Spanish Pastry

Yes, these members of the bar-cookie family are as beautiful and delicious as the picture suggests! Spanish Pastry bears a resemblance to a Spanish torte, has the airy crunch of a French cream puff and yet the cream cheese frosting is as one would expect, uniquely American! A culinary hybrid perhaps? Regardless of its origin, this is a gem of a recipe and has been a party favorite (and a closet - last feast before the famine goody before starting a diet) choice for many years. My brother once said he would eat anything frosted with cream cheese frosting (we didn't put him to the test) but his wife rode a bicycle 2 miles to purchase the cream cheese for this recipe. Shared with me many years ago by a European woman who may have had her recipe cards clearly marked with the country of origin, these pastries are comprised of a unique pate choux body, layered on a shortbread crust, baked in 6 inch wide strips, cut into finger-sized cuttings, frosted and finally, garnished with almonds. Add some dried cranberries if you want a festive pop of color for either Christmas or Valentine's. Makes 36 servings.

Spanish Pastry
1 cup soft butter
11/2 cups flour
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp. salt
1 cup flour
3 eggs
1 - 8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tab. vanilla extract
sliced almonds

-(Shortbread) In medium mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup soft butter and 1 1/2 cups flour.  Blend until smooth (add 1 - 2 tab. water if mixture is not smooth.) On cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, pat shortbread into two, 12 by 6 inch strips.

-(Cream Puff Pastry/Pate a Choux) In medium sauce pan, pour water and add 1/2 cup butter and salt.  Bring to boil over medium-high heat until butter is melted.  All at once, pour in flour and stir over heat for 2 - 3 minutes until mixture pulls away from the sides and balls around the spoon as you stir.

-Remove pate a choux dough from heat and place in electric mixture.  Mix for about 2 minutes at medium speed, allowing some of the heat to escape.

-Stir in 1 egg at a time, beating well after each (for about 1 minute on medium-high speed).

-Mound half of pate a choux mixture down the center of each strip and using a knife or cake spreader, cover the entire surface of the shortbread layer with the choux mixture.  Sculpt into peaks.

-Bake in 380 degree oven for about 45 minutes, until puffed and golden.  Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature. (The pate a choux layer may collapse some upon cooling.)

-In a mixing bowl, combine butter and cream cheese until smooth and well blended.  Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla extract.  Frost cooled pastry and garnish with almonds.  Allow to sit for an hour or so or chill, then cut crosswise into finger length strips.  Makes 36 servings.

Erdbeerkuchen (German Strawberry Cake)

       The Frankfurt Zoo....baby in a stroller....bright, light day when the air is at such a compatible temperature you don't even notice it and so fused with the aroma of spring, you forget to smell the animals. Popping with a cherry red freshness the strawberries pillowed midst sweetened cream and nestled on a bed of airy sponge cake would not allow refusal at the Zoo cafe!  This German version of strawberry shortcake features berries enrobed with velvety cream as nature must have intended - berries and cream - didn't someone in nursery rhymes feast upon it?  The tedious folding technique required for the sponge cake ensures the airy volume that creates the sponge, which is admittedly of a different nature than shortcake but creates a lighter dessert. A very specific cake pan is required to be truly authentic - similar to a flan pan, it has a fluted edge, with a depression in the center to hold the berries, although you can substitue a flan pan or even a pie plate and simply place the berries on top.  If interested, the obstorte pan can be purchased inexpensively at the following link:  http://www.amazon.com/Zenker-Flan-Tart-Nonstick-11-Inch/dp/B00022447Q/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1344177794&sr=8-12&keywords=torte+pans.

       Erdbeerkuchen is just one variation of the fresh fruit cake. (I was always fascinated by the construction of  German words in which it seems that words we would separate such as Strawberry Shortcake are simply joined together as in Erdbeerkuchen. Here is a long German word champion: Rindfleischetikettierungs which broken down is "beef meat labeling"!) The obstorte (cake) is filled with endless varieties of fruits and medleys.  I wonder how they would write an obstorte filled with raspberries, peaches, kiwi fruit and cherries - raspberrypeachkiwifruitcherrykuchen?

