Friday Faves – Nutmeg Nanny makes Chocolate Almond Pastry
Whew – sorry this is getting posted so late in the day. Blogger decided to take the evening off last night and didn’t come back up until recently. Today is a beautiful day in Boston and I’m very excited that it’s Friday! How about you? Today’s Friday Fav is a Nutmeg Nanny. I love that blog name! Freshly ground nutmeg is one of my favorite ingredients ever. Brandy makes all sorts of tasty treats andhas participated in my Operation Baking Gals teams and Bloggers Bake for Hope. If you haven’t seen her blog, definitely check it out.
Hello! I’m Brandy from the food blog Nutmeg Nanny. I’m a small town girl who left the corn fields of Ohio for the beautiful landscape of the Hudson Valley region of New York. My life was not always about cooking and baking but over the past ten years I have started exploring my foodie side. I use my blog to share my sweet treats and sometimes savory dishes. I’m not a fan of intimidating food so I like to keep my recipes simple…but delicious!
Do you ever have a night where all you want is something sweet? I tend to have those nights almost every night. It’s an addiction….I’m sure of it. Well, sometimes on those nights I just don’t have the energy to whip up a batch of cookies or cake. Luckily, I recently found a delicious quick dessert treat. I can now have my sweet chocolate fix in barely no time at all! It’s perfectly delicious cut into wedges and even better topped with ice cream. Then again, whats not better topped with ice cream?
This recipe uses store bought puff pastry, chocolate morsels, sea salt and almonds. Ingredients I always have sitting in my pantry. The most important thing to remember when using puff pastry is to keep it cold. If it’s not cold it will not properly puff…and that would be sad and not so delicious. The added sea salt is optional but I’m a big fan of the salty and sweet combo…how about you?
Enjoy!!!
Chocolate Almond Pastries
Ingredients:
1 sheet frozen puff pastry - thawed
1 large egg - lightly beaten for egg wash
Turbinado sugar - for sprinkling
1 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (Or use morsels)
Best-quality honey - for drizzling
2 tablespoons whole almonds - toasted and coarsely chopped
Sea salt - for sprinkling (Optional)
Vanilla ice cream, for serving (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Arrange puff pastry on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Trim edges if needed to form a 10-inch square, and fold each edge in to form a 1-inch crust. Prick middle of dough all over with a fork. Brush edges with egg
wash, and sprinkle with sugar. Freeze for 15 minutes.
Transfer baking sheet to oven, and bake until pastry is puffed and golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and cover center evenly with chocolate. Drizzle with honey, and sprinkle with salt. Return to oven, and bake until chocolate melts, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with almonds,and cut into 4 squares. Serve with ice cream if desired, and drizzle with more honey.
Recipe from Martha Stewart
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Mmmm amazing! I love all of the different flavors in each part of the recipe! Perfect for the 17th…maybe even with a drop of green food coloring =)
I’ve been wanting to make a version of htis for awhile and almost did this weekend. Now my plan is tackle them for St. Pat’s. Thanks for reminding me to do this.
My husband and his Army buddies LOVE these cupcakes! I get requests for them almost weekly!
sounds so good!! I could go for one now 🙂
Well I love Irish Car Bombs so in dessert form I know I would love it even more!
Wow – I am dying to try these. They look amazing!
Wow these look amazing. That looks like the perfect amount of frosting, too.
I made these for a friend’s birthday last month and absolutely fell in love with them. They are the perfect St. Patty’s day cupcake. Or any day really. My friends proclaimed them the best they had ever tasted. Yours look fantastic!
What a wonderful recipe! And just in time for St Pats 😀
BB
Check me out.
http://www.brisbanebaker.blogspot.com
Mmm, they look amazing and are so perfect for St. Patty’s Day – yum!
Wow these are some fancy looking cupcakes! Great job 🙂
I’m still in the process of making these…(Have yet to Ice and taste) But My ganache didn’t come out right…I stayed runny even when completely cooled and I can’t figure out what I did wrong 🙁
Shayna – So sorry to hear the ganache didn’t set up. Did you try putting it in the fridge? I’ve never had that issue…
I am ready to make these but I do not have enough bittersweet chocolate for the ganache. Can I use semi-sweet or unsweetened chocolate? Will it still taste okay?
beantownbaker — March 16th, 2013 @ 2:49 pm
Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. Semisweet would work ok, I wouldn’t use unsweetened.
Have you ever made these into a cake? I have made them multiple times and love them but was hoping to make this into a cake for a birthday. Any thoughts?