Tag Archive for: baking

The Pioneer Woman’s French Toast

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It was about this time last year that we were getting ready to head out to see Corby’s friend’s Ladd and Ree- otherwise known as Marlboro Man and The Pioneer Woman.  We stayed on their ranch for a few days and helped wrangle some cattle- it was pretty awesome.  Since that time, I have to say that I have done no wrangling, ranching or cattling.  However, I have of course been reading Ree’s blog and keeping up with her cooking.  I really enjoy reading her recipes because they are so tasty, but I also just have to laugh at her extensive use of butter, sugar and all things good.  I was looking at her recipe for Baked French Toast, and while I couldn’t (well actually I could because it is so delicious, but I would be very unhealthy and fat which I am not a huge fan of) eat this for breakfast every morning, on the occasional Saturday or Sunday, it is a huge treat!  Sugar, butter, heavy cream, more sugar, more butter, and bread- awesome.  While we are probably not going to make it out to the ranch this year, that will not stop me for enjoying her decadent Baked French Toast and all of her other wonderful recipes!

The Pioneer Woman’s Baked French Toast

Ingredients:

1 loaf Crusty Sourdough Or French Bread
8 whole Eggs
2 cups Whole Milk
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract
Topping:
1/2 cup Flour
1/2 cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Salt
Freshly Grated Nutmeg, Optional
1 stick Cold Butter, Cut Into Pieces

Directions:

For the French toast: Grease the baking pan with butter. Tear the bread into chunks, or cut into cubes, and evenly distribute in the pan. Crack the eggs in a big bowl. Whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Pour evenly over the bread. Cover the pan tightly and store in the fridge until needed (overnight preferably). Or you can make it and bake it right away—delicious no matter what!

For the topping: Mix the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and some nutmeg in a separate bowl. Stir together using a fork. Add the butter and with a pastry cutter, and mix it all together until the mixture resembles fine pebbles. Store in a plastic bag in the fridge.

When you’re ready to bake the casserole, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the casserole from the fridge and sprinkle the topping over the top. Bake for 45 minutes for a softer, more bread pudding texture or for 1 hour-plus or more for a firmer, crisper texture.

Scoop out individual portions. Top with butter and drizzle with warm pancake syrup.

My attempt at baking bread

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My mother’s homemade bread is the best.  I am not kidding- everyone loves it.  She gives it away as presents for Christmas, birthdays, new babies, house warmings- it is perfect for every occasion.  She makes loaves and loaves of it at a time and then freezes them so that she always has bread to pull out if she needs it.  She could make it in her sleep.  The first time I tried to make it when I lived up in New York, I had her on the phone with me walking me through the steps.  I thought it was going pretty well, then she said, “Now just add some flour until it is not sticky.”  I am the kind of person who needs more specific directions than “some flour”.  My bread turned out okay but not great, and I definitely added too much flour.  I gave up- it was just much easier to have her make the bread and send it to me or make a bunch when she would come to visit.  Both my sister and sister-in-law have mastered the skill of my mother’s bread.  My sister, who just moved to Vietnam with her husband and two little girls, even can make it over there.  She did have to improvise since she did not have a rolling pin, but apparently a wine bottle works just as well.  I, on the other hand, have never tried to make her bread again, but I think it might be time.  Le Creuset has just come out with an on-line series called “Le Creuset Technique Series with Michael Ruhlman”, and the first one is about bread baking.  You can watch it here- it is fantastic http://lecreuset.com/ruhlman!  It has some wonderful ideas, and I can’t wait for the next story to come out- so inspiring.  Anyway- here is my mother’s bread recipe.  I will be trying it this weekend and actually measuring the flour I use so that if and when I get it right, I will know how much and then can add it to the recipe for future generations to not struggle like me.  At the end when the dough is made, you can put it in a loaf pan and bake it, but my mother breaks it into three balls which she then rolls out into a rope and braids the bread.  It is very pretty.  And while this has nothing to do with bread- here is a fun picture of Walker I took last weekend.

