Easy Homemade Blueberry Danishes

I low key think I found a winner for what I'm baking for Thanksgiving Dessert. These little guys are honestly just so beautiful and easy to make and they're absolutely delicious. I know I've been testing out a few different treats but I'm all about the presentation. I love seeing something just look out of this world unreal and these Easy Homemade Blueberry Danishes are just the real deal. Similar to the beautiful colors of the Brie & Cranberry Sugar Puff Pastry Swirls, the beautiful colors of creamy blue and delicious cheese are just all I could ever want and need. 

Here's What You'll Need:

- 1 8 oz. Package of Cream Cheese

- 1/3 cup Sugar

- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

- 1/2 Fresh Lemon Juiced 

- 1 cup Frozen Blueberries

- 1/2 cup Blueberry Preserves

- 1 Package of Frozen Puff Pastry Sheets Thawed

- 1 Egg 

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Make sure to take out your Puff Pastry Sheets a little ways before cooking so they can thaw.

2. In a small bowl, beat the package of cream cheese into a more workable consistency. I basically just used a large spoon to mash it down and around, don't worry too much about consistency. Add in the sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla and combine the lot thoroughly. 

3. In a separate bowl combine the frozen blueberries and blueberry preserves. 

4. Cut your Puff Pastry Sheets into Large Rectangles, with two sheets I made twelve rectangles. Using a fork, press down the edges of your rectangle. (This step is honestly not necessary it just makes the final product look slightly nicer.) In a small bowl, whisk your egg and brush the egg wash onto each rectangle.

5. Take a scoop of your cream cheese mix and put a dollop on each rectangle's center. Top that with one scoop of your Blueberry Mixture. 

6. Bake the Danishes for about 15-20 minutes or until brown. Serve hot or cold but definitely make sure to ENJOY! 

Lemon Pop Puffs

Today I witnessed my very first baking fail. I had browsed a few recipes for what to do with Pastry Puff Shells last night and came across this one here. I'm obsessed with lemony baked goods. I'm literally that weirdo that will choose the lemon flavor over any of the chocolatey goodness. Lemon Poppyseed anything is my guilty pleasure and it always baffles me when people go for anything else. So I decided to try to follow that recipe and in my tired haze wrote down that I had to buy lemon curd. Picked up a small jar and also all of the ingredients meant to make lemon curd, do you see where I'm going with this? Anywho, got home and started putting everything together when I realized I didn't have a stainless steal bowl. Lemon curd is apparently one of those fancy nifty things that you need to make with a double boiler or a pot of boiling water and a stainless steal bowl. Now since I'm lame and have only been living on my own for almost exactly a year now, I realized I did not own the obvious double boiler but I also didn't even own a stainless steal bowl. I did however come to this realization this morning when I needed either. Long story short my determined little self tried doing it with a normal bowl and stirred and stirred and stirred and hoped with all my little heart but nope, no lemon curd. 

Luckily, I bought the store bought kind (on accident, oy) and was able to still make the recipe without the nifty homemade vibes. I did try to zest it up a little with the powdered sugar and even rubbed some lemon zest ontop of the puffs afterwards but there's no way I can call this a recipe. You follow the baking instructions ontop of the back of the little puff pastry shell box and then when baked, let those puppies cool. Then grab your store bought lemon curd because you're a failure and didn't own the right tools to craft up your own and fill the little flipped in shells with your gooey store bought mess. Top with powdered sugar of defeat and shred some lemon zest ontop to give the illusion of managing to make this recipe your own.

I'm a little bitter, if you can't tell but these things are definitely adorable and sweet. Give the recipe a go, it'll give people the impression you're an artsy baker but realistically you just sold your soul to corporate business selling you homemade lemon curd in a pretty little tin. 

Happy Friday everybody x 

Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Pastry Puff Swirls

Clearly ya'll can see I'm on a baking kick. I really love whipping together recipes and it's honestly awesome to make things people enjoy. Plus the fact that I'm in full control of the photos and the layout and the time I take before actually putting the piece in the oven is kind of amazing too. I can't decide if I love baking more of if I love taking photos of food more. I'm pretty sure they're equally satisfying. Plus, testing out a nibble or two of the final product isn't actually the worst thing in the world. 

