French Pastry Dough and Fillings

French Pastry Dough and Fillings
4 eggs, separated
3 cups flour
8 ounces cream cheese
3 sticks butter
Sweet fillings
1 can (12 ounces) fruit pie filling
5 ounces of plum pofidla (such as Solo brand) or plum butter
4 ounces raisins
4 ounces crushed pecans
Savory filling
2 ribs celery, finely chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 small red pepper, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups cubed, cooked chicken
The day before baking: Bring all ingredients to room temperature. Separate the eggs, placing the yolks in a mixing bowl and the whites in a small bowl.
To the yolks in the mixing bowl add the cream cheese and butter and mix well with a hand mixer. Slowly add 2 1/2 cups of the flour. Add remaining flour and use hands to form a solid ball shape. Place the dough in the refrigerator overnight to ferment. (This is an important step because the dough will flake better while baking.)
Baking day: Make the savory filling by sauteeing the celery, onion and peppers in olive oil. Add the chicken and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste and mix. Set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 365 degrees. Divide dough into four equal pieces. Roll out two pieces of dough into rectangles 8-by-12-inches large and 1/8-inch thick.
To prepare the pie filling pastry, spread the filling on one half of a crust, almost to the edges. Fold the dough in half lengthwise and pinch all the edges to seal. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet.
To prepare the plum pastry, spread the filling over entire crust almost to edges. Sprinkle with the raisins and crushed pecans. Roll up dough jellyroll style. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet.
Beat egg whites slightly and brush onto tops of crusts. Sprinkle granulated sugar on the sweet pastries.
For the savory pastry, roll out remaining two pieces of dough to fit an 8-inch pie plate. Lay one sheet of pastry in bottom of pie plate and spoon filling over. Top with second pastry sheet and seal edges. Prick several holes in the top. Brush egg white on top.
Bake all pastries for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Let pastry cool a little, then sprinkle sweet pastries with powdered sugar.
Each sweet pastry serves eight-10; savory pastry serves four.
Cook's note: You can store dough in refrigerator for several days.
Nutrition values per serving of pie filling pastry: 161 calories, 9 g fat, 17 g carbohydrates, trace fiber, 2 g protein, 46 mg cholesterol, 27 mg sodium.
Nutrition values per serving of plum pastry: 258 calories, 18 g fat, 24 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 2 g protein, 46 mg cholesterol, 99 mg sodium.
Nutrition values per serving of savory pastry: 732 calories, 54 g fat, 28 g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber, 21 g protein, 259 mg cholesterol, 158 mg sodium.