Folie aux amandes

Tomorrow our assistant is leaving.

Other than general worries of calamity and "is it possible that I can work more hours?" kinds of feelings that usually drive me to a bottle of Cabernet and a loaf of Italian bread, I am looking forward to our farewell party.

Note that I am looking forward to our farewell party, not our farewell.

Nancy and I have developed quite the friendship over the last several months. She shares my love of bread and real tomato sauce. Not to mention that she's one of the few people I know who can match my enthusiasm for almond butter and flax seeds on toast. She was the only person at work to recognize that my Christmas lemon cookies had two kinds of citrus--lemon and a hint of lime. She also loaned me her Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, which pretty much changed my life and the way I make bread. Which is now all the time, in case you were wondering.

Food isn't the only reason I will miss Nancy, but it's one of the special ones. It's really a lucky thing to develop a rapport with a coworker--since really, I spend more time with my coworkers than with anyone else I know. Somehow, if you can share the doldrums of everyday work life with someone, the door is open for sharing all kinds of things. So even though we come from completely different corners of life and likely want completely different things, I'm glad to know her, and I feel enriched that she's been in my life, and I am definitely sad to see her go.

Alright, on to the party food.

This dessert is mostly a last-ditch effort at something not embarrassing for a company party.

I had meant to make a lovely, yeasty lemon bread from sk, but after taking into account the daunting rise times and the fact that I am moving and I have not packed one single box, I decided that I could spend my time idly drinking beer with a friend and NOT letting bread rise. (Hi, Erin! Welcome home!) Which is what I did. So. The following is just an excuse to use up some almond pie filling and puff pastry (both of which I weirdly had in the fridge), while raising the glycemic index of anyone who happens to show up at our little office party tomorrow.

Almond pastries

3 oz. almond pie filling (I used Solo brand. You use whatever you feel like.)
2 3/4 cups almond meal
2 T. butter
2 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 T. brandy (or amaretto, but I don't like that, so I used brandy instead. You do what you want.)
1/2 C. white sugar
pinch of salt

3/4 lb puff pastry
1 egg
1 T. water
sliced almonds, for garnish
confectioner's sugar, for garnish

I really wish I could tell you that I made my own puff pastry for this. One day, when I am not moving households, I will attempt it, but this is not that day. It's after midnight, people.

1. In the electric mixer, beat the almond pie filling with the almond meal, sugar, and salt. Add in the butter, egg whites, vanilla extract and brandy on high speed until it is as fluffy as you can make it. Set aside the filling. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Roll the dough onto a lightly floured surface and cut to 4 in. strips. Whisk the egg and water together and brush the egg wash onto one end of the strip of pastry dough.


A special look at my limited kitchen space.

3. DO NOT DO WHAT I DID. If you look carefully at this picture, you'll see my renegade attempt at home-making a pastry bag and filling it with the almond filling to pipe neatly onto the dough (uhhh, that would be the disgusting-looking parchment paper with almond paste smeared on it, bottom right). It was a spectacular catastrophe.

Just spread it on the bottom half of the dough with a spatula straight from the bowl, a lesson I only learned after wasting this delicious nectar inside of a piece of paper and then being forced to lick my fingers clean. So, maybe do what I did if you want a nice treat before everything is all baked up nice.

4. Fold the pastry over and press it down. Brush the whole thing with the egg wash and then cut it into three or four pieces. Feel free to get fancy and cut the folded side like a "bear claw" pastry if you want. I did not bother with this, but again, I was rushing.


Almond filling and egg wash


Folding, cutting

5. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and bake the pastries on a cookie sheet for about 15 minutes. Watch closely though; I may have baked them for closer to twenty. I'm always afraid of burning puff pastry. (See below.) Basically, everything should be pretty and golden brown.

6. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with sliced almonds as they cool. Serve to nearly former coworkers at an afternoon farewell.


Again, do as I say and not as I do. This unfortunate pastry met her end in the toaster oven. Although I have to say, I still ate it and it wasn't that bad.