My Mother’s Bread

Ingredients:

1 package yeast

½ cup sugar

2 cups warm water

 3 tbsp oil

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 tbsp salt

¼ cup dry milk powder

unbleached all-purpose flour (see how there is no amount to this- I am going to find out and fill it in!!)

Directions:

Mix yeast, sugar  and water in a big pot or dutch oven. After yeast, sugar and water have reached bubbling stage, whisk in the oil, eggs, salt and milk powder.  Gradually beat in flour, a cup at a time, until you need a spoon to stir flour in.  Continue to add flour until you can work with the dough and your hands are not sticky.  Let rise until double.  Beat down and add more flour.

Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 min.

Turtle Candy and Real Turtles

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I have a very weird fear of small animals like mice, fish, lizards, frogs, etc.  I am really only afraid of these things, which lets be honest, can not hurt me really at all, when they are close to me and move unexpectedly.  Then I freak out.  Take fish- I love fishing and catching fish, it is super fun, but when said fish that I caught gets put into a bucket and starts jumping around and trying to get, I run screaming.  I really don’t know why.  Walker had a pet fish for a while, and I dealt with it pretty well until the day I was cleaning the fish bowl, and the fish was in a glass on the counter next to the sink.  And then the fish jumped out of the glass and into the sink, and I started screaming.  Did it even occur to me to pick up Walker’s beloved fish with my hands?  No.  And we were out of paper towels and the fish was getting closer to the drain.  So I grabbed a spoon- not quite sure what I was going to do with that, but anyway- sad story, the fish went down the drain.  Maybe not my best moment and definitely won “Worst Mother of the Year” award for that one.  It turns out that my fear of little animals extends to turtles as well.  We went kayaking last Sunday which was so fun.  Walker and Corby were in a kayak together, and Walker spotted a turtle in the water.  I thought- neat- and kept on paddling.  A few minutes later, Walker and Corby paddled up and Walker thrust his new friend at me.  I screamed and nearly fell out of my kayak.  This was the funniest thing that Walker had seen in a long time.  Before you get the entirely wrong impression of me, I am not completely girly.  Spiders, cock roaches, insects, I have no problem with these things.  I can kill spiders all day long, but rodents and small aquatic and amphibious creatures not so much.  Anyway, as with most things I do, I immediately starting thinking about what fun recipes I could get from this experience.  Turtle soup- no.  But turtle candy- yes!  This is a fun easy recipe from www.allrecipes.com

Pretzel Turtle Candy

Ingredients:

20 small mini pretzels

20 chocolate covered caramels

20 pecan halves

(or however many you want to make- doesn’t have to be 20)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Arrange the pretzels on a parchment lined cookie sheet, and place one chocolate covered caramel candy on each pretzel.

Bake for 4 minutes, and while the candy is still warm, press a pecan halve on each candy covered pretzel.  Cool completely before storing.

Parasailing and Pimento Cheese (Part 1)

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Walker had his first day of school yesterday- except that it was only for one hour.  I am not really sure the point of a one-hour day, but I guess it eased him into it.  However, I had to then think of something else for us to do for the rest of the day.  Driving back over the bridge from running an errand, I saw a boat pulling para-sailors in the harbor, and just like that, I had my idea for the day.  I went home and called Tidal Wave Water Sports (www.tidalwavewatersports.com), and two hours later, Walker and I were in a boat headed out to parasail.  It was awesome and not really scary at all (but I was really happy to be back on solid ground when we were done).  I am not sure what the correlation between the two is, but something about seeing the para sailors in the harbor and then doing it myself made me think of a Garden & Gun post on Facebook I saw the other day about pimento cheese and the Lee Brothers.  The post talked about pimento cheese purists who will only use shredded cheddar cheese, Dukes, and jarred pimentos, and anything else isn’t pimento cheese.  Well, the Lee Brothers (I love them!) put a spin on this classic using Swiss cheese and banana peppers.  Highly interesting, and here is the recipe:

Pimento Cheese

10 oz. Swiss cheese, finely grated
One 12-oz. jar pickled banana peppers (hot if available) drained and minced
3 tbs. sour cream
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 tbs. chives minced (approx. 1/6 bunch)
2 tbs. capers (soaked in fresh water for 1 minute, then drained)

Directions

Mix all ingredients together with a spatula until evenly blended.  Refrigerate, if possible, for 2 hours or overnight.  Serve in a bowl with a good supply of crackers.

