Sfogliatelle - Lobster Tails

Sfogliatelle. Seriously not even sure how to pronounce it. They look like lobster tails, SO we call them lobster tails. This is an italian pastry that I made for a birthday party by special request. It was the FIRST time I've ever made these.


If you are looking for an easy, fool-proof dessert to make on a whim...these are NOT for you. This pastry took approximately one billion hours to make. And it wasn't easy. BUT I'm always up for a challenge and (as is the point of this blog) I'm wanting to try new things. If THAT is what you're looking for, then make these. It was a fun experience and felt like quite an accomplishment.

The dough is pretty easy to start. Just mix the flours, sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender. (I don't have a pastry blender so I just use a fork. It works; it just takes longer.) Slowly add the water until the dough forms.

I made the sfogliatelle two different ways. One with the homemade dough (shown above) and another using pre-made puff pastry. The puff pastry turned out a little flakier, but was WAY harder to work with. If I were to make this recipe again I wouldn't use the pre-made pastry, but I'm telling you about it so you at least have that option. (My first photo is of the puff-pastry.) 

One of the reasons this pastry is so hard to make is because it's most often not made at home. Usually it's made in a bakery and run through a pasta press 5 or 6 times until it's paper thin. But, since I don't have a pasta press or a mile long counter top, I just rolled it with a rolling pin as thin as I could possibly get it.

Brush the dough with the melted lard and roll it up like a jellyroll.

Cut the dough into 2 inch pieces. At this point you can see why rolling it as thin as possible will get you the best flaky layers.

Now make the filling. Heat the milk to boiling in a saucepan and slowly add semolina flour, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Simmer for a few minutes until it's thick and smooth. Remove from heat (to a separate bowl) and let cool for about 5 minutes. Use a fine mesh sieve to remove any lumps from the ricotta.

I made my own candied orange (which is SUPER easy by the way) because I couldn't find any in the store. Add the ricotta, egg, sugar, candied fruit, and cinnamon to the semolina/milk mixture. Beat until well blended and set aside.

Now comes the hard part. I wish I had taken pictures of the actual assembly of the sfogliatelle, but its like a four hand job so there's no way I could have taken a picture at the same time. 

So here's how you do it: 

Take one of the roll slices in the palm of your hand and press the thumb of your other hand in the center of the pastry to form a small ribbed cup. (Think of a collapsable cup.) Do everything you can to keep the ribs from separating and begin to stretch the dough. Work carefully around the cup, pushing down with your thumbs and pulling up with your fingers. Form each piece into a cone.  

Once the cone reaches about 3 inches at the opening, fill with a tablespoon or two of the ricotta cream filling and seal shut. 

Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden. Let cool completely and dust with powdered sugar before serving. 

These pastries turned out better than I thought they would. I'm certainly no pastry chef and had never attempted a recipe like this before, so they weren't perfect.  But it just goes to show you that you can make difficult things at home...you just have to try! 

Sfogliatelle - Lobster Tails

Pastry Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup semolina flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup lard or margarine, melted

Note:  You may wish to substitute 1 (1 pound package of frozen
puff pastry dough, thawed, for the above pastry recipe)

Filling Ingredients

1 cup milk
1/4 cup semolina flour
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon candied orange bits
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Lightly grease or line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Mix the flours, sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender.  Slowly add the water until the dough forms. Form the dough into a ball, cover, and refrigerate for two hours. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide in half. Roll the dough with a rolling pin into a 16x22 inch rectangle. Brush the dough with the melted lard and roll it up like a jellyroll. Cut the dough into 2 inch pieces.

Heat the milk to boiling in a saucepan and slowly add semolina flour, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Simmer for a few minutes until it's thick and smooth. Remove from heat (to a separate bowl) and let cool for about 5 minutes. Press the ricotta through a sieve to remove any lumps. Add the ricotta, egg, sugar, candied fruit, and cinnamon to the semolina/milk mixture. Beat until well blended and set aside.

Take a pastry slice in the palm of your hand and press the thumb of your other hand in the center of the pastry to form a small ribbed cup. (Think of a collapsable cup.) Keep the ribs from separating and begin to stretch the dough. Work carefully around the cup, pushing down with your thumbs and pulling up with your fingers. Form each piece into a cone.  

Fill each pastry cone with 1-2 tablespoons of the filling. Press the open edges together to seal the pastry.   Place the sfogliatelle 1-inch apart on the baking sheets. Repeat the procedure with the second piece of pastry dough.

Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Allow the pastry to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer the pastry to wire racks to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.


Recipe adapted from: Mangia Bene Pasta 

Make pasta or something and serve this Italian pastry for dessert. YUM.

Candied Orange

I've never been a huge fan of candied orange peel, but then again I had never made it myself. It really is just like candy. And seriously SO easy. I know a lot of people like it dipped in chocolate, so it would make a great gift recipe during the holidays. 

I made it to use in my lobster tails. (Recipe soon to follow.)

I could jabber on about candied orange, but there's really not much more to say. It's delicious. It's easy. 

Make some. 

