Star Pastry Snack

Looking for an easy last minutes snack for a party? Or a simple Christmas treats idea? I have a good recipe for you. Star pastry snack. It is cute, simple, easy to make, and delicious. As long as you have ready to use puff pastry, egg, and sugar, you can make it anytime you want.

I got this idea about few days before my son's Christmas party at school. It's very common in here that the children will have a Christmas dinner together at school to celebrate Christmas every year. Basically, every children will gather together and have dinner together at school along with the teacher and their classmate. They get to use a nice clothing, such as a dress or suit, and sit around the nicely decorated table. There will be a candles and cute set of cutlery (of course it's plastic) as well. The party itself is a potluck. Each (parents of the) children have to bring one kind of food (preferable finger food). For a smaller children, they do not have dinner but they will have Christmas breakfast.

My son is still 2.5 years old and he's still in peuterspeelzaal (playgroup). He was going to have a Christmas breakfast at his school and I could bring some snack for the children. Hmm... Making a snack for 2-4 y.o children is not as easy as making snack for 8-9 y.o children. They're more picky and can not accept all kind of food. I suddenly remember couple months ago when I made pastry snack using some leftover puff pastry from making custard cream horns. There were a lot of small slices and cut puff pastry that could not be used to make custard horns. Instead of threw them away into garbage bin, I brushed them all with egg wash, sprinkle some crystal sugar on the top, and baked them by following the instruction as the usual. Based on the same method, I think I could make a good snack for his Christmas party at school. Beside, I know my son likes it.

I made about 30 stars, put them in a plastic bag and wrap it nicely complete with a ribbon. It could be a good idea for Christmas gift as well. Just stick a small Christmas card on it, and it's ready to cheers up someone else's day. Merry Christmas everybody ^^

Ingredients : (for making 20 stars)

• 5 sheets ready to use puff pastry (I'm using 20x20 cm ready to use puff pastry)
• 1 egg, beaten
• about 150 grams white granulated sugar 

Preparation :

1. Thaw the puff pastry for about 10 minutes to make it easier to cut
2. Meanwhile, preheat oven for 200 C (392 F)
3. Prepare a baking sheet and line it up with baking paper. Set aside.
4. Using a star cookie cutter, cut 1 sheet the puff pastry into 4 stars
5. Place them on the prepared baking sheet.
6. Repeat the process for all those puff pastry sheet. 
7. Brush all the surface of the cut puff pastry with egg wash.
8. Sprinkle granulated sugar on top generously.
9. Put the pastry inside the preheated oven and bake it for 10-12 minutes or until they become golden brown. (Tip : take the pastry out of the oven once they become golden brown. the smaller the pastry cut, the shorter baking time that needed. It's really depend on the size of you pastry. But it is important to make sure that all the pastry have roughly the same size)
10. Take the pastry out an let them cool completely. 

Tip : This snack is not meant to be stored for a long time. They could get soggy fast if it's not stored properly inside airtight container or not be eaten as soon as possible. If it's happening, put the pastry on the baking sheet and pop it into preheated 180 C oven for about 10 minutes. 

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Mini Custard Cream Horns

Did you ever miss or want to eat something that maybe you did not really like before? That what happened to me last week. I suddenly got an urge to eat custard cream horn. I know it was not my favorite snack. I still remember when I was a little girl, my mother used to buy some of Indonesian traditional snack from a local market. She usually bought more than one kind of snacks so I and my sister could choose which one that we want to eat. I never pick custard cream horn. I mostly pick a savory snack instead this sweet custard cream snack. No special reason. Actually a custard cream horn is a delicious snack. It is a horn shaped puff pastry  filled in with vanilla custard cream. For those who has sweet tooth (like my husband), this can be a good snack. It is sweet and crispy outside but soft and creamy inside.

Well, because of my sudden urge to eat this sweet horns, I decided to make it by myself. I already have ready to use puff pastry on my freezer and the horn mold that I ordered from Indonesia last year. But there's a big BUT. I'm going to make my custard cream horn in small size.  My custard horn will have only about half of the size of normal custard cream horn. Personally, I prefer this mini size horns because it is easier to eat (especially for my baby son), more crispy, and..... hmm... I don't know. I just like it. ^^

First, I need to make the horns.

Tip : You can make the horns one day before making the filling. Just let it cool completely, and keep it in a airtight container to keep it crispy and crunchy.

