I was in Cebu a week ago and the day before returning home, I asked Artisan C. if he would be kind enough to sell me some puff pastry if he thought it could weather a three-hour or more transit time to Manila. He said it might make it if I kept it chilled, so part of my luggage was a box filled with about 10 portions or sheets of hand-made puff pastry, chilled with frozen sisig as the “blue ice” proxy. :) The flight was a bit delayed and including transit time, the puff pastry was out of the freezer for nearly 4.5 hours, so I was expecting the worst when we opened up the boxes in our Manila kitchen. They were a bit soft, but still quite cold, so I think they made the journey relatively unscathed. If you’re wondering what the big deal is, if puff pastry warms up and the fat between the layers oozes out or mixes with the dough, it won’t puff up nicely when baked. These are the first of several recipes we made with the bounty of puff pastry (most of it with butter, but some of it an experimental batch with zubulard).
The pastry sticks were an absolute hit. So easy to make if you have puff pastry in the freezer, either hand made by someone else (trust me, I have NO desire to even attempt making my own puff pastry), or even the store-bought kind, which is consistent but much pricier. To make the sweet pasty sticks, I simply took out thawed some sheets of puff pastry and brushed the entire side with egg wash. Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon sugar all over (use a lot of sugar). Cover with some greaseproof paper or the plastic that the pastry is wrapped in and press lightly to help the sugar adhere to the dough. Remove the plastic, fold the pastry in half so that the sugar is “inside” and brush the exposed pastry with more egg wash and sprinkle more sugar. Cut with a pizza cutter into 1/3 or 1/2 inch strips, twist and place on a baking sheet lined with a silpat mat or baking paper. Place in a hot oven say 400F for about 12-15 minutes until puffed, golden and done. Fantastic! Could barely wait for them to cool, and they were crisp, sweet, cinnamony, and perfect. The top two photos here are the sugar/cinnamon sticks.
Thrilled with the results above, we immediately took out more puff pastry and instead of sugar and cinnamon, we put grated queso de bola (leftovers from the holidays!) and cracked black pepper. This seemed like a great idea, but I find the cheese melted and provided a bit too much moisture so the resulting sticks, while very good, weren’t as crisp as the sugary ones. Also, you have to put a LOT of cheese or season further with salt. Maybe next time I would add some dried herbs as well.
The crew are getting immune to all of my crazed experiments in the kitchen, and several are on diets after blood tests revealed we all have to watch blood numbers, so you know what you’ve cooked is pretty good when four sheets of pastry are wiped out before the end of the day… :) And they took any leftovers home to their families. These are easy yet delicious appetizers or dessert items for your family or a crowd of visitors. Definitely have to remember this for holiday entertaining. Thanks Artisan for the puff pastry… the experiments shall continue. :)
25 Responses
It sure looks good MM, Yummy, Yummy!
In France, the twisted puff pastry are known as Sacristains. Glad to know they survived the trip!! ;-)
Puff Pastry? Do I smell danish pastries, croissants and strudels in the air? Yuuuum! :)
Those look awesome! Where can you buy the ready-made puff pastry?
Is Artisan’s work area air-conditioned? Your Cebu specialty Otap looks like a Tropics version of puff pastry to me. I suspect they originally used lard for that too. I like them better than the puff pastry one gets here (in Toronto) that resorts to artificial folding fat that leaves a waxy feel in your mouth. If you flavor Otap with anise and sprinkle them with sesame seeds you can fool people into thinking they are tortas de aceite from Seville.
Btw, sacristains are found always close to the religieuses and not far from the mendiants in any pâtisserie in France.
I have NO desire to even attempt making my own puff pastry…
I don’t understand – you make so many things that imho, are a LOT more complicated than puff pastry. It’s one of the easiest doughs to make as long as you have a cold room, a cold surface to work on, and a fridge to keep the dough chilled. And yes it’s time consuming but only in the sense that complete chilling is required between each rolling and folding of the dough. Other than that, it’s a nit!
C’mon Mr. MM – go for it! You know you want to …
what’s the minimum qualification to become ur crew?
Yes, please, can Chreylle and I join the queue of those wanting to sign up for your crew?
Artisan Chocolatier, where can we buy your pastries? Do you still have that shop up in the hills past Cebu Plaza?
You need to make sausage rolls! They’re especially delicious with all-butter puff pasty, and especially fattening!
cvq, I have hot hands, a generally hot kitchen in the city, and less patience than you might think. :) I have never aspired to making my own croissant, and am happy to buy them and savor them the few times I am near a real french patisserie that makes them brilliantly… to give you an idea, my empanada kaliskis is the closest I have come to a makuti dough, and it was disastrous. My thinnest lumpia wrapper ever is never. :)
chreylie, a bachelor of arts and a good sense of humor. Hahaha. I jest of course. Footloose, yes the otap are very similar, and yes, probably made with lard in its original form, but purico or vegetable shortening of late… Patricia good groceries and delis carry them, Santis always has them, and S&R and Rustan’s sometimes have frozen puff pastry. tonceq, you smell well. Artisan, will be back for more…
“My thinnest lumpia wrapper ever is never”, HAHA! me, too. Weird, I was successful in making puff pastry the first time I did it on my own (the very first was in a bread baking class) but I can never perfect a crepe or lumpia wrapper. I guess, you’d be of no help here. haha!
looks yummy! made me hungry na naman…
OT: MM, how come Zubuchon does not deliver on saturdays?
Here in Australia you can get pizzas with a puff pastry base; interesting but not great.
ging, I don’t think they have gotten enough requests for delivery by kilo on the weekend, so deliveries have been discontinued on weekends. But they still deliver whole lechons on the weekends. Hang on a couple of months for the restaurant openings, more choices will be available then. Thanks. Are you craving some lechon just now?
My kids will love this …they will definitely dip it in olive oil and parmesan cheese.
yummy:)
Thanks MM. We were going through a working lunch and I thought some Zubu would be nice. Since there was no delivery and no one was free to go to BTC, we ended up with Sizzling Burger Steaks courtesy of Orange Brutus delivery instead.
Will you be getting the space beside Pancake House at BTC? Hoping ;-)
Ging, not quite. BTC stall to be maintained but food products upgraded a bit to include other items. New locations on Escario street and on Mango Avenue. But that’s at least two months away given current snail’s pace with design and approvals… :)
Oooh! Escario Building? I inquired there and they told me a resto got the space first :-)
oh, wow! those breadsticks looks so good! you’re making me want to make some right now. hmmm… maybe, i should.
It really made me smile to notice “Zubulard” and the thought of it being incorporated into a puff pastry.
Maybe this could be a start of a less pricey variant of puff pastry with a different taste…
Marketman, you can also make Parmesan Twists by spreading mustard thinly and then sprinkling parmesan cheese on the puff pastry.
Yum. Could you send some my way?
its me again malcolm i just want to know were to bye puff pastry i know were to finde it in manillia but not in cebu pls help so i can show my inlows how to make some deliouce deserts ps sorry about the spelling i need to finde the puff pastry in sheete pls help mal from the kangeroo country thanks mal