happy new year!

happy 2013! i can't believe we made it through another year. this year felt like it was a stop in time for me. everything was sort of in limbo, mostly because my future was in limbo. in two and a half weeks, i find out what i'll be doing and where i will be for the next 5 or 6 years of my life. i have a good idea about where i'll be, but i'm not gonna jinx it! whee so excited!!

anyway, holidays were a bit rough this year but there was definitely lots of fun and food involved. as always, i love making hor d'oeuvres, even though i don't know how to say that word or how to spell it (yup, had to look that up right there). if it were up to me, it'd be spelled "er dervers" with all syllables pronounced and the accent at the front like in the word "covers" (also similar in pronunciation to ermergerd).

anyway! the first thing i wanted to do was play with some puff pastry! i had been looking at puff pastry recipes and they seemed really simple and tasty looking. i also had had my eye on one of my friend's recipes for pinwheels. don't they look delicious?! so far in my cooking and baking experience, i have not gone all in to making dough. yeah yeah yeah, it's quick and easy, but hey it's not that quick with all the waiting around and i don't have a kitchenaid mixer and not enough arm muscle these days, so meh! puff pastry was just as delicious anyway :) so here's my version!

Caprese Pinwheels
Ingredients
Flour, for work surface
1 sheet frozen puff pastry
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
10 oz mozzarella cheese
1 cup tomatoes, roma or grape tomatoes
Handful of whole spinach leafs
Fresh chopped basil

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a floured surface, roll the puff pastry into a 16-by-10-inch rectangle. Trim uneven edges. Place pastry on a baking sheet. Beat the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork, and brush the pastry sheet with the egg mixture. 

2. To prepare the filling, dice the tomatoes and place them into a medium mixing bowl. For best results, try to remove as much liquid from tomatoes as possible. Dice the mozzarella, or put it through a food processor until it is crumbly, and mix in with tomatoes along with chopped basil. Add olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, and mix evenly.

3. Top puff pastry with the tomato and cheese mixture evenly and add a layer of spinach leave on top, staying about half an inch away from all 4 edges. Starting at a short side, roll up like a jelly roll. Cut into about 20 (1/2-inch) slices. Place the slices, cut-side down, onto 2 baking sheets. Brush the slices with the egg mixture.

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Remove the pastries from the baking sheets and let cool on wire racks for 10 minutes.

these pinwheels are not only delicious, but also super easy to make! (i also made some flat pizza like puff pastry snacks, which are the bottom in the last pic.) the best part is you can substitute in any number of ingredients that you like for a different flavor. my next ones are going to be spinach and parmesan.

so cheers to a new year, to happiness, to love, and to delicious food!