Stuffed Chicken in Puff Pastry -YUM

I have loved puff pastry since I was a kid... but I have never actually cooked with it! I decided to give it a try, it can't be that hard right?? After reading a handful of different recipes for chicken in puff pastry here is what I concocted:

Stuffed Chicken in Puff Pastry

Ingredients:

• (2) Chicken Breasts
• (1) Large Sheet of Puff Pastry (I used Pepperidge Farm)
• (4) oz Cream Cheese
• (4) Slices Bacon Cooked and Crumbled
• Handful of Flat-Leaf Parsley Chopped
• (3) Green Onions Chopped
• (1) Egg (beaten)
• Garlic Salt
• Pepper
• Red Pepper Flakes

Directions:

1. Cook Bacon, let cool and crumble. Place in small mixing bowl
2. Chop Green Onion and Parsley and place in bowl with bacon.
3. Soften cream cheese and add to bowl with bacon, onion and parsley. Add Red Pepper Flakes, Black Pepper and Garlic Salt all to taste. Mix ingredients well.
4. Dry chicken breasts as best you can and cut a slit in each one to insert the cream cheese mixture. (I cut the slit right down the top/center of the breast)
   
5. Stuff Cream Cheese Mixture Evenly between breasts.
6. Puff Pastry: make sure puff pastry is no longer frozen (takes about 40 min to thaw from freezer). FLOUR THE SURFACE you will be using to work with puff pastry (I learned the hard way that wax-paper is an adhesive to puff pastry!!) Roll out the puff pastry sheet and cut in half. (should be a good size to wrap the chicken breasts in)
   
7. Place (1) piece of chicken in the middle of one of the halves of puff pastry. Wrap the puff pastry around the chicken, sealing the edges with the beaten egg. Once chicken is sealed in puff pastry coat the top of the pastry with egg. (this helps to brown it).
   
8. Wrap remaining breast in puff pastry repeating step 7.
9. On a foil covered baking sheet cook chicken in puff pastry for 35 minutes at 400 degrees.

Enjoy!

I forgot to take a photo before I dove into it... so here was a "after" pic

Apple Cake- Perfect for Fall!

I came across this recipe on Pinterest and decided to give it a try because Andrew loves apples... this is definitely a "keeper." =)

Apple Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 2 cups Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped into 1/3-inch pieces

Directions:

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan. Dust the pan with flour, or spray with nonstick baking spray with flour.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Gradually add the sugar and beat at medium-high speed until well blended and light, about 2 minutes.

Add the vanilla extract, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating it with the buttermilk in two additions and mixing just until blended (flour, buttermilk, flour, buttermilk, flour). Stir in the chopped apples by hand with rubber scraper.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes, until it is golden and toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake completely in the pan on a wire rack.

Frost the top of the cooled cake with cream cheese frosting (recipe follows). Cut the cake into squares and serve it directly from the pan.

Store in the refrigerator, loosely covered, for up to 3 days. Bring cake up to room temperature before serving.

Cream Cheese Frosting

3 oz cream cheese (softened)

¼ cup butter or margarine

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar (sifted)

~Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla ‘til light and fluffy. Gradually add powd. sugar and beat ‘til smooth. Ice “cooled” cake.