All of this got me thinking- well, if you can use Swiss cheese, why couldn’t you use my favorite pepper jack cheese?  And I think that you could, and then I started thinking that you could use this new mixture in the pimento cheese popovers recipe that is so phenomenal (all of this thinking and random associations between this and the para sailing occurred around 3am in a semi dream/tossing and turning state, and all of this would probably make much more sense if I had written it all down last night when it seemed really genius).  So, I am going to try it!  I am going to use Duke’s Mayonnaise Pimento Cheese recipe but substitute pepper jack cheese for cheddar, and if that all turns out to be as delicious as I think it will, I will then make the Pimento Cheese Popovers with the new pepper jack concoction.  And the creating and testing of all of that will be Part 2 (no more para sailing for a while).  If you have any suggestions or helpful hints- they would be much appreciated!!

Tomato for Dessert? Tomato Tart Tatin Might Change Your Mind

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I went to a dinner party a while ago at a good friend’s house.  When she called to invite us, she immediately said, “I know you don’t like tomatoes, but I am making Tomato Tart Tatin for dessert, and you have to try it because I really think you will love it.” I realize that I need to give tomatoes another try since my dislike of them stems from a long ago childhood memory of my aunt’s wedding weekend.  Her soon to be niece was my age (we were 4 or 5 at the time), and we were going to be flower girls together, and so my mother and aunt arranged a pool play date for her soon to be niece and myself.  My co-flower girl was not that strong of a swimmer at the time and apparently I was swinging on a towel bar and kicked her (by accident!!)  into the pool – the shallow end- where she could touch- and she was fine.  But of course my mother, aunt and her mother all jumped into the pool fully clothed to help her out, and I was not the most popular person at the party.  After everything quieted down, they served tomato sandwiches for lunch.  My mother knowing that I was a particularly picky eater gave me the look that saying anything about not liking the sandwiches was not an option.  I think I ate 4 or 5 triangles of tomato sandwich saying they were the best thing ever- hoping that my mother would not be too mad at me on the car ride home.  Anyway- I survived and my aunt’s wedding was spectacular, and I have nothing but amazing memories of it except for swearing off tomatoes from then on.  I love tomato sauce and ketchup and really all variations of tomatoes except for eating them in their original form.  Until my friend’s dinner party.  I don’t remember what she cooked for dinner except that I am sure it was fabulous, but the Tomato Tart Tatin was really divine.  As my friend said, “I often forget my favorite vegetable is a fruit.”  The tart was so sweet and delicious and such an unusual but spectacular choice to finish off a dinner party.  She got the recipe from Bon Appetit at http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2010/08/tomato_tarte_tatin.  So unique and so wonderful!!

Tomato Tart Tatin

Ingredients:

1 3/4 pounds plum tomatoes (8 large)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 sheet frozen puff pastry (half of 17.3-ounce package), thawed, corners cut off to make very rough 9- to 10-inch round
Lightly sweetened whipped cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°F. Bring large saucepan of water to boil. Cut shallow X in bottom of each tomato. Add 4 tomatoes to boiling water. Blanch tomatoes just until skins at X begin to peel back, 15 to 30 seconds. Using slotted spoon, transfer blanched tomatoes to bowl of ice water to cool quickly. Repeat with remaining tomatoes. Peel tomatoes. Cut out cores, halve lengthwise, and remove seeds.
Spread butter over bottom of 91/2-inch-diameter, 2- to 3-inch-deep ovenproof skillet (preferably cast-iron). Sprinkle 3/4 cup sugar over butter. Arrange tomato halves, rounded side down and close together, in concentric circles in skillet to fill completely.
Place skillet over medium heat. Cook until sugar and butter are reduced to thickly bubbling, deep amber syrup (about 1/4 inch deep in bottom of skillet), moving tomatoes occasionally to prevent burning, about 25 minutes. Remove skillet from heat. Immediately drizzle vanilla over tomatoes. Top with pastry round. Using knife, tuck in edges of pastry. Cut 2 or 3 small slits in pastry. Place skillet in oven and bake tart until pastry is deep golden brown, about 24 minutes.
Cool tart in skillet 10 minutes. Cut around sides of skillet to loosen pastry. Place large platter over skillet. Using oven mitts as aid, hold skillet and platter firmly together and invert, allowing tart to settle onto platter. Carefully lift off skillet. Rearrange any tomato halves that may have become dislodged.
Serve tart warm or at room temperature with whipped cream.

