Experimentation At Its Best

How To Make An Impromptu Dessert

OR

Why I'm Not A Food Blogger

(by Ashley)

1. Brainstorm.

2. Realize that all of your "usual" desserts take too long to make.

3. Do a quick online search for French desserts.

4. Realize that a) that's a broad search, b) most of the recipes are labor intensive, and c) you don't have any more time than you did before.

5. Pull a couple ideas from some of those and work up a plan.

6. Start defrosting sheet of puff pastry.

7. Run to grocery store because you're missing two other key ingredients (then marvel that you had puff pastry on hand but not cream cheese).

8. Let cream cheese soften at room temperature until it behaves well.

9. Preheat oven to 350°F.

10. Cut puff pastry into six rectangles, then each of those into two triangles. Arrange said triangles on a greased cookie sheet.

11. Bake for about fifteen minutes. Roughly halfway through, very carefully brush pastry with melted butter. (Let them puff up a bit first.)

12. Realize they're the perfect golden brown color and pull them out; brush with melted butter one more time and then leave them alone for awhile.

13. While cooling, put cream cheese in mixer with paddle attachment and beat the heck out of it.

14. Melt about 3 tablespoons of butter and add to cream cheese. Keep beating.

15. Add about 1/4 cup of powdered sugar. (Not too sweet, but noticeable.)

16. Add about 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.

17. Drop everything and dash back to your laundry room because the washer is done and you need dry socks in a couple hours.

18. Split each triangle in half (pulling the top and bottom apart). Marvel at the majesty of puff pastry and wonder why you didn't use it more often years ago.

19. Spread cream cheese mixture onto bottoms of pastry triangles. Don't be too conservative -- use it all.

20. Cover pastry bottoms and put them in the refrigerator.

21. Take one package of raspberries (fresh, or a handful of defrosted) and chop them up into managable pieces. Put in a bowl.

22. Melt and add a couple of tablespoons of Nutella.

23. Add a couple tablespoons of powdered sugar and mix carefully by hand.

[23b. Realize in retrospect that this is the logical way of doing this instead of in a mixer. Otherwise you get raspberry soup.]

24. After the pastry bottoms have chilled for a bit, spoon raspberry mixture over the cream cheese and put them back in the fridge for awhile.

25. Check dryer, check email, watch half a movie, and change clothes.

26. Put tops on pastries and sprinkle with powdered sugar. (A chocolate drizzle would probably be amazing as well.)

27. "Test" the "broken" one to make sure you still feel like sharing.

28. Serve remaining eleven pastries to friends or people you want to like you.