Bear Claws Pittsburgh Style Food

BEAR CLAWS, PITTSBURGH STYLE!

Steps:

• FOR THE DOUGH: Scald milk. Stir in sugar, salt, and butter. Cool to lukewarm.
• Measure warm water into large bowl and sprinkle on the yeast. Stir until dissolved. Stir in lukewarm milk mixture, eggs and half of the flour -- beat until smooth. Stir in remaining flour to make a stiff dough. Turn out on a floured board and knead 8 minutes or place in an electric mixer with a dough hook until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, turning to grease top of dough.
• Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk. Punch down and shape as desired.
• Divide dough in half. Roll out half of dough on floured board into a 9-by-18-inch rectangle. Brush with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter.
• Combine dates, raisins and lemon rind with 1/2 cup of the nuts and 3 tablespoons of the sugar. Sprinkle half of this filling over the dough.
• Fold outside third of dough over center; fold again to make a 3-layer strip 18 inches long. Pinch ends to seal.
• Cut and divide into 9 2-inch sections. Make four 1/4-inch cuts in one side of each section. Place on greased baking sheets and shape into bear claws by separating the four cut sections.
• Repeat with remaining dough and filling.
• Combine egg yolk and water. Brush rolls and sprinkle with 1/4 cup nuts and remaining sugar.
• Let rise, uncovered, until doubled in bulk, about one hour. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden.

BEAR CLAW

Steps:

• Break up the almond paste into smaller chunks and place into a food processor along with the granulated butter and sugar.
• Pulse until chopped fine. Add in half of the beaten egg and flour, process until smooth.
• Lay the puff pastry out onto a lined baking sheet. Spread the almond paste mixture over half of the puff pastry sheet, leaving about an inch around the edges.
• Fold the unfilled half of the pastry over the filling, crimp the edges together and roll the edge under the bottom seam to make sure it is sealed.
• Make 4 cuts about ¾ of the way through the pastry to form the "claw" (it will make 5 "fingers").
• Fan out the pastry slightly to separate the "fingers". Brush with the remaining egg all over and sprinkle the top with sliced almonds and coarse sugar.
• Bake at 400°F for 16-18 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool at least a few minutes before serving.

BLUE RIBBON ALMOND BEAR CLAWS

Steps:

• In a bowl, toss butter with 3 cups flour until well coated; refrigerate. In a mixing bowl, combine Fleischmann's yeast and remaining flour. In a saucepan, heat cream, sugar and salt to 120 to 130 degrees. Add to yeast mixture with 1 egg; mix well. Stir in butter mixture just until moistened.
• Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead 10 times. Roll into a 21x12-inch rectangle. Starting at a short side, fold dough in thirds, forming a 12x7-inch rectangle. Cover and chill for 1 hour.
• For filling, in a mixing bowl, beat egg white until foamy. Gradually add powdered sugar and almond paste; beat until smooth. Cut dough in half widthwise. Roll each portion into a 12-inch square; cut each square into three 12x4-inch 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-inch 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 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

CINNAMON BEAR CLAWS (ONCE A MONTH COOKING)

Steps:

• On a lightly floured pastry cloth or floured board, roll dough to an 18x9-inch rectangle.
• Brush with half of butter, then sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar mixture, leaving a 1/4-inch edge all around. Combine nuts, raisins and peel.
• Sprinkle evenly over sugared surface.
• From longer side, fold one third of dough over.
• Then bring opposite side over this, to make a three layer strip 18x3-inches.
• Pinch together, to seal. With a sharp knife, cut strip crosswise into 6 sections.
• On folded side of each, make 3 1-inch cuts, evenly spaced TO FREEZE: Arrange on tray.
• Separate "claws" slightly.
• Brush tops with rest of butter. Wrap tray with foil; seal, label and freeze TO BAKE: Line a cookie sheet with brown paper.
• Arrange "claws" 2 inches apart on ungreased brown paper.
• Let rise in warm place until double in bulk about 1- 1 1/4 hour. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 375°F.
• Mix the ingredients for the sugar glaze together in a small bowl.
• Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
• Let cool slightly on wire rack.
• Drizzle glaze over warm rolls.
• Note: You can serve these in the morning for breakfast by pulling them out of the freezer the night before and let them thaw in the refrigerator overnight on a brown paper lined sheet.

