Staying at home more often has made me think about how to use ingredients for baking and cooking using the same methods to make the pastry dough as the egg tart dough I used in a previous recipe.
The recipe I found online suggests using premade pastry dough, but making it from scratch is enjoyable and can be relaxing to set some time aside for baking.
I wanted to try out a recipe with cream cheese in it, and the spiral puff pastry is an excellent pastry to experiment with different meats and vegetables. The recipe I found had roasted bell peppers, but I decided to try some caramelized onions and browned minced garlic in the recipe to see how it would turn out.
These spiral pastries have a great blend of Parmesan and cream cheese that combines well with the caramelized onion and garlic.
Pastry Dough Ingredients:
1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup water
¼ tsp. kosher salt
1 ½ stick unsalted butter (optional)
Pastry Filling Ingredients:
1/3 lb salami
½ block cream cheese
1 medium onion chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 egg
3 Tbsp. parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tsp. paprika
To make the dough, combine the flour, salt, and water in a mixing bowl and set the mixer to low. When the dough ball forms, dust it over with flour and place it in the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes.
Roll the dough out onto a cutting board into an 8- to 10-inch square about ¼ inch thick, if you want to butter the pastry, spread butter over the dough and leave an inch of room at the edge. Then roll the dough into a log and place it back in the fridge overnight, but if you want to make it sooner, then leave it in the fridge for 3 hours.
Once you’re ready to cook, take a cutting board out and chop up the garlic and onions. Place a pan on the stove and melt 1 Tbsp. butter. Brown the minced garlic and caramelize the onions for about 7 minutes on medium-low heat.
In a small mixing bowl, combine the onion, garlic, cream cheese, parmesan, egg, salami, and paprika. Blend until you get a smooth consistency by breaking down the egg and solid cream cheese. Once blended, spread across the dough, leaving one inch of room at the edges. Roll up into a log and place in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and remove the filled dough log from the fridge. Wet the knife and cut the log into one-inch pieces. Form the pieces into a circle and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, and let the pastries cool on a rack. Serve with your favorite meal, and enjoy the savory pastries.