An Art Show, Cold Springs, and Cold Water Chocolate Cake

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I am continually amazed at how my 9 year old son Walker has no fear.  No fear of jumping off 30 foot cliffs into raging water, no fear of being on a 30 foot cliff above raging water, no fear of cold water.  I am afraid of all of those things.  We have been going on a lot of hikes to different swimming holes this past week up in the mountains, and while I wear my bathing suit to all of them, getting in the water really just doesn’t happen.  Finally, we were at Babel Tower on a group hike where the picture to the left was taken, and Walker was begging me to go in.  There were about 40 people on this hike, most of whom I knew, but I stood on the edge of a 5 foot jump with a line of children behind me waiting to go, and I couldn’t do it.  I am not sure if it was the fear of jumping or the cold water, but I could not throw myself off of that terrifying cliff.  I did spot a ledge just about two feet off the water and climbed down to that one and finally jumped.  The water was freezing and the whole experience was just not that fun, but Walker, of course, made it all worth it by running up to me after I got out of the water, “I am so proud of you Mommy!” And then he went onto this jump. (My brother was with him and there were lots of other braver adults supervising just so you all don’t think I am a completely reckless mother.)  All of this cold mountain water got me thinking about using cold water in a recipe, so I googled “cold water cake” and found this great recipe on www.cooks.com for Cold Water Chocolate Cake.  I can’t think of anything better than chocolate cake after freezing water and a long hike!  The recipe is at the bottom.

I have to talk about the art show that we went to the other night.  Two wonderful family friends set up an art showfor the community at the Pavilion the other night, and I was blown away by their talents.  Bo is an amazing painter who  had pieces of her farm animals on display.  They were so beautiful and such interesting pieces.  Murray is the most talented quilter I have ever seen.  I have one piece of hers that I truly cherish.  Her quilts look like paintings or photographs of fantastic mountain scenes.  Here is an example of a piece she had in the show.  I am utterly in awe of her talent.  You can find more about her at her website  http://www.murrayjohnstonartquilts.com/.

We only have a few days left in the mountains and then back to Charleston where hopefully they have fixed the AC.  I can’t believe it is August already and school starts in two weeks.  Please send in any back to school favorite recipes or traditions- would love to post them!!

Cold Water Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cups cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp distilled white vinegar
3/4 cups oil
2 cups very cold water

 

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl with a whisk or fork. Pour into a 9 x 13-inch greased baking pan.  Bake at 350°F for 35 to 45 minutes and frost with your favorite fudge frosting.

Pink Lemonade Pie

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We got back from our month in the mountains on Saturday evening.  When we left Twilight on Saturday morning at 6:30 am, it was 56 degrees.  When we arrived in Charleston 14 hours and 40 minutes later at just after 9 pm, it was 86 degrees.  We had only been gone for 30 days, but that heat and humidity hit me something fierce.  I know I should be more used to it, but holy smokes Batman- it is hot down here.  We had such fabulous weather in the Catskills that I am sure the atmosphere will cooperate, and cool fall weather is just around the corner 🙂 Fortunately, one of my best girlfriends has a place very close by with a pool, and she has invited a few of us over tomorrow night for some pool/girl time.  To show my wondrous appreciation for her very nice cold relaxing pool, I thought I should bring something special to eat.  But then I thought about standing in the kitchen with the oven on and cooking and chopping and sweating, and I got so upset at my friend for inviting me to her pool, but then I thought about the pool again and how nice it is, and realized how ridiculous I was being.  So instead of cooking, I found a super awesome, super easy recipe for Pink Lemonade Pie that should be a perfect pairing with a frosty cold beverage, wonderful friends, and a great pool.  By the way, I love my friend, and if she wanted me to slave away in the kitchen, I would, but I think she will be very happy with this instead!

