Behind the scenes I have been working on perfecting my pastry skills! Yesterday, wanting a delightful treat! Yet not wanting to commit to the time frame a fluffy pastry dough takes, I decided it was time to experiment!
There has been some debate on whether or not a cream cheese dough can be laminated properly. The fundamental basics of a puff pastry dough depend on a high fat content. This binds your ingredients, and high fat content allows you to create wonderful, flaky layers of goodness by creating air pockets in the dough while baking! A typical puff pastry recipe calls for 24 tablespoons of butter, and can take anywhere from 1 to 3 days to prepare. By omitting more than half the butter and substituting with cream cheese you lose fat content.
But! Determined am I!
My husband has a real sweet tooth! Not the candy and chocolate sweet tooth that I have, but rather a danish, cinnamon roll, monkey bread kinda hankering! I am happy to oblige! I love to have treats ready after school and work! Again, not wanting a treat that took days of anticipation... (all though croissant dough is resting in the fridge as we speak) here is what I came up with! Just a little quicker, different textured version of a great!
8 T softened unsalted sweet cream butter
4 ounces softened cream cheese cut into cubes
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 T sugar
splash of vanilla
(I wondered about orange zest)
This can be mixed with a food processor or by hand! I used my food processor. Mix butter, cream cheese, and whipping cream until smooth. Add the flour, salt, sugar, and vanilla and blend/knead until a smooth ball is formed. If dough is too sticky add additional flour a Tablespoon at a time. Let dough rest covered with plastic in the fridge for an hour.
On a floured surface roll the dough out into a thin rectangle. Then fold into thirds, like a letter... cover with plastic and refrigerate for thirty minutes. After thirty minutes remove and with the open flap towards you roll out again. Fold into thirds, refrigerate. Repeat this step two more times. I turned my dough three times. If dough becomes to sticky to work with pop back into the refrigerator!
These are the layers I achieved with three turns, you could add a few more if you are so inclined!
Pre heat oven to 350 After the final turn, roll out once more shaping an even rectangle. Cut off the uneven edges. With a pizza cutter or knife divide dough in half lengthwise. Then make 8-10 squares. For a pinwheel shape cut two inches into the corners of your square and fold in on top of your favorite fruit topping! Sprinkle Coarse granulated sugar on top! If you would like that golden brown appearance use an egg wash. I did not do this. Bake until the tops of your pinwheels are browned, mine took about 12 minutes!
Cream Cheese topping:
At our house we prefer to taste the cream cheese, so this recipe is not the typical sweetened frosting recipe!
4 ounces softened cream cheese
3 T salted sweet cream butter
1 T milk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Mix it all together until light and fluffy! Top and enjoy!
