Puff Paste Cookies, 1950s White House treats

Puff Paste Cookies are another tea time treat that I’ll be serving at Ladies Literary League in conjunction with my program about Francois Rysavy, White House Chef for the Eisenhowers from 1955 to 1957.  This recipe, which is included in Rysavy’s book, (White House Chef, Putnam, 1957) was a favorite of the President’s grandchildren. Francois started with homemade puff pastry—an essential French recipe he mastered early in his career; his “filmy as a cloud” won him jobs all over the world, including that as White House Chef. However, I began with the frozen stuff and was quite happy with the results. Here’s how I adapted Chef Rysavy’s recipe . . .

Puff Paste Cookies  1 sheet of puff pastry makes about 42 small cookies (there are 2 sheets per frozen pkg.)

Flaky, with a caramel flavor (they sugar becomes caramelized during baking) and delicious!

Frozen puff pastry, thawed in refrigerator according to package directions

Powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400°
2. Dough should be about 1/4" thick; if not, use a rolling pin to flatten.
3. Cut dough into small squares. (I cut approximately 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" squares, yielding 42 cookies per sheet of dough.)
   
4. Place powdered sugar into a low, flat bowl. Press both sides of puff squares into sugar, covering them heavily.
   
5. Place squares on an ungreased cooking sheet.
   
6. Bake in 400° oven until they start to brown at the edges (about 7 to 8 minutes) and then turn them over with a spatula to that the underside will bake.
7. Continue baking until they are nice and brown but not overly brown—they brown very quickly -- about another 6 to 7 minutes.
   

Other White House confections that I’ll be serving include:

Almond Bars  

Coconut Drops

Presidential Whip 

Recipe without photos . . .

Puff Paste Cookies    1 sheet of puff pastry makes about 42 small cookies (there are 2 sheets per frozen pkg.)

Flaky, with a caramel flavor (they sugar becomes caramelized during baking) and delicious!

Frozen puff pastry, thawed in refrigerator according to package directions

Powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400°
2. Dough should be about 1/4" thick; if not, use a rolling pin to flatten.
3. Cut dough into small squares. (I cut approximately 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" squares, yielding 42 cookies per sheet of dough.)
4. Place powdered sugar into a low, flat bowl. Press both sides of puff squares into sugar, covering them heavily.
5. Place squares on an ungreased cooking sheet.
6. Bake in 400° oven until they start to brown at the edges (about 7 to 8 minutes) and then turn them over with a spatula to that the underside will bake.
7. Continue baking until they are nice and brown but not overly brown—they brown very quickly -- about another 6 to 7 minutes.