Erdbeerkuchen (German Strawberry Cake)
5 eggs

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup flour

¼ cup cornstarch

1 tsp. baking powder

Dash salt

Grated lemon peel

1 ½ tsp. vanilla 

-Beat egg whites till foamy.  Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until very stiff.  In separate bowl, beat yolks till thick and lemon colored.  Add vanilla and lemon peel to yolks.  Fold yolks into whites.  Fold dry ingredients into egg mixture.  Pour into well greased and floured obstorte pan (cover flat bottom of pan with waxed paper and then grease and flour edges.) Bake at 325 degrees for 15-20  minutes.  Cool slightly and turn out of pan.  Makes 2. 

Strawberry Filling:

3-4 cups whole strawberries

1 cup strawberry jam

1 cup strawberry juice

½ cup orange juice

½ cup sugar

2 tab. lemon juice

4 tab. cornstarch mixed with 2 tab. cold water 

-In medium sauce pan combine strawberry and orange juice with sugar.  Stir in cornstarch mixture and bring to boil over medium heat until thick and clear.  Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice.  Allow to cool about 10 minutes. 

To Assemble:

-Spread top of cool cake with jam and arrange strawberries completely covering the top.  Poor cooled glaze over the berries.  Chill and serve with whipped cream.

Tunisian Almond Phyllo "Snake"

Almond Phyllo Snake

If Amal knew how to make filo pastry, she never showed me how. I suspect
the truth is that her mother had never made it and that with the coming of
mechanization, even her grandmother dropped her rolling pin, dusted off her
hands and raised them to heaven with exclamations of "Il hum-dil-allah"! (Praise God). Can you imagine rolling and stretching a dough of flour and water to the prescribed 1/32 of an inch thickness, let alone the counter space required? 

So this is one pastry we don't make just like grandma did, although you too, can become adept at reaching for the boxes of frozen filo in the back of the grocery store freezer section to select the perfect one (the boxes in the front tend to be older and somewhat dried out). Melted butter is filo pastry's "partner in the
sublime" and accounts for the buttery, golden crunch of the final product!


Finicky Fillo:
(secrets I have discovered about the pastry in our long association, beginning with the meat filled rolls prepared for my wedding!)

*Be sure phyllo is completely thawed before using. It may be kept in the fridge up to a week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

*Don't work with phyllo when you are in a hurry with 5 minutes to spare have a grumpy toddler pulling on your leg or workmen are drilling in your basement. Though not difficult the separation of the paper thin layers can be tedious and a calm spirit tends to a neater result!
*Unroll phyllo and lay the stack of pastry sheets flat on work surface. Keep stack loosely covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying out as you work with the individual sheets.
*Brush all exposed surfaces of the pastry with melted butter, including tops, bottoms and sides of shaped and completed dish. Though margarine can be used and some recipes opt for olive oil or cooking spray, please don't use anything but butter - and certainly don't offer me any if made with anything else - a persnickety cook indeed!
*Score pastry before baking if served in pieces with a sharp, serrated knife,
then cut again through the scorings after baking. (The almond snake is
an exception - do not score before baking.)

*Alas, you will not have success freezing phyllo dishes after they have been baked...they lose their crunch and morph into a heavy, soggy version of their former glorious selves. However, some dishes do well if frozen before baking, such as baklawa. It can be prepared, thoroughly brushed with butter and covered with foil. Uncover and set out for 20 - 30 minutes and bake as directed. Filo dishes are best stored at room temperature only lightly covered with foil. No airtight containers or plastic bags or there goes the crunch!

Almond Filo Snake

1 cup ground almonds (in food processor)

1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 egg, separated

2 tsp. finely grated lemon rind

1 tsp. almond extract

1/2 cup melted butter

24 sheets phyllo pastry

Pinch of ground cinnamon

Powdered sugar to dust

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease an 8-inch round pan.

-Place the ground almonds in a bowl with the powdered sugar.  Put the egg white in a bowl and lightly beat with a fork.  Add to the almonds with the lemon rind, and extract.  Mix well.

-Remove 2 sheets of  phyllo and cover the rest with plastic wrap to prevent it drying out.  Brush the phyllo sheets with butter, then cover with 2 more sheets and butter, repeat one more time with 2 more sheets of phyllo, using a total of 6 sheets.  Spread 1/4 of almond mixture along the length of the buttered pastry and roll up to enclose the filling.  Form into a coil and set the coil in the center of the pan.  Make 3 more snakes and use butter to join to the other rolls and continue shaping to make a large coil.

-Add the cinnamon to the egg yolk and brush over the snake.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Let cool for 10 minutes then dust with powdered sugar, sprinkle with toasted sliced almonds and serve cut in wedges.  

(The snake will keep for up to 3 days but should not be refrigerated.)