What Hot Pockets Should Be

I have recently discovered that puff pastry should be a staple in everyone's home! It is so easy to work with and can be used in both sweet and savory ways.
Last week I used it to make "hot pockets" for dinner. They were a hit with both kids, and I used the left over filling in a pasta salad two nights later.

Ingredients:
1 sheet puff pastry thawed according to package directions
chicken broth
1 chicken breast
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion
5 or 6 mushroom sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 Tbsp sundried tomatoes
2 Tbsp cooking sherry
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups raw spinach
1 cup mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Put raw chicken breast in a pan, cover with chicken broth. Bring broth to a simmer and let it cook the chicken breast all the way through.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a pan, saute onion and garlic on medium heat till onions are a light brown. Add mushroom and tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes longer. Then add sundried tomatoes, spinach, sherry and salt and pepper and cook till the spinach is wilted. Take off heat.
Lightly flour a work surface and roll out your puff pastry. Cut in into four equal squares. Add the mozzarella cheese to the filling mixture, and put a healthy spoonful of the filling in the middle of the pastry squares and fold into a triangle. Press the edges firmly together, put on baking sheet. Prick the top of the pastry with a fork.
Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes, till pastry is brown and puffy.
Enjoy!

My "Go To" Cake

I love when I can find one recipe that can be changed to fit any occasion. "Beatty's Chocolate Cake", from Ina's Garten's cookbook, "Barefoot Contessa at Home", is one of those recipes.

I discovered it last year when Cameron wanted a chocolate raspberry cake for his birthday. So I added 1/4 cup of raspberry jam to the batter and 2 Tbsp of raspberry jam to the chocolate frosting.

This year he wanted a chocolate blackberry cake for his birthday, so I used the same recipe using blackberry jam instead of raspberry and it was met with rave reviews!!


Beatty's Chocolate Cake
Ingredients

Butter, for greasing the pans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
Chocolate Buttercream, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8-inch x 2-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.
Chocolate Frosting:

6 ounces good semisweet chocolate (recommended: Callebaut)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 extra-large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon instant coffee powder

Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners' sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. Dissolve the coffee powder in 2 teaspoons of the hottest tap water. On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don't whip! Spread immediately on the cooled cake.

The chocolate blackberry cake

Yummy chocolate raspberry!