Dutch Apple Pancake

Recipe Source: Betty Crocker

At the Cookie Party

My first brioche

I finally got around to buying a brioche pan at Williams-Sonoma while browsing the store for their 15% off cooks’ tools event. I’ve always been a fan of egg-breads and have baked a number of challahs with some success. I used the recipe in the Williams-Sonoma Bread book. The brioche turned out quite well and we’ve already eaten most of it. As you can see, the top knot toppled a little and the bread got slightly past golden brown (which is either from my oven not really being at 400 degrees or from the pan being a darker metal). Will have to try a slightly lower temperature next time.

Who doesn’t love puff pastry?

I’m so happy to have Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets in my grocer’s freezer, although I’ve found that baking them to golden, flaky layers in the more non-traditional recipes is a little more difficult. Following the directions on the box for the suggested recipes didn’t seem to work well.
So I decided to flip through the recipes in my cookbooks and find one close enough to the empanadas-style appetizer I was making. Sure enough, there was a turnover recipe in “Joy of Cooking” that used homemade puff pastry. After brushing the sheet with some beaten egg, bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, followed by another 15 minutes at 350 degrees. The pastry came out puffed, golden, and delicious… perfection.