake in bag to coat. Arrange in pan, adding nuts and raisins among the roll pieces.
3) In small bowl, mix brown sugar and butter; pour over roll pieces.
4) Bake 28 to 32 minutes or until golden brown and no longer doughy in center. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn upside down onto serving plate; pull apart to serve. Serve warm.

~Buñuelos~

Ingredients you will need:

• a dozen of pre made tortillas (not cooked yet)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Vegetable oil

1) Heat oil in a frying pan; mix sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.

2) place uncooked tortilla in the pan cook until brown; once cooked quickly sprinkle cinnamon sugar on it; repeat on the rest of them and serve warm.

Hope you liked this quick and easy recipes!! ^^

This post was written by:

KAT VERA - (view all posts by Kat)
Kat is a lead pastry chef. When she isn’t in the kitchen she’s traveling space and time with Doctor Who and solving mysteries with Sherlock. Email her at kat@mind-speaks.com