Bacon puff pastry twists

These little treats were a hit as an appetizer for family Christmas dinner yesterday. I made them with no previous experience because...well...bacon and the picture looked cool. I figured they were decorative even if no one ate them. They disappeared.

My recipe here is what I made. Quantities from the original recipe at https://www.puffpastry.com/recipe/brown-sugar-bacon-puff-twists/ are shown in parantheses. Comments are in italics.

• 1/8 (1/4) cup packed light brown sugar I cut the sugar in half on general principles - it was great at the reduced level and I would not increase the sugar.
• 1/2 of a 17.3-ounce package Pepperidge Farm® Puff Pastry Sheets(1 sheet), thawed I happened to find Pepperidge Farm in my market but I wouldn't be fussy - next time I may make my own puff pastry - time was short for Christmas dinner
• 7 (9) slices uncooked bacon I didn't get as many slices out of the puff pastry as the recipe so used less bacon.
• 0 (3) tablespoons grated or shredded Parmesan cheese We had a cheese plate with appetizers, and cheese in stuffed sweet potatoes so I skipped the cheese here; didn't miss it.
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper Depending on your audience you might double this.

You can read the original instructions at the link. What I write here and what I did differ some from the original. I used my judgment and won't change my steps. I'm a mise en place guy and there was a lot going on with shared oven space, two cooks, early guests, late guests, and all the usual minor challenges entertaining.

1. Roll out one sheet of pastry to about 10"x14" (25 cm x 35 cm). Keeping the pastry rectangular is more important than hitting the size exactly. Instead of dusting the board and the rolling pin with flour I just used the brown sugar. That worked fine. I used a chilled marble rolling pin. I can't speak to how it would work with a wooden pin or an empty wine bottle.
2. Cut the pastry in half lengthwise and then crosswise in 3/4" (2 cm) strips.
3. Cut the bacon in half both lengthwise and crosswise. I cut the bacon crosswise first and then lengthwise. If you buy American-style bacon that is staggered in the pack you can peel the halves apart and stack them six or eight high in order to cut lengthwise. This goes pretty fast.
4. Lay one little strip of bacon on each little strip of pastry.
5. By this time you will have washed your hands about six times and your knife at least twice. Sugar, pastry, and bacon grease. The source recipe says 20 minutes for prep. It took me 30 minutes, mostly due to hand washing. I may be a little fussy but I really don't like risking the knife slipping in my grip.
6. I cooked my twists on a sheet pan, lined with foil, and a rack sprayed with olive oil. One at a time pick up the bacon/pastry and twist them into a spiral. I made all mine by twisting clockwise. Live it up and live dangerously and twist the other way! Lay out the twists on the rack in the sheet pan.
7. The source recipe says to cook at 400F for 15 minutes. Mine took 20 minutes. They still stuck a bit to the rack but I didn't want to burn the pastry.

I would definitely use the rack again - even with a little sticking I think that was better than directly on the foil. Parchment paper might be better. Also I used tongs - a metal spatula to slide between the pastry and the rack or parchment paper might do better.

It definitely helped to have a really big cutting board. Otherwise you're likely to end up with a board for pastry and a board for the bacon. This takes up some space.

30 seconds on high in the microwave reheated the leftovers nicely for late arrivals.

I have another sheet of puff pastry left and I'll make some more of these next week. I may take a run at a pinwheel version. What is life without whimsy?

Please see the link to the original recipe for pictures.

bon appetit