Pink Lemonade Pie

Ingredients:

1  can sweetened condensed milk
1  can frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed
1  container Cool Whip (thawed)
2 prepared graham cracker crusts

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix together sweetened condensed milk and lemonade concentrate. Fold in whipped topping. Pour into pie crusts. Refrigerate until completely chilled.

How easy is that!!

 

Please Shoo-Fly Pie

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I went for my last hike up High Peak yesterday.  High Peak is actually the 22nd highest peak in the Catskills but because of its profile or where it sits, it looks like the highest peak- hence the name.  Anyway, the great thing about the hike is that I can actually walk out the door and walk to the trail head, and it is a very tough but not too long great workout.  I was pretty excited to get out into the woods and enjoy the peace and quiet.  It was not quiet though.  You know why?  I will tell you- the flies were so excruciatingly bad it was almost unbearable.  It is deer fly and horse fly season up here, and because of the very mild winter, it is one of the worst fly seasons ever.  I would rather take my chances with the bear who has been coming onto our porch at least once a week than deal with the flies.  I wish the ferocious beast Nemo would scare the flies away as well as he scares the bear away, but he is too busy sleeping.  In my  anger-induced delirium, I started thinking about Shoo-Fly Pie and what a great name it is (and of course, how delicious), and then I started thinking that maybe the flies would leave me alone if I was just a little more polite, so here is a great recipe for “Please Shoo-Fly Pie”.  We will see if it works when we go on our hike today- we are actually climbing the highest peak called Slide Mountain- wish me luck!

Please Shoo Fly Pie

Ingredients:

1/2 cup molasses
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup boiling water
1 pinch salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 9-inch unbaked pie crust

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, dissolve the soda in the molasses and stir until it foams. Sir in the boiling water and pinch of salt. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon, brown sugar and butter into crumbs.

Pour 1/3 of the molasses mixture into the unbaked crust. Sprinkle 1/3 of the crumbs over the molasses mixture and continue alternating layers, finishing with the crumbs on top.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until the crumbs and crust are golden.

Banana Pudding and BBQ

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This question may have been asked a million times, but it hadn’t occurred to me until recently- why is banana pudding always served as dessert at BBQ restaurants?  Not that I am complaining at all- I love banana pudding, it is one of my favorites.  It is such a staple at my favorite BBQ haunts that I have always taken it for granted, but we had a curious experience up in the Catskills pertaining to BBQ that got me interested in this question.  We were down in the small town of Phoenicia, at the bottom of the mountain, and we saw a BBQ stand.  Intrigued and thinking this might be a quick and easy thing to grab for dinner, we went to the stand to buy some BBQ to take home with us.  When Corby asked to buy 3 lbs of BBQ, the proprietor of the stand was incredibly confused and asked, “Do you want a 3 lb sandwich?”  “No, no- we just want to buy 3 lbs of BBQ- you know, in bulk.”  This did not actually help.  “In bulk? I don’t know what you mean,” our friendly salesman said.  When Corby then said, “You know- in bulk- so we can take it home… for dinner… later… We are from South Carolina,”  we just got completely blank stares.  “Well, do you at least have any banana pudding?” I asked- more stares.  Clearly, we were speaking different languages when it came to BBQ.  We laughed about this the whole way home, and I am sure they laughed about the crazies from South Carolina who wanted a 3lb BBQ sandwich for a long time, too.  So, needless to say, we will be waiting until we return south to get some BBQ- especially in bulk.  But I did start wondering why banana pudding is always served at BBQ.  After some googling, I haven’t found an answer.  It seems that bananas were imported (as they are not naturally found in the United States) from Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, etc, so it makes sense that they would be more abundant in the South.  Vanilla Wafers weren’t around until 1901-1902, and while they make banana pudding that much better, that is no explanation.  My explanation would be that some genius was eating BBQ and then had banana pudding for dessert and thought, “Now those are the two best things I have ever eaten and should always be together.”  I applaud that person and agree wholeheartedly.  Here is the original Nilla Wafer Banana Pudding recipe from Nabisco (http://www.nabiscoworld.com/recipes/recipe.aspx?recipe_id=55431), and if you have any other insights on this issue, please share!!