Candied Orange

Ingredients:
3 navel oranges
2 cups of water
2 cups of sugar

Directions:
Cut the top and bottom from each orange. Cut the peel from each orange taking care not to ruin it and slice the peels into strips. Bring a pot of water to boil, reduce the heat to medium and cook the peels in boiling water for 15 minutes, drain and rinse.


Bring 2 cups of water and 1 cup of sugar to a boil over medium heat in a sauce pan. Add the peel, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the peels are tender, about 45 minutes. Drain and toss the peels in the sugar. 


Drain the orange peels well. If you just throw them straight from the syrup into the sugar, the sugar will clump up. Place the peels on a cooling rack and let them sit until the coating is dry, anywhere from 24-48 hours.

Recipe from: Closet Cooking

It's oranges. So you can consider it healthy. 

Mexican Stuffed Shells

So I have like a thousand food pins on pinterest and can count on both hands the times I've actually tried a recipe. I decided it was time to quit drooling and start cooking. The biggest reason I started this blog was not to become famous or make money (HA!) it was to encourage you and myself to enjoy food. Try new things! I feel like there are SO many flavors out there and all too often we limit our tastebuds to the common and easy (i.e. spaghetti, hamburger, cereal, bla bla bla.) Life is too short to live on the same 5 meals each week. 

Enter the combination of Italian and Mexican. Genius.

These stuffed shells were seriously amazing. I found this recipe online and made a few changes to suit my tastes. My husband and I LOVED them. I wished I had made a double batch because we hardly had any left overs!

So ditch tonights menu of cereal (and more cereal) and make them. You won't regret it.

First preheat the oven to 350 and start boiling the shells.

Then brown one pound ground beef. I tossed in half of one small onion and a handful of cilantro. (That's a technical kitchen measurement by the way...one handful.) I always make my own taco seasoning* and toss it in as the meat is cooking, but you could easily just use a store bought package. 

Once the beef is browned, add an entire container of Philadelphia Cooking Creme: Santa Fe Blend and stir until well blended. YUM. (This cooking creme has some extreme flavor. So if you want a little less zing, do half a container of the creme and half a block of cream cheese. Seriously, I'm ALL about making changes to suit your preference...thats the fun in cooking!)

Stuff those babies and pour sauce over everything. These will bake for about a half hour before cheese is added. 

Once the shells are completely done garnish with green onion and serve with sour cream (if desired.)

These stuffed shells would be perfect for a Mexican themed party (I know...duh). They are so easy to make you could pre-make a few batches and just toss in the oven before your guests arrive. 

Mexican Stuffed Shells

 Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 package taco seasoning (or homemade version)
1/2 of a small onion, diced
1 handful of cilantro (optional)
10 oz container of Philadelphia Cooking Creme: Santa Fe Blend
14-16 jumbo pasta shells
1.5 cup salsa
1 cup taco sauce
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup monterey jack cheese
Green onions, chopped (optional)
Sour Cream (optional)

*(Taco Seasoning: For one pound ground beef I season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Add about two teaspoons of chili powder and one teaspoon of ground cumin)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.

Brown ground beef and add taco seasoning, onion, and cilantro.  Add cooking creme (or cream cheese mixture), stirring over low heat until completely mixed together.  Set aside and cool completely.  While the ground beef is cooking, cook the pasta shells according to directions; drain.

Pour salsa on bottom of 9×13 baking dish.  Stuff each shell with the meat/cheese mixture. Place shells in 9×13 pan open side up and cover with taco sauce.  Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes add shredded cheese, remove the foil and bake for 10-15 more minutes.  Top with any condiments you’d like (green onions, black olives, etc.) Serve with sour cream and/or more salsa.

Adapted from: The Way To His Heart

Make These. 

Ricotta Mini Cakes

Ricotta cookies. You wouldn't think that ricotta cheese would taste good in a cookie, but these things are amazing. A perfect balance of cookie and cake. And great served with coffee!

I'm having people over tonight and needed something quick and easy to serve. However, I have a 7 month old child who is teething something fierce so there was no way I was going to the store. Then I remembered that I had some left over ricotta in the fridge. If you have that, then you definitely have all the other ingredients you need.  

These cookies are super quick to throw together. Just mix the ingredients and drop onto a greased cookie sheet. It takes all of 10 minutes.

I'd suggest not making the glaze until all the cookies are done baking. I mixed it after the first batch came out, but by the time the last batch was ready the glaze was a little too thick. 

Dip the tops of each cookie in the glaze and let the glaze set. (And then lick the bowl) (And then eat a cookie)

Ricotta Mini Cakes

Ingredients

2-1/4 cups  all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 cup ricotta

1 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze:

2 cups confectioners sugar

3 tbsp milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat two baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together; set aside. Beat butter and granulated sugar together until blended. Add egg, ricotta and vanilla, beating until combined. On low speed, add flour mixture and beat until blended. 

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto prepared pans. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned around edges. Let cool on sheets 3 minutes, then remove to rack to cool completely. 

Glaze: Beat confectioners sugar and milk together until well blended. Dip tops of cookies into glaze and set aside until glaze has hardened.

I'm not sure where this recipe came from. I pulled it out of a magazine years ago and copied it into my own recipe log. So, whoever came up with it -- I applaud you.