Spinach & Artichoke Egg Souffle Breakfasts ♥ Why My Garbage Has Eaten More Puff Pastry Than Me

I am currently on my forth package of frozen puff pastry. That means I have already gone through 6 sheets. No, not eaten. Six sheets that should have but weren't.

What is this fascination I have with puff pastry? Believe me, I know I am not the only one that has this foodie affliction. Do you continuously buy the same ingredient, watch as it goes from fresh and tasty to way past the usage date and straight into the garbage? I find lots of petrified fruits at the bottom of my crisper drawer, do you?

I defrosted my very first box of frozen puff pastry in the ridge (I listen to Ina, she bakes with it lots) and there it sat until I knew by one look that there was no way I was opening up that wrapper. Box #2 went where the rest of the freezer contents did after Sandy. Yup, sigh.

I'm not even sure why I did not give up after Sandy but, one bite from a Panera's souffle told me I was going to do this. I love those things but at over $4.00 each and 5 miles away, I could not justify changing out of my comfies to travel for breakfast and after finding the King of Clones website,  I decided I could make my own.

As I replenished the food in the freezer, I also did the pastry. Yes, I bought package #3. Where that box is, is now a mystery, quickly being pushed to the back as new meats and vegetables became roommates.
Ask me today and I will tell you, "oh yeah, there is a box somewhere in that frozen tundra", but I refuse to empty the freezer for one item, no matter how I feel like I should at least make an effort. So, bye-bye souffles you ask? Not yet, I confess.

What happened next, might be blamed on a compote recipe spring fever, but I found myself in the freezer section searching out cranberries (which, by the way, there was none. Can someone explain that, please) and there it was. My infatuation, a predilection of sorts. The frozen pastry section. I promised myself this would be the very last time because this stuff was expensive (I should know, I was in the hole for over $20). Immediately a feeling of dread came over me, I must be nuts, why did I insist on trying to bake with this stuff? Was I a food sadist? Is there even such a person?

I had a box of Croissant Breakfast sandwiches in my hand and I put it back, so I do know right from wrong.
The King of Clones uses crescent dough, but I was using the good stuff.

The following recipe makes 4 souffles, but I doubled mine to make 8, so I will be using 2 sheets cut into quarters. I also will be baking one batch in my favorite mini spring form pans and the other four in 4" pastry rings.

Before I get started I want to say one thing (and you are my witness), I have never made this before and the more I type the more I realize I probably should have made a dry run using a 2 dollar pop can of dough or I might be right back in front of the freezer case, grabbing for that fifth box.

Spinach & Artichoke Bread Souffles
Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons frozen spinach, thawed
3 tablespoons minced artichoke hearts
2 teaspoons minced onion
1 teaspoon minced red bell pepper
5 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons heavy cream
¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese
¼ cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 tablespoon shredded Parmesan cheese
¼ teaspoon salt
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, defrosted in the refrigerator
melted butter
¼ cup shredded Asiago cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Combine spinach, artichoke hearts, onion, and red bell pepper in a small bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of water, cover bowl with plastic wrap and poke a few holes in the plastic. Microwave on high for 3 minutes.

3. Beat 4 eggs. Mix in milk, cream, cheddar cheese, Jack cheese, Parmesan, and salt. Stir in spinach, artichoke, onion, and bell pepper.

4. Microwave egg mixture for 30 seconds on high, and then stir it. Do this 4 to 5 more times or until you have a very runny scrambled egg mixture. This process will tighten up the eggs enough so that the dough won't sink into the eggs when it's folded over.

5. Unroll and separate the crescent dough into four rectangles. In other words, don't tear the dough along the perforations that make triangles. Instead, pinch the dough together along those diagonal perforations so that you have four rectangles. Use some flour on the dough and roll across the width of the rectangle with a rolling pin so that each piece of dough stretches out into a square that is approximately 6 inches by 6 inches.

6. Brush melted butter inside four 4-inch baking dishes or ramekins. Line each ramekin with the dough, then spoon equal amounts of egg mixture into each ramekin. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of asiago cheese on top of the egg mixture in each ramekin, and then gently fold the dough over the mixture.

7. Beat the last egg in a small bowl, then brush beaten egg over the top of the dough in each ramekin.

8. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until dough is brown. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes, then carefully remove the soufflés from each ramekin and serve hot.

The reviews are in: While they looked great, I over baked them a tad (the directions said brown and flaky). The puff pastry cracked into crumbs just trying to cut a fork full. The last two, I undercooked by 15 minutes and they were not as browned but they were more tender and the crust stayed together better. I used more spinach & artichoke than called for, so if you make these, follow the recipe as written. There should be more egg mixture than vegetable. The frozen puff pastry had too much puff but not to give up, I will try the crescent dough the next time. I have a feeling that to get that pastry to a flaky puff, I might just have to make this quick pastry dough and use paper baking cups instead of the metal pans.