Banana Pudding

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar, divided
1/3 cup flour
 dash salt
3 eggs, separated
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
45 NILLA Wafers, divided
5 bananas, sliced

Directions

MIX 1/2 cup sugar, flour and salt in top of double boiler. Blend in 3 egg yolks and milk. Cook, uncovered, over boiling water 10 to 12 min. or until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.
RESERVE 12 wafers for garnish. Spread small amount of custard onto bottom of 1-1/2-qt. baking dish. Cover with layers of 1/3 each of the remaining wafers, bananas and remaining custard. Repeat layers 2 times.
BEAT egg whites on high speed of mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in remaining sugar until stiff peaks form. Spread over custard, sealing well to edge of dish.
BAKE 15 to 20 min. or until lightly browned. Cool slightly. Top with reserved wafers just before serving.

More from the Mountains: Bear Claws

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This is my 11-year-old Springer Spaniel, Nemo (named before the fish).  As you can see, he is a ferocious beast.   Despite the fact that he still looks like a puppy, he is getting old.  His hips are going, and he sleeps most of the time.  However, this morning, he recaptured some of his youth when, at 5:45 am, he demanded to be let out.  I dragged myself down the stairs and opened the door- my eyes still basically closed, thinking he would just quickly do his business and come right back in.  Well, instead, Nemo, the ferocious beast, found and scared a bear cub off our front porch.  The barking and scrambling that ensued, I thought that there was a raccoon or something, except that when I ran onto the porch, I saw this. I did not get a picture of the cub because, well, this is a huge bear, and I did not want to hang out for too long.  But I woke everybody up in the house, and we all watched them safely through the upstairs window as they went up the hill.  I have to say,  when I am out on the boat in Charleston, I still get super excited to see dolphins- it never gets old.  Bears on the front porch, this could lose its appeal pretty quickly!  In honor of Nemo continuing to keep us safe and our hopefully never-to-return visitor, the bear and her cub, here is a fun recipe I got from www.tasteofhome.com for bear claws!!

Bear Claws:

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
5 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1-1/4 cups half-and-half cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 egg white
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup almond paste, cubed
1 tablespoon water
Coarse or granulated sugar
Sliced almonds

Directions

In a bowl, toss butter with 3 cups flour until well coated; refrigerate. In a large bowl, combine yeast and remaining flour.

In a saucepan, heat cream, sugar and salt to 120°-130°. Add to yeast mixture with 1 egg. Beat until smooth. Stir in butter mixture just until moistened.

Place dough onto a well floured surface; roll into a 21-in. x 12-in. rectangle. Starting at a short side, fold dough in thirds, forming a 12-in. x 7-in. rectangle. Give dough a quarter turn; roll into a 21-in. x 12-in. rectangle. Fold into thirds, starting with a short side. Repeat, flouring surface as needed. (Do not chill dough between each rolling and folding.) Cover and chill for 4 to 24 hours or until firm.

For filling, in a small bowl, beat egg white until foamy. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar and almond paste; beat until smooth. Cut dough in half widthwise. Roll each portion into a 12-in. square; cut each square into three 12-in. x 4-in. strips. Spread about 2 tablespoons filling down center of each strip. Fold long edges together; seal edges and ends. Cut into three pieces.

Place on greased baking sheets with folded edge facing away from you. With scissors, cut strips four times to within 1/2 in. of folded edge; separate slightly. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Lightly beat water and remaining egg; brush over dough. Sprinkle with sugar and almonds. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.