Almond Bear Claws

Submitted by AZPARZYCH

"These are my favorite pastries; found online so now I can make them at home!"

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photo by Billy Green

Ready In:: 2hrs 30mins
Ingredients:: 13
Serves:: 24

ingredients

¹⁄₃ cup almond paste
2 ³⁄₄ cups almonds, ground
¹⁄₂ cup white sugar
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 egg whites
¹⁄₂ teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons amaretto liqueur
3 lbs puff pastry
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
3 tablespoons sliced almonds, for garnish
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, for dusting

directions

In a large bowl, beat almond paste with an electric mixer to break it apart. Add the almonds, sugar, and salt; continue to mix until the almond paste is no longer lumpy. Stir in the butter, egg whites, almond extract and amaretto liqueur on high speed until its as fluffy as you can get it. Set aside.
Using half of the dough at a time, roll it out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle that is about 8 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick.
Trim the edges of the dough. Cut the dough in half lengthwise to make two 4 inch wide strips.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Fill a pastry bag halfway with the almond filling and pipe a stripe of filling down the center of each strip.
Whisk together the egg and water.
Brush onto one edge of each strip. Fold each strip over the filling and press gently to seal it.
Brush each piece with egg wash and sprinkle sliced almonds over the top.
Cut into 3 to 4 inch pieces, then cut 1/2 inch slits into the sealed edge to make the ''claws''.
Place the bear claws at least two inches apart on baking sheets Refrigerate and repeat with the second half of the dough
Bake in the preheated oven until almonds are toasted and pastry is golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes.
Cool and dust with confectioners' sugar right before serving.

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Reviews

These were very tasty however the almond filling was a bit bland. I don't prefer many pastries to be overly sweet, and therefore know my taste buds aren't weakened, but in this case there wasn't even enough sweetness to bring out the full flavor of the bear claws. I feel that if I would make this again I would either add more almond paste to the filling or make a light glaze/icing for the tops of the bear claws. For this batch I will just eat them with a little honey (it's totally awesome). To say the good things about this recipe now I will start by talking about how much fun they were to make. I have never made bear claws before so I was a bit nervous to take them on, but everything went smoothly and ended very well. The directions are very clear so anyone who doesn't normally make pastries should be able to follow them with ease and make a great product. I'll be attaching photos as soon as I can get them off of my sisters camera. Made with my [recipe=435428]Flaky Squares[/recipe] dough for the 08/10 Newest Zaar Tag.

MizEmerilLagasse
Oh I LOVE this recipe. One of my favorite pastries and now I can make them myself. My shape wasn't the best (after looking at this realized I bent them the wrong way - opps) but the taste was right on, flaky and the taste of the filling was sooo good. I did frost mine with recipe#443319 and that gave them the perfect sweetness. Can't wait to make these again to see if I can get that shape down right. This recipe more than deserves all 5 stars in my book

Bonnie G #2

Tweaks

Instead of powdered sugar, I just sprinkled turbinado sugar on before baking, and it's important to shape the bear claw before it bakes by slightly bending it and spreading out the claws!

Billy Green

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

AZPARZYCH

Peoria, 41

I am a stay at home mom to two wonderful boys; Joshua (8years), Kaiden (5 years), and baby GIRL, Madalynn (19 months)!  I also have two fur babies (cats); Kobee, AJ; we had to put our youngest cat Sly down Jan 2014. :(. I am also married to my best friend, Jeff and have been since April 2005.  I love cooking, hate cleaning and will do whatever I can to get out of it!  I love grilling and baking.  I do most of the grilling at my house, and bake for almost a week straight at Christmas time!  I can make or will attempt just about anything, though I rarely make brownies, my husband's are the best!  Homemade breads are not my friend, so I am always working on bread baking. As for recipe ideas (besides zaar) Cooking Light Cookbooks are my favorites.  I love to make new meals and try new things; it is hard though because my husband is picky when it comes to veggies (and hates seafood); If it were up to him we would have baked-bread crumb chicken and white rice at least one meal a day!  Over the past couple years with zaar, I have found tons of new recipes my family normally wouldn’t eat but have been happily surprised with new favorites. I love to join in all of the tag games; I haven't been as present as I would like, but as soon as my Jeff is back from working in Ohio I will be back in full tagging mode! Cooking is my hobby and passion, I always like to host the family get togethers and volunteer for the potluck dishes.  Most of all though are my kids; being home all day with them is fun and challenging, but I wouldn’t trade it for any salary!!

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