Friday Faves – Nutmeg Nanny makes Chocolate Almond Pastry
Whew – sorry this is getting posted so late in the day. Blogger decided to take the evening off last night and didn’t come back up until recently. Today is a beautiful day in Boston and I’m very excited that it’s Friday! How about you? Today’s Friday Fav is a Nutmeg Nanny. I love that blog name! Freshly ground nutmeg is one of my favorite ingredients ever. Brandy makes all sorts of tasty treats andhas participated in my Operation Baking Gals teams and Bloggers Bake for Hope. If you haven’t seen her blog, definitely check it out.
Hello! I’m Brandy from the food blog Nutmeg Nanny. I’m a small town girl who left the corn fields of Ohio for the beautiful landscape of the Hudson Valley region of New York. My life was not always about cooking and baking but over the past ten years I have started exploring my foodie side. I use my blog to share my sweet treats and sometimes savory dishes. I’m not a fan of intimidating food so I like to keep my recipes simple…but delicious!
Do you ever have a night where all you want is something sweet? I tend to have those nights almost every night. It’s an addiction….I’m sure of it. Well, sometimes on those nights I just don’t have the energy to whip up a batch of cookies or cake. Luckily, I recently found a delicious quick dessert treat. I can now have my sweet chocolate fix in barely no time at all! It’s perfectly delicious cut into wedges and even better topped with ice cream. Then again, whats not better topped with ice cream?
This recipe uses store bought puff pastry, chocolate morsels, sea salt and almonds. Ingredients I always have sitting in my pantry. The most important thing to remember when using puff pastry is to keep it cold. If it’s not cold it will not properly puff…and that would be sad and not so delicious. The added sea salt is optional but I’m a big fan of the salty and sweet combo…how about you?
Enjoy!!!
Chocolate Almond Pastries
Ingredients:
1 sheet frozen puff pastry - thawed
1 large egg - lightly beaten for egg wash
Turbinado sugar - for sprinkling
1 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (Or use morsels)
Best-quality honey - for drizzling
2 tablespoons whole almonds - toasted and coarsely chopped
Sea salt - for sprinkling (Optional)
Vanilla ice cream, for serving (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Arrange puff pastry on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Trim edges if needed to form a 10-inch square, and fold each edge in to form a 1-inch crust. Prick middle of dough all over with a fork. Brush edges with egg
wash, and sprinkle with sugar. Freeze for 15 minutes.
Transfer baking sheet to oven, and bake until pastry is puffed and golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and cover center evenly with chocolate. Drizzle with honey, and sprinkle with salt. Return to oven, and bake until chocolate melts, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with almonds,and cut into 4 squares. Serve with ice cream if desired, and drizzle with more honey.
Recipe from Martha Stewart
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Happy birthday! Today is my husband’s birthday, and he also requested a chocolate cake. I baked him Ina Garten’s Beatty’s chocolate cake. Your chocolate cake may be the one I bake for my birthday later this year. 🙂
beantownbaker — June 17th, 2013 @ 8:48 am
That’s a really good chocolate cake recipe too! Tell your husband happy birthday!
Happy birthday! A no frills chocolate fudge cake sounds perfect 🙂
This looks amazing!! And happy birthday!!!
beantownbaker — June 17th, 2013 @ 9:34 am
Thanks 🙂
Happy Birthday! Noting like a perfectly simple chocolate cake to ring in a new year! This one looks scrumptious!
That is seriously one gorgeous cake!!! I think I’m in love!
happy birthday and thanks so much for the chocolate cake- can’t have too many chocolate cake recipes
beantownbaker — June 18th, 2013 @ 4:02 pm
I couldn’t agree more!
We’re birthday buddies! Hope you had a great day!
Happy Birthday! Your cake looks amazing!!
and if i want to make this 9 x 13?any caveats? i never know if i can just change pan size and oven time/temp?
beantownbaker — June 18th, 2013 @ 4:05 pm
Two 9″ round pans is the same amount of cake batter as a 9×13 pan. I’d probably use the same temp and start checking around the same time. But I would expect it to take longer to bake in the end.
tnx- 9 x 13 is easier to tote
Oh goodness, this looks indulgent! I need to make this for my husband as soon as I can!
Happy birthday! This cake is to die for- looks so chocolatey and fudgey. Hope you had a great day!
beantownbaker — June 19th, 2013 @ 7:13 am
Thanks! I had a great birthday this year.
Tomorrow is my birthday and I am making your birthday cake for my big day!
Thanks!
beantownbaker — June 23rd, 2013 @ 7:56 pm
Happy birthday tomorrow!! Hope you enjoy the cake as much as I did.
Wow – this cake looks so good! I am always looking for chocolatecake recipes to try – so glad to have stumbled on your blog!
beantownbaker — July 5th, 2013 @ 9:55 am
Glad you found me!
I just made this for my mom and brothers Birthday tomorrow 🙂 I will come back and let you know how mine turned out 🙂 thanks for the recipe and happy late Birthday!
beantownbaker — August 4th, 2013 @ 6:42 pm
Definitely let me know how it goes!
The cake turned out amazing and was a huge hit! Most of the kids weren’t a huge fan but i don’t think they have learned to appreciate dark chocolate 🙂
beantownbaker — August 5th, 2013 @ 7:14 am
Glad it was a success (for the adults!)