Almond Danish Puff

I am so far behind in my blogs. My kitchen occupied most of my weekends through March and April. I sanded and restained my cabinets and painted the walls. It was a lot of work, but it was so worth the effort. I managed to cook and bake a little bit, but sitting down and typing up the blogs for what I was making just didn't seem to happen. So, now I'm trying to catch up. This little number here is absolutely worth your time. It takes a bit from beginning to eating, but the prep itself didn't take very long, and isn't very complicated. I found the recipe on Pinterest: Almond Danish Puff. 

Base

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tbsps water

Topping

1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs

Creamy Almond Glaze

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsps butter, softened
1 tsp almond extract
1-2 Tbsps warm water or 1 -2 Tbsps milk
sliced almonds

Heat oven to 350ºF.

Cut 1/2 cup softened butter into 1 cup flour, using pastry blender or crisscrossing two knives, until particles are size of coarse crumbs.

Sprinkle 2 tablespoons water over mixture; mix with fork. Gather pastry into ball; divide in half or quarters. Pat each piece into a rectangle, 12x3 inches (if two) or 6x3 inches (if four), about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Heat remaining 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup water to rolling boil in 2-quart saucepan; remove from heat. Quickly stir in almond extract and 1 cup flour. Stir vigorously over low heat about 1 minute or until mixture forms a ball; remove from heat. Add eggs; beat until smooth.

Spread half of the topping over each rectangle. This was my first attempt at making these, so here's a lesson learned: you see I did not spread the topping to the edge of the bottom pastry. You should definitely spread it to completely cover the bottom pastry!

Bake about 1 hour or until topping is crisp and brown; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely.

While pastry cools, make the almond glaze. Mix 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 2-3 tbsp softened butter, 1 tsp almond extract, and 1-2 tbsp warm water or milk until smooth and spreadable. When the pastries are completely cooled, spread the glaze over them.

Spinach Pie

This is an absolutely amazing recipe. I mean really, how can it ever be wrong to combine cheese and bacon and spinach? It's reasonable if you're watching your calories (so long as you don't eat half of it in one sitting), and it reheats well for lunch leftovers. I got this recipe from my mom. It's one she's been making for more than 20 years. She clipped it out of a newspaper or magazine, and what I have it a copy of that, so unfortunately, I can't provide proper credit. I think it's probably a Philadelphia Cream Cheese recipe, but I'm not sure. I tweak mine just a little from the original, so I'll give you the straight recipe and then tell you what I did different.

1 9-inch pastry pie shell

1 pkg 8 oz cream cheese, cubed

1/2 cup milk (I use 2%)

1 pkg 10 oz frozen chopped spinach, cooked and drained

1 cup (4 oz) shredded natural Swiss cheese 

3 eggs, beaten

6 crisply cooked bacon slices, crumbled (I used 8-9 slices)

2 tsp chopped onions (I used about a 1/4-1/3 cup)

1/4 tsp salt

dash of pepper

Prick bottom and sides of pie crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Combine cream cheese and milk in saucepan, and stir over low heat until smooth.

In large bowl, beat eggs. Gradually add cream cheese mixture to eggs, and mix well until blended. 

Add remaining ingredients, and mix well. 

Pour into pastry shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until set. If your pie crust edge gets too well done too quickly, a trick you can use is to wrap the edge of the pie with aluminum foil for about 3/4 of the cook time. I left mine on for about 25-30 minutes before I removed it.

Divide the pie and enjoy!!!

The recipe calls for 8 servings, but frankly, that's just enough to tease you. I entered the recipe for the below calorie count for 6 servings.