Leftover Makeovers
Leftover store bought dough is the worst. Your recipe calls for 20 wonton wrappers, but the store only sells 15 in a pack, which means there are ten extra, and you can’t re-freeze them for another use.
Even if you never had this problem (jealous), keep reading because I found a solution that will make you wish you had.
Whenever I make Chicken pot pie, I ALWAYS have leftover Puff Pastry dough. I end up throwing out the extra dough because I have no use for it, until I realized how many cookies can be made out of it.
What cookie can be made out of Puff Pastry you ask? None other than flakey, buttery, caramelized, elephant ears (with cream cheese glaze 😱 but we will get to that later).
They look so elegant that no one will know that they came from leftover dough and were made in less than 20 minutes.
Dough can be intimidating but this ready made dough from a package is fool proof (my favorite brand to use is Pepperidge Farm).
Elephant Ears
Ingredients
1 cup sugar, divided
Pinch of kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 sheet Puff Pastry dough defrosted.
Steps:
1.Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.
2.Combine 1/2 cup of the sugar and kosher salt, spread it over a flat surface (parchment paper, cutting board) the size of the dough, and unfold the sheet of dough onto the sugar.
3.Combine the other 1/2 cup of sugar with the cinnamon, pour over the dough, and evenly spread it.
4.With a rolling pin, roll out the dough until the sugar it pressed into the top and bottom. 
5.Fold the sides of the square a quarter way towards the middle, and then again until the 2 sides meet in the middle. Finally fold the two sides onto each other, like closing a book.
6.Slice the dough lengthwise with a cold sharp knife (without sawing) into cookies and place the cookies on baking sheets. The slices should be between a quarter and half an inch thick. Leave an inch between each elephant ear.
7.Bake for 10-12 minutes on the bottom rack in the oven until sugar is melted and browned.
These cookies reminded me of cinnamon buns, so I made a cream cheese icing for extra pizzaz, but it is not crucial for them to taste delicious.
Cream Cheese Icing
Ingredients
4oz Cream Cheese (bricks) softened
1 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup milk
Combine and beat all of the ingredients in a small bowl until combined, and drizzle over the elephant ears.
Science Time!
Ever wonder how puff pastry is made and why its different from other types of dough? There’s no yeast, baking soda, or baking powder in puff pastry, so how does it puff up in the oven?
The secret is hundreds of layers of paper-thin dough and steam. The dough starts out with just water and flour, and then gets rolled, stretched, and folded with LOTS of butter again and again until all of those layers are formed. The finished pastry dough is very thin layers of dough separated by equally thin layers of butter.
In the oven, the water in the dough (that is in between the layers) turns into steam. The steam puffs up each thin sheet of dough before evaporating into the oven leaving behind a delicate and airy pastry.
Banana Nutella Wontons
Ever have extra wonton wrappers? Slice up a banana, spread peanut butter and Nutella on inside of the wrapper, and lay down the banana slices. Wrap it up, fry it, and sift some powdered sugar on top. These are so gooey and delicious and it adds another dessert to your table.
If you have any type of dough leftover, open your fridge or pantry and brainstorm, you never know what you can come up with.
And keep muffin around the kitchen 😋.