Ingredients : ( for making about 65 mini horns)

• 5 layer ready to use puff pastry (I'm using 20x20 cm ready to use puff pastry)
• 1 egg, beaten
• about 100 gram white granulated sugar
• 20 grams butter

Preparation :

1. Preheat oven for 200 C (392 F)
2. Prepare a baking sheet and line it up with baking paper. Set aside.
3. Prepare horn molds and grease it with butter generously. Set aside.
4. Cut the puff pastry into small stripes. (About 1.5 cm wide for each stripe) 
5. Take one of greased horn mold and wrap the pastry around the mold. Make sure to overlap the pastry a little bit for each round and press it gently at the end of the strips. 
6. Repeat the process until all the mold are used.
7. Place the wrapped horn on the baking sheet.
8. Brush the surface of the pastry with beaten egg.
9. Sprinkle or roll carefully some granulated sugar on the top of the horns.
10. Put the baking sheet into the oven and bake it for about 13-15 minutes or until the pastry become golden brown.
11. Take it out from oven and let it cool completely before starting the filling process. 

Tip : If you can not make the horn in one batch and have to reuse the mold after the previous batch, do not forget to grease the mold with butter again before wrap it with another pastry strip.

Now, let's make the filling. 

Ingredients :

• 250 ml milk
• 2 egg yolks
• 20 grams granulated sugar
• 25 grams corn starch
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation :

1. In a pot, mix together about 150 ml milk with granulated sugar.
2. Turn on the heat, stir, and simmer on low heat until the sugar are dissolved.
3. Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk together the rest of the milk with egg yolk, corn starch, and vanilla extract.
4. Whisk until there's no more cornstarch lump.
5. Pour the cornstarch mixture into the pot.
6. Stir and cook the mixture with medium heat until the custard is thickened. (Tip : Be careful not to burn the custard).
7. Turn off the heat and transfer the custard into a shallow bowl.
8. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it cool completely.
9. Once the custard is not hot anymore, open the plastic wrap, and stir once more.
10. Pour the custard into a pipping bag and cut the tip.
11. Fill the horn by pipping the custard into the horn.

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Appelflap (Apple Turnover)

Winter is coming. It's getting colder and colder. Like as usual, I can start to see a lot of winter sweets vendor everywhere. They sell oliebollen (doughnut balls), appelbeignets (fried apples), and so many things including appelflapen (apple turnovers). I love appelflap. It is a triangle pastry dish which is filled with apple cubes mixed with cinnamon and brown sugar. In America, it is common as apple turnover but in here, we call it appelflap.

In the past, I used to buy it every winter. But after i got my own oven, I learned how to make it and it turned out so easy to make. I only need ready to use puff pastry, some apples, ground cinnamon, brown and white sugar, raisins, and eggs. Just mix the apples, with raisins, ground cinnamon and brown sugar and use it as a filling for the pastry. Seam the edges, brush with egg wash, and bake.

Appelflap is perfect for afternoon snack or treats. I made this for my daughter's friend as well when she came to play few days ago. They love it and even said that mine was better than the one from the vendor. Interested to  make it?

Ingredients (for 8 appelflapen) :

• 1 1/2 - 2 Apples, peeled and cut into small cubes
• 60 grams granulated brown sugar
• 3-4 tbs golden raisins
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 8 layers ready to use puff pastry (size 20x20 cm)
• 1 egg, beaten
• about 5 tbs white granulated sugar

Preparation :

1. Preheat oven for 200 C (392 F)
2. Prepare a baking sheet and line it with baking paper. Set aside.
3. Thaw the puff pastries. If you are using a big size ready to use puff pastry, cut it into small square (about 20x20 cm).
4. Using a fork, make some holes on the puff pastry.
5. In a bowl, mix together apple cubes, ground cinnamon, raisins, and brown sugar.
6. Spoon about 1 tbs apple mixture and put it in the middle of each puff pastries.
   
7. Brush the edge of pastry with egg wash and fold it into triangle.
8. Seam the edges together with a fork.
9. Brush the top surfaces with egg wash and sprinkle about 1 tsp granulated white sugar on the top of each appelflap. 
   
10. Line the unbaked appelflapen on the baking sheet and bake them for about 20 minutes or until they become golden brown.
11. Remove it  from the oven and serve it warm.

