Become a Puff Pastry Master Chef! It's easy ...

In the era of video recipes, puff pastry is experiencing a moment of glory that has really never been seen before and the ideas we share with you today will only confirm the versatility of this product.

Discover four simple ways to use puff pastry, to make your culinary creations look as if they were prepared by a real chef! Here are two salty puff pastry recipes and two sweet ones --- so that nobody feels left out!

1. Pinwheel cookies with jam

Take one rectangular sheet of puff pastry, roll it out with a rolling pin and cut into six equal squares. With a paring knife cut the corners as shown in the image without reaching the center of the square. In the middle of the square, spread a tablespoon of sweet cream cheese and place a teaspoon of jam of your choice over the cheese.

To create the shape of a pinwheel, take a corner of the puff pastry and bring it to the center (without crushing the pastry!); Perform the same procedure with the other corners to turn them, taking care to always choose the same side (eg. all to the left or to the right). Fasten the corners at the center with one-half of a toothpick. Brush with egg yolk on the flat surfaces and bake at 220°C (400°F) for about 15 minutes.

Ham, cheese, spinach, and egg squares

Again, in this case, you start by rolling out the puff pastry and cutting out the squares. Next, poke holes in the puff pastry with a fork and then in the middle of the square, place some cream cheese, spinach (or other vegetables) and a piece of sliced ham.

Bake at 220°C (400°F) for 10 minutes, take it out of the oven, and in the middle of the puff pastry square which now has raised edges, crack open an entire raw egg. Bake again for another 10 minutes and your delicious puff pastry squares will be ready to eat!

2. Tasty Tartines

After rolling out a sheet of puff pastry with a rolling pin, brush the entire surface with egg yolk, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and all the spices you prefer. Cut vertically to get strips of similar width.

Place the strips one on top of the other, however, remember to turn the last one over so as to make a "cover" and then cut the compact strip into 4-6 square pieces. Place the squares in a pre-greased and floured muffin pan and brush some egg yolk on the flat sides of the squares (not the cut part). Bake at 220°C (400°F) for 20-25 minutes.

Once they are baked they will look like this!

4. Fruit Turnovers

This time you need to cut out rectangles and brush with egg yolk only the external part of the puff pastry.  Choose any fruit you prefer (here we use blueberries), place it in a bowl and add sugar, lemon juice, and a sprinkling of cornstarch.

Mix well and proceed by placing 1-2 tablespoons of the fruit mix on one side of the rectangle of puff pastry. Take the fruit-free side and fold it over the fruit to create the shape of a bundle aka turnover. Slightly press the puff pastry dough around the edges with your fingers and then tightly close the edges with the help of a fork.

Next, brush with egg yolk, then make three short oblique cuts on top of each turnover and sprinkle with brown sugar. Place the puff pastry turnovers in the freezer for 10 minutes before baking at 220°C for about 20 minutes. 

Here is the savory result of this very simple recipe.

Watch the video to see and follow each step better!