These playful dough-men are the perfect holiday treat to make with your family.
Use product immediately upon removal from refrigerator as there is no need to thaw! No need to use flour and a rolling pin to stretch the dough.
Dough will roll out and cut easier if it is chilled. If you're trying to create a specific shape, keep the pastry as cold as possible (but not frozen) and it will be easier to make precise cuts.
If you want to keep the inside from rising as much as the edges, just use a paring knife to score a border. Don’t cut the dough all the way though! Use a fork to prick the dough. The pastry will still be light and flaky with the edges puffed up and the center will stay down.
Pop the dough in the fridge after working with it, while the oven preheats. This step gives the fat in the dough a chance to re-solidify, to get an even better baking result.
Egg-wash: Just before baking, brush your puff pastry with egg wash (1 large egg with about 2 tablespoons water, beaten) to give it an attractive shine and color.
To seal the pastry edges for any stuffed pocket-style pastry, just brush a thin layer of water or egg whites along the edges and press them together to make them stick.
Crimp edges of smaller pastries like hand pies with a fork. Larger pastries can be crimped with your fingertips.
Serve soon after baking! Puff Pastry is best when fresh, so ideally bake close to serving. Only few recipes are great to make ahead. Puff Pastry is best when baked and served the same day.
To unroll the dough, remove dough from package and gently separate the dough and parchment paper from the roll, so that the dough on paper begins to lay flat. Be careful not to separate the dough from the parchment paper. There may be some sticking, but the dough and paper should easily pull away from the roll.
Once the dough is lying flat on the baking tray, cut off or tuck any excess paper under, so it does not hang over the edge.
1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Unroll refrigerated Puff Pastry Dough and cut five of each size of the cookie cutters out of the dough. Depending on the cutters you have, you may get six sets of three or have extra dough left over to make additional puffs.
3. Brush the tops of each circle with melted butter, place on baking tray, utilizing parchment paper from dough. Bake until golden brown, about 10-12 minutes. Set aside to cool.
4. With a mixer, whisk heavy whipping cream, confectioners’ sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and cloves until stiff. Cover and store in fridge until ready to pipe into puff rounds.
5. Using a stick or baking tool, poke a hole into the side of each puff. Fill a piping bag with the cream and gently pipe into each individual puff. When you see the puff expand, you will know it is filled.
6. To form the snowman, place one of each size puffs on a plate so that the puffs touch and form a snowman body. Dust with confectioners’ sugar.
7. To make the snowmen hats, use chocolate bar pieces that can be placed next to the smallest puff, forming a hat shape.
8. Place two pretzel rods in the middle puffs as arms.
9. To make the snowman’s face and buttons, place mini morsels in the preferred placement on the snowman. Add a small slice of carrot for the nose.