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Amandelstaaf (Almond Pastry)

Sinterklaasje kom maar binnen met je knecht. Want we zitten allemaal even recht. Misschien heeft U nog even tijd voordat U weer naar Spanje rijdt. 

It is one of the most popular children song in Netherlands. When December comes, basically I can hear many songs like this everywhere. Yes!! We celebrate St. Nicholas day on December 5th every year. Or it is more popular as Sinterklaas day. It is a pretty big occasion in Netherlands. Sinterklaas is pictured as an elderly man with white and long hair and beard who wears a red cloak, red cape and brings a bishop's staff. He comes from Spain with his assistants, zwarte piet (black pete), and he will carry a big bag full of candy and toys for nice children. Don't ask how that tradition began. Too many story and history behind this tradition.

Source : http://surfersparadise.be

Along with this celebration, there are a lot of traditional Dutch sweets and treats that can be enjoyed for this celebration. There are chocolate letters, kruidnoten (taste like gingerbread cookies but it has small round shape), pepernoten, taaitaai, and amandelstaaf.  I like amandelstaaf. It is a pastry dish filled with almondpaste and shaped like a sinterklaas' staff. Most of the store sell it for sinterklaas celebration and they are quite cheap. But this year I want to try to make it by myself instead of buy it from grocery store because it seems easy to make. So why don't I give it a try.

It turned out not bad at all. But it seems i need to seam it better because after baking, the almond paste a little bit melt out from the pastry. But it doesn't matter. The taste is still good and I'm still satisfied with the result. 

Ingredients :

• 3 layers ready to use puff pastry (20x20 cm)
• 250 grams almondpaste
• 2 eggs
• 4 tbs powdered sugar
• a little bit of flour

Tip : you can adjust the amount of powdered sugar depend on the sweetness and the stickiness of your almond paste.

Preparation :

1. Preheat oven for 200 C (392 F)
2. Prepare a baking sheet and line it with a baking paper. Set aside.
3. Beat 1 egg in a small bowl for egg wash. Set aside.
4. In a bowl, mix together almond paste, powdered sugar, and 1 egg until they are well combined. Set aside.
5. Dust the worktop with a little bit of flour, stack 3 layers of puff pastry, and dust the pastry with more flour. 
6. Roll them together until the pastry become wide and thin (approximately 45x20 cm) 
   
7. Transfer the puff pastry on the baking sheet. 
8. Place the almond paste mixture lengthwise on the top of the pastry. Place it on the right side.
9. Brush the edge of the pastry with egg wash.
10. Fold in the short end to the middle and fold in the rest of the pastry to cover the almond mixture and seam the edge. Make sure that the seam is on the bottom.
11. Bend it carefully so you will get a staff shaped pastry.
    
12. Brush the top with egg wash. 
13. Place it into preheated oven and bake it for about 25 minutes or until the pastry become golden brown.
14. Remove it from the oven and let it cool before cut it into pieces.

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Picnic Roll

Finally!! My first attempt making picnic roll. I've been wanting to make this for a very long time but I've never got the chance. This is one of my favorite pastry dish. I used to eat this in Indonesia. Well.. not often enough because it was considered not cheap and it usually because someone gave it to us as a gift or something like that. But sometime I miss it. Actually I can find a similar dish in here. Its name is saucijzenbroodje. Like picnic roll, it is a spiced ground beef wrapped in puff pastry. But the difference is it is a one person snack meanwhile, picnic roll is much bigger than saucijzenbroodje so it has to be sliced and served on slices.

Now, since I'm living in Netherlands, I can find ready to use puff pastry easily. I think I would like to try to make it by myself. I don't think it is a complicated dish. I only need ground beef and puff pastry. Lucky me there's a big sale of ground beef on nearby store. Why don't give it a try? I've been planning to make this dish for a very long time.

The size of my puff pastry is small. It's about 20 x 20 cm and it's not big enough to make big picnic roll. So, I pile up 3 layers of it and roll it together until i get one big and wide layer of puff pastry. I will use it for the bottom layer and for the top layer or for the cover i will use 2 layer of puff pastries and roll them together. To be honest I was not even sure it will work. But I was wrong. It turn out great. the taste is good as well. I'm so happy with the result.

