Chocolat Twisties

I have taken forever to do this. And I am not sure what is special about today, that I am finally here, writing my first post. I will share a recipe (well- hardly a recipe!), but a moment, which for the first time made me conscious of the joy that I experience each time I bake. Also, reminiscent was the emotion, the whiff in the air that would encapsulate my home, slightly vanilla-ish, slightly flour-ish, and slightly bake-ish…however, I should probably date this to sometime in early 2010.

      I hate to call it ‘The recipe’ and hence, I call it the moment. From the movie ‘It’s complicated’, in that particular scene, where Meryl Streep brings back Steve Martin- her new boyfriend (ironically- an architect) to her bakery. She asks him to pick one thing, which she would bake- especially ‘for him’. He chooses a chocolate croissant- no words can clearly portray the moment that they share and I wouldn’t want to disrespect the authenticity of the scene. What is relevant is that this inspired me to bake my own mini- chocolate croissants or chocolate twisties as I now call them. It was the process that moved me, I and twisted it to make my own-, almost surreally architectural.  I did start out by making the puff pastry as well, but soon figured that it’s as good with the readymade frozen pastry dough available. The movie is a must-watch, but until then, enjoy the act-

     All you need is puff pastry dough, some flour and chocolate chips or some broken pieces of chocolate. Spread some flour on the work surface, flatten some dough and roll it into a thin sheet. Divide the sheet into 5-6 inch wide rectangular strips and Cut the strips into triangles (could use a pizza cutter…). At the wider end of each triangle, place a few chocolate chips, and roll towards the tip of the triangle. Sometimes, I like to pin in a chip, just to add a bit of drama! Prepare a batch and bake in a preheated oven (at 180 degrees C) for about 25-30 minutes or until Golden Brown. As the twisties come out of the oven- I can sense my moment of complete bliss.

p.s Try these with alternative stuffing- cheese/ cheese and olives/ cheese and meat / jam etc.

p.p.s One key associative memory - my first baking session @ 261 and officially, I commenced cooking.

Photography credit @ Ak