Going off of the Cranberry & Brie Sugar Puff Pastry Swirl Recipe, I used the second sheet of Puff Pastry to make these Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Pastry Swirls. The recipe is basically all the same but instead of using brie and cranberries, I loaded this pastry puff with coconut flakes, cinnamon sugar, chocolate chips and a banana. They turned out sweet and delicious and inspired some recipes to try for tomorrow. 

Is baking my new true calling or is it just another thing keeping me from making this diet stick? 

Cranberry & Brie Sugar Puff Pastry Rolls

I honestly am just absolutely obsessed with how these photos turned out. I believe I found my new favorite fall color scheme and that is most definitely Cranberry and Cheese. I'm a sucker for cheesy and when I happened upon this recipe on HalfBakedHarvest, I had to give it a go. Now, I honestly followed their recipe completely from start to finish so it would be silly for me to sit here and try to give y'all instructions of my own. Here's the link to their post and their absolutely stunning photos but nevertheless, here's how mine turned out. Beautiful and Deep Mauvy. 

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Pie Crescent Rolls

It's honestly no secret that one of my greatest passions in life has always been food. Growing up overweight, it was really quite evident that I really loved food. I would watch the food network in my free time and always dreamt of cooking and baking all kinds of different types of food. 

I have peculiar tastes and never owned my own kitchen so most times when it comes to preparing food, I've always been the helping hand. I do the stirring and the pouring and I'm usually the one rounding up ingredients for whoever else is in charge. With Thanksgiving coming up, I wanted to practice actually preparing something of my own and wanted to get myself into the habit of learning how to bake and cook food. Shay's a natural chef and knows how to prepare things through years of trial and error. My mom's always been a lovely cook and I just really wanted to learn how to become good at cooking too. 

I thought I'd start somewhere small and easy and came up with these quick and simple Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Pie Crescent Rolls. 

What you'll need for the Pumpking Filling:                                                                    What you'll need for the Topping: 

- 1 Roll of Storebought Crescent Rolls                                                                              - 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar

- 1/2 cup canned Pumpkin                                                                                                  - 1 Tablespoon Pure Maple Syrup

- 3 Tablespoons Sugar                                                                                                          - 1 1/2 Tablespoon Milk

- 1/2 Teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice                                                                                    - 1 Teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice

- 1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon                                                                                                   - 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

- 1 Tablespoon Pure Maple Syrup                                                                                      - Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips 

Instructions: 
1. Preheat the over to 375 degrees. 
2. Combine your canned pumpkin, 3 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of Pumpkin Spice, 1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon and 1 Tablespoon of Pure Maple Syrup. 
3. Seperate your dough into open triangles and spread the pumpkin mixture onto each triangle. Place a line of Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips and roll the triangles up loosely starting at the shorter end. 
3. Place your rolls on a Cooking Sheet and in a small bowl whisk One Whole Egg. Brush the whisked egg wash onto the rolls. In a separate small bowl, mix together 2 Teaspoons of Sugar, 1/8 Teaspoon of Pumpkin Pie Spice and 1/8 Teaspoon of Cinnamon. (I just eyeballed this one and added a pinch of all three together). Sprinkle the mixture ontop of the filled crescent rolls. This step helps them bake into churro like crescents!
4. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. While the rolls cool, prepare your glaze mixture in a ziplock bag. Add the powdered sugar, maple syrup and milk. Cut a small hole in the corner of the bag and sprinkle the glaze over the rolls. (I definitely still need to practice perfecting this move) 
5. Tup with more Chocolate Chips and Enjoy!

These were super easy to make, even I was able to do it and I'm a newbie. I brought a few over to my mom whose a tough critic when it comes to all things food and she said these were delicious! If you're in a bind for Thanksgiving and want to prep something quick and easy, these Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Pie Crescent Rolls are an awesome idea for the holiday season. 

A Garden Update