Sweet and Savory Puff Pastry Treats are a staple in my house. I’ve been making these two for many years. Ina Garten on the Food Network also had an episode where she made these recipes. What was crazy was that Elephant Ears were close to Ina Garten’s recipe.

The Cheese Straws, well, they were a bit different. I used Grana Padano cheese with mine, whereas she used two kinds of cheese, Parmesan and Gruyere. When I made this recipe, I added the Gruyere to mine too, and they were delicious. Two kinds of cheese are better than one!

 

Elephant Ears:
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yields: 16 elephant ears
Equipment: 2 rimmed baking sheet pans, parchment paper, a rolling pin, a chef’s knife

Ingredients for the Elephant Ears: (using one sheet of puff pastry)
1 cup of granulated sugar divided into 2 bowls (1/2 cup per bowl)
1/8 teaspoon of kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 sheet of Pepperidge Farm puff pastry

Cheese Straws:
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Total Time: 27 minutes
Yields: 24 cheese straws
Equipment: 2 rimmed baking sheets, 1 mini food processor, parchment paper, pizza cutter

Ingredients for the Cheese Straws:
2 sheets of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry, thawed overnight in the fridge
1 large egg
1 tablespoon of water
1/2 cup of freshly grated Grana Padano cheese (divided into two bowls)
1 cup of freshly grated Gruyère cheese (divided into two bowls)
1 teaspoon of freshly minced basil leaves
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, freshly-ground

Instructions for the Elephant Ears:
Preheat oven to 450°F.
The first thing is to move the puff pastry to the fridge the day before to thaw out overnight. You want to work with it as cold as possible. Set up two bowls. One with granulated sugar mixed with a pinch of kosher salt, and one with sugar and cinnamon combined.

Spread the sugar and salt mixture all over a flat surface like my cutting board. A marble surface is fine too. I unfold the pastry and lay it right on top of the sugar mixture. At the top of the pastry, pour the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly all over, covering the top. So now there’s sugar on the bottom surface of the pastry, and cinnamon sugar on the top surface.

You need to move quickly so the dough remains as cold as possible. Take a rolling pin and roll the pastry out into a rectangle, about 12 inches square. Doing this allows for the sugar to be pushed into the pastry on both sides. Next, fold the sides of the square towards the center so they meet in the middle. Repeat this process with those halves to the folds that meet in the middle, as shown in the pictures above. Then fold both halves on top of each other, making 6 layers.

Next, slice the dough into slightly under 1-inch slices. Place the slices, cut side up, onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake the pastry for 5 minutes, or until the bottoms are caramelized and brown, then flip them over with a spatula, and bake for another 4-5 minutes. This will allow for the other side to caramelize. Carefully move each one to a rack to cool.

There you have it, my Elephant Ears.

Instructions for the Cheese Straws:
Preheat oven to 375°F.
First, grate the cheese in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Once all the cheese has been grated, roll out each sheet of puff pastry on a lightly floured board. You want it to be a rectangle, roughly 10 by 12 inches.

Divide equally into two bowls, add the grated Gruyere, Grana Padano cheese, chopped basil, Kosher salt, and fresh-ground black pepper. Brush *eggwash over the top surface of one of the pastry sheets. Using one of the prepared cheese bowls, spread the cheese over the top of the brushed pastry.

Using a rolling pin, press the cheese mixture into the pastry. Next, use a pizza cutter to slice the pastry crosswise into 10 strips. Twist each strip and lay them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Repeat this process for the second sheet of Puff Pastry.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned and puffed. Turn each one over and bake for another 2 minutes. Be sure to keep a close eye on them, so the cheese doesn’t burn. Cool and serve at room temperature.

There you have it, my Cheese Straws.

Together, you have my Sweet and Savory Puff Pastry Treats:

Notes:
1) *Egg wash: 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water or milk.

2) Linda Lou Hamel is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value are important to you, I recommend running the ingredients through a preferred online nutritional calculator of your choice. Calories and values can vary depending on the brands you choose.

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