Ingredients (for 2 picnic rolls):

• 10 layers (20x20 cm) ready to use puff pastry 
• 500 grams ground beef
• 2 eggs
• 2 medium onions, minced
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 tbs milk
• 1 1/2 - 2 cups (about 60-80 grams) Japanese bread crumbs (panko bread crumbs)
• 1 tsp salt
• ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 4 hard boiled egg, cut into half.
• 4-5 slices cheddar cheese, cut it into about 4 cm wide.
• 1 beaten egg for egg wash

Preparation :

1. In a big bowl, put together ground beef, eggs, ground nutmeg, minced onion, minced shallot, milk, breadcrumbs, salt and generous amount of ground black pepper.
2. Using your hand, mix them together until all the spices is mixed well with the ground beef. Do not hesitate to squeeze it a little bit. If the mixture is too wet, feel free to add a few more breadcrumbs into the meat mixture just until the excess liquid is well absorb by the breadcrumbs.
3. After the meat mixture is done, set aside.
4. Preheat the oven into 200 C (392 F)
5. Prepare a baking sheet and like it with a baking paper. Set aside. 
6. For making the bottom layer, dust the work top with a flour. 
7. Stack 3 layers of puff pastry and dust the top with flour. 
8. Roll it using a roller until the pastry become thin and wide (approximately 35x17 cm).
9. Make another bottom layer by stacking another 3 layers puff pastry and roll it again.
10. Place the rolled puff pastries on the prepared baking sheet.
11. Divide the meat mixture into two.
12. Take one half of the meat, press it tightly, and put it lengthwise in the middle of the rolled puff pastry.
13. Place cheddar cheese slices on the top of the meat.
14. Put four half cut hard boiled egg on the top of the cheese.
    
15. Repeat the same process for the second puff pastry.
16. For making the cover, dust again the worktop with some flour.
17. Stack 2 layers of puff pastry, dust it with flour, and roll it again until it become thin and wide (approximately 30x15 cm).
18. Repeat this process to make the second cover. 
19. Brush the edge of the bottom layer with egg wash.
20. Place the pastry cover on the top of the eggs and meat.
21. Press the edge of the cover into the bottom pastry to seam it.
22. You can cut the edge of the bottom layer or roll the edge up. 
    
23. Make some small holes on the cover using a fork
24. Brush the surfaces of the cover with egg wash.
25. Put the baking sheet into the oven and bake it for about 25-30 minutes.
26. Once it's done, remove it from the oven and let the pastry cool for little bit before cut and serve it.

Tip : You can make 3 picnic roll using the same amount of meat. But of course the amount of the meat for each roll will be less than if you are making two picnic rolls.

Tip :  You can keep this on the refrigerator for days. Just pop it into the microwave and done. If you want to make warm the whole roll, put it into preheated 180 C oven and bake it for about 15 minutes. Picnic roll goes well with tomato or chili sauce as well. 

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Puffed Egg Tart

My son is growing bigger now and getting curious on everything. He likes to play and make a mess all around. For example, two days ago he managed to get 2 eggs on his hand and broke them all. Yeah!! Thanks to him, now I have two broken eggs. I managed to save the egg yolk but the egg white had to go to the trash can. I don't really want to make an egg yolk omelette. I think I can make some mini egg tarts using those egg yolks. My friends are going to come to visit soon as well and I think it will be a nice treats for them.

The problem is I didn't have time neither too lazy to make the pie crust like the other egg pie. Well, I still have ready to use puff pastry. I think I can use it instead of making pie crust. It is easy to make, simple, and delicious. My daughter love it, my friends like it, and I know my husband will love me more. After baking process, the tart's shape is not too pretty maybe because I didn't make a deep bowl from my pastry. I was too afraid if the tart can't be removed from the tin (The fact, there were 4-5 tarts that can't be removed easily). But it doesn't matter. They're still delicious.

Maybe I wasted 2 egg whites because of my son curiosity but on other side I could create 30 yummy mini egg tarts.

Ingredients (for making 28-30 egg tarts) : 

• 2 egg yolks + 1 egg
• 70 grams white granulated sugar
• 150 ml milk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbs vanilla extract
• 10 x 10 cm 30 layer puff pastry (I'm using 6 layer of 20 x 20 cm ready to use puff pastry)

Preparation :

1. Preheat oven for 190 C (374 F)
2. Prepare mini muffin tins and grease it with butter. Set aside
3. In a bowl, mix together egg yolks, egg, milk, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract using a wire whisk.
4. Using a strainer, strain the custard batter to remove the egg lump
5. Arrange the puff pastry in the muffin tin and press it a little bit to make a small bowl on the muffin tin.
6. Pour egg custard into the puff pastry bowl. 1-2 tsp for each bowl.
   
