By Ethan's bar mitzvah is in three weeks and the food preparations are in full production. I am catering the reception — the full spread, for eighty people, from my kitchen in Oceanside, which David calls insane and Rebecca calls inevitable. The menu: brisket (obviously), kugel, challah, rugelach, gefilte fish, chopped liver, a selection of salads, and a dessert table that includes honey cake, cheesecake, and rugelach in quantities sufficient to feed a small nation.
I have been cooking for three days. The freezer is full of containers. The counter is a staging area. The kitchen is an operation — a military operation with brisket, as I have described it before, except this time the operation is scaled to eighty and the general is a sixty-seven-year-old woman with arthritic hands and a determination that borders on the clinically inadvisable. David offered to hire a caterer. I looked at him. He stopped offering. Jennifer offered to help. I accepted. Jennifer is now my sous chef, which is a role she performs with the efficiency of a woman who has been married to a Feldman for fifteen years and who understands that the brisket is not optional and the kugel is not negotiable.
I made a test batch of the rugelach — the recipe that Ethan has already learned to make, the recipe that will be served at his bar mitzvah, the recipe that connects this boy to his great-grandmother across two generations and sixty years. The rugelach were perfect. They are always perfect. The perfection is Sylvia's. I am the custodian. The custodianship is the honor.
With the rugelach already perfected and accounted for —every last one of them spoken for by eighty guests and the memory of Sylvia —I found myself reaching for something that carries the same spirit: flaky dough, a sweet filling, the kind of pastry that disappears from a dessert table before you have a chance to arrange it properly. These Easy Nutella Pastry Twists are not Sylvia’s recipe, and I would never claim otherwise, but they belong on the same table —warm, generous, and made by hands that know why the baking matters.
Easy Nutella Pastry Twists
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 18 minutes | Total Time: 33 minutes | Servings: 16 twists
Ingredients
- 2 sheets puff pastry, thawed (from a 17.3 oz package)
- 3/4 cup Nutella (or other chocolate-hazelnut spread)
- 1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, for dusting
- 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven. Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll out the pastry. On a lightly floured surface, unfold one sheet of puff pastry and gently roll it to smooth any creases into a roughly 10×12-inch rectangle.
- Spread the Nutella. Spread half the Nutella (about 6 tablespoons) evenly over the entire surface of the first pastry sheet, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edges.
- Top and press. Lay the second sheet of puff pastry directly on top of the Nutella-covered sheet. Press gently with your hands to adhere the two layers together.
- Cut the twists. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the layered pastry into strips approximately 1 inch wide and 5–6 inches long. You should get about 16 strips.
- Twist and place. Hold each strip at both ends and twist two or three times, then lay the twisted strips on the prepared baking sheets, pressing the ends down lightly so they don’t unravel during baking.
- Egg wash. Brush each twist lightly with the beaten egg. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt if using.
- Bake. Bake for 15–18 minutes, until the twists are deeply golden and puffed. Rotate the pans halfway through for even browning.
- Cool and dust. Allow the twists to cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Dust generously with powdered sugar before serving.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 210 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 13g | Carbs: 21g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 105mg