Like my Wizard of Oz coffee mug? Yeah, we got a little obsessed around here for a while, but it has, blessedly, passed…
OK, so if you dig the flavor of almonds, you really owe it to yourself to make these right away. I’ve made them a couple of times over the past few weeks and they are really something special, especially when they’re hot out of the oven.
Almond Croissant Turnovers
(recipe adapted from this one)
1/2 package frozen puff pastry
1/4 cup canned almond paste
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup sliced almonds
Thaw the puff pastry (you’ll use only one of the sheets in the package…wrap the other one tightly in plastic wrap and keep it in the freezer) at room temperature, wrapped in waxed paper or plastic wrap, for about 45 minutes, until it’s soft enough to handle without it breaking.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Carefully unfold the sheet and lay it out flat on a lightly floured work surface. Using a pastry cutter or pizza cutter, cut the sheet into four equal-sized squares. Gently spread one tablespoonful of almond paste onto each square, stopping about a half-inch away from the edges of each square.
Starting at one corner, gently fold each pastry square over, diagonally, to form a triangle over the filling. Beginning on the folded side, gently press any excess air out of the dough and then press the edges of the triangle to seal it, using a minimal amount of the egg (applied with a pastry brush) as glue, if necessary. Repeat with each pastry square and then place all of the filled and sealed croissants on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Brush each croissant with a thin but thorough (cover the whole surface, but don’t douse it and try not to apply so much that it bleeds over onto the parchment paper) coat of the beaten egg. Sprinkle each croissant with a coating of the sliced almonds (as many or as few as you’d like…a small clump or coat the whole thing…your choice) and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the croissants are golden brown and the almonds on top are toasted.
Let cool for about 1 minute while you brew your coffee, and then enjoy.
Nota Bene: I only use half the package of puff pastry, because there are four of us in my family, but you could obviously very easily double this recipe, by using the whole package, to make 8 croissants…or as many as you might need, if you’re serving a crowd. I haven’t tried it yet, but I also think it would be fun to cut each sheet into 16 tiny squares and make mini croissants…stay tuned!
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