7. Put the muffin tin into the preheated oven and bake them for about 20-25 minutes or until the pastry become golden brown.
8. Take the muffin tin out from the oven and let the pastry cool for a bit before they can be removed from the tin. 

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Appelbol

Appelbol is one of a famous dessert in Netherlands and Belgium. It is made from an apple which is spiced with sugar and cinnamon, and wrapped with puff pastry. It is sweet and delicious. Not to mention it is easy to make. There are some variation of it. Some people will add raisins, the other will add almond paste. I never tried using almond paste yet. But so far, the classic one is good enough for me. I like the taste of apple combined with caramelized brown sugar and cinnamon. Perfect for  this wet season.

Few days ago, I wanted to make this dessert. I never made it before and this will be my first attempt to make it. But I just happened that I had all the ingredients on my kitchen and my daughter wants some afternoon snack. So, why not? Let's get started.

Ingredients :

• 3 Apples
• 7 tbs brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 3 layers 20 x 20 cm ready to use puff pastry
• 4 tbs white sugar
• 1 egg, beaten

Preparation : 

1. Preheat oven for 200 C (392 F)
2. Line the baking sheet with baking paper. Set aside.
3. In a bowl, mix together brown sugar and ground cinnamon. Set aside. 
4. Peel the apples and remove the core using an apple corer.
   
5. Coat the apple with mixture brown sugar-cinnamon.
   
6. Place 3 layers of puff pastry on the prepared baking sheet and make some holes on it using a fork.
7. Put the apple in the middle of puff pastry.
8. Fill in the empty core of apple with leftover of brown sugar-cinnamon mixture.
9. Brush the edge of the pastry with egg wash.
10. Wrap the apple by pulling the corner of puff pastry into the middle top of the apple one by one. Press the edge of puff pastry to seam it.
11. Brush the surface of the unbaked appelbol with egg wash and coat or sprinkle it with granulated sugar. 
12. Put the baking sheet into the oven and bake them for about 20 minutes.

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Mini Sausage Roll

Today I really want to bake something easy for my kids snack. Hmm... I still have some puff pastry in my fridge and a can of sausage on my kitchen storage. I think sausage rolls is a good idea. It is easy and simple to make. I have all the ingredients as well. It is a snack or can be an appetizers based on sausage. In Netherlands, it is famous as sauzijzenbroodje. It is usually made from spiced ground beef and wrapped with puff pastry. In America, it is popular as pig in a blanket. Pig in a blanket is usually made using hot dog and puff pastry.

Well, actually what i will make today is using a recipe of pig in a blanket. But I don't really like the name. I don't know why. I think it sounds funny. I prefer to name it sausage roll. And I will make it in small size. One bite size. 

Ingredients (for making 20 sausage rolls) :

• Ready to use puff pastry. I'm using 5 layer of 20x20 ready to use puff pastry.
  
• 3-4 tbs honey mustard
• 1 can cocktail sausages
• 1 egg, beaten.
• grated cheese

Tip : I'm using honey mustard because i don't really like the strong taste of the normal mustard. If you do not have mustard or do not like it at all, you can always use tomato sauce instead of mustard. 

Preparation :

1. Heat the oven for 200 C (about 390F).
2. Line a baking sheet with a baking paper, set aside.
3. Cut puff pastry into small square (about 10x10 cm).
4. Put about 1/4 tsp honey mustard in the middle of each square.
5. Put 1 cocktail sausage on the top of the mustard diagonally.
6. Using pastry brush, wash the edge of each pastry square with beaten egg.
7. Roll the sausage with the puff pastry. 
   
   
   
   
8. Put the sausage rolls in the baking sheet.
9. Brush the top of the sausage roll with the remaining egg wash.
10. Add some grated cheese on the top of it.
11. Put the baking sheet into preheated oven and bake for about 20 min until golden brown.
    

This mini sausage rolls is perfect for party as well. I made this dish for my daughter's birthday party few months ago, and she and her friends loved them. 

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