Frozen Puff Pastry Can Make You Look Like A Gourmet Cook

Puff pastry is the key ingredient to many favorite party appetizers, from crisp and creamy turnovers to simple, sweet tarts to the classic pig in a blanket. It's an essential freezer staple that any home cook can deploy in case of last-minute entertaining.

Making puff pastry at home from scratch is incredibly laborious and technically difficult. You need to keep your butter perfectly chilled, refrain from over-mixing your dough, keep your dough and butter at a similar consistency as you roll them together, and chill your dough to the exact right temperature before browning it evenly in the oven.

Using frozen puff pastry, however, is a snap. Keeping a box or two of frozen puff pastry in your fridge allows you to make quick, scrumptious appetizers that are perfect for any party scenario. Beautiful cups filled with lemon curd and fresh fruit, crispy, light flatbreads, and bite-sized savory treats are just steps away.

Using pre-made dough may seem like a culinary no-no, but skipping the arduous process of making your own puff pastry allows you to focus on the flavors of your filling, be it chicken salad, taco meat, or pastry cream. And the resulting dishes will be flawlessly flaky, light, and fluffy every time. So become a gourmet-level chef in the eyes of your friends at every party you throw with this brilliant hack.