BEAR CLAWS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Stir in sugar, salt and egg; mix well. Add the flour all at once, stirring until mixed. Set aside., For butter mixture, sprinkle 1 tablespoon flour on a work surface; place butter on surface and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon flour. Press and roll out with a rolling pin. Scrape butter from rolling pin and continue to work the butter until it forms a smooth mass without any hard lumps. Knead in remaining flour, working quickly to keep butter cold. , Place butter mixture on a sheet of plastic wrap and shape into a small rectangle. Cover with another sheet of plastic wrap; roll into a 9x6-in. rectangle. Set aside., Turn dough onto a floured work surface; roll into a 14x10-in. rectangle, with a 10-in. side toward the bottom. Unwrap butter mixture; place on dough 1 in. above bottom edge and 1/2 in. from each side edge. Fold top half of dough over butter and pinch edges to seal., Turn dough a quarter turn to the right; sprinkle lightly with additional flour. Lightly roll into a 16x8-in. rectangle. Fold bottom third of rectangle up and top third down, as when folding a business letter, making a 5-1/2x8-in. rectangle (this is called one turn). Rotate dough a quarter turn to the right. Lightly roll into a 16x8-in. rectangle and again fold into thirds, finishing the second turn. Repeat rotating, rolling and folding two more times for a total of four times. Wrap loosely in plastic wrap; refrigerate for 30 minutes., Roll dough into a 12-in. square; cut square into three 12x4-in. strips. Spread 2 tablespoons filling down the center of each strip to within 1 in. of long edge. Fold lengthwise over filling and pinch seam to seal. Cut each strip into three pieces. With scissors, cut each piece four times from pinched seam to about 1/2 in. from folded side. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Curve folded side slightly to separate strips and allow filling to show. Cover and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled, about 1 hour., Preheat oven to 400°. Brush bear clasws with egg. Bake 10-14 minutes or until puffy and golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks. Combine glaze ingredients; brush over warm rolls. Cool.

CRESCENT BEAR CLAWS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375ºF. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, beat egg lightly with whisk. Place 1/2 of the egg (about 1 1/2 Tbs.) in a custard cup and beat in the milk until well blended. Set this aside, it will be used as a wash later.
• To the remaining egg in the bowl, stir in the remaining filling ingredients until well blended.
• Meanwhile, in 1-quart heavy saucepan, mix glaze ingredients. Heat to boiling and remove from heat; cool while making rolls.
• On a lightly floured work surface, unroll dough; press into a 12x8-inch rectangle, firmly pressing perforations to seal.
• Spoon filling into a 12x2-inch strip lengthwise down the center 1/3 of the dough.
• Fold 1/3 of dough over filling. Then fold the filling-topped section over the last 1/3 of dough so the seam is on the bottom.
• With hand, gently flatten 1-inch wide strip of dough along one long side of folded dough.
• Cut folded dough crosswise into 6 (2-inch) pastries. Along flattened edge of each pastry, cut 1-inch long cuts about 1/2 inch apart.
• Lightly brush the egg-milk mixture from earlier over each pastry. Place almonds on a plate and invert each pastry onto almonds. Press gently so almonds stick to dough.
• Place almond side up on the cookies sheet, spreading each cut slightly to form claw like shape. Sprinkle remaining almonds over top of pastries.
• Bake for 15-18 min or until golden brown. Remove to wire rack and cool for 5 minute.
• Drizzle cooled glaze over each pastry.
• In another small bowl, mix icing ingredients until smooth - if too thick, add 1/2 teaspoons water at a time until drizzling consistency. Drizzle icing over cooled pastries.