I was given a copy of Mark Bittman's "How To Bake Everything" as an early holiday gift, and almost immediately made my first batch of puff pastry. Bittman is an empowering, clear, and flexible teacher. Flexibility and baking often aren't thought to go hand-in-hand, so I particularly appreciate his voice.

The recipe makes just under three pounds of puff pastry, so I made palmiers for my cast and crew, then froze the rest of the puff in two separate squares: one 1lb block, and one 13oz block. I decided to use the 13oz for my first jalousie on Christmas.

Sometimes, I treat myself to a full home-made Christmas feast, but this year a friend and I decided to take ourselves to an afternoon at the movies and then dig into a take-out feast of Chinese food. Making the jalousie would scratch my need-to-make-some-kind-of-treat-from-scratch itch without going overboard.

Planning!

The whole endeavor was filled with firsts for me: caramelizing fruit in a pan (I know, it's weird that I've never done it, but there you go...), my first frangipane, and of course, my first puff pastry.

I followed Bittman's advice and guidance closely, and the result was a gorgeous treat for the two of us that provided just enough leftovers for breakfast today!

Baking!

I won't include Bittman's recipes here, because that's his IP to share, not mine. However, I will say that I followed the recipes to the letter, other than using just a little bit less puff than called for - to preserve the true 1lb block of puff for an even more special occasion - and I am thrilled with the results.

It was light, flakey, fruity, buttery, sweet, and nutty. Look at this flake!

Puff pastry pride!