French Friday with Dorie: Mustard Batons

MUSTARD BATONS

I  look forward to Wednesdays.  It’s my day to play with Honey and my day to get prepared for my French Friday with Dorie projects and postings.  It's like a day off although the office work never disappears, just gets put off until "tomorrow."  Honey just loves to chatter and smile at me during a really long lunch while I do my thing in the kitchen.  She loves to taste and experience new foods.  Honey is ALWAYS happy and she is good company.  Unlike me, she loves to have her photo taken, and does not mind if her face is full of food, her hair is not combed, or the old high chair, which was already an antique when our kids used it,  is a mess.   Baking “Mustard Batons” was a perfect project for Honey’s lunch time.

AFTER ROLLING OUT THE PUFF DOUGH, 1/2 WAS SPREAD  WITH A GOOD MUSTARD

Growing up, my kids had really funny tastes when it came to choosing a favorite sandwich for their school lunches.  As a child, my Frolicking Night Owl daughter’s favorite was a mustard sandwich.  Number 1 son’s best was a ketchup sandwich, and another child loved mayonnaise.   It did not matter if I had cheese or meats in the house, they were totally happy with their strange, plain fillings.  I used to think they each just chose a different bread-spread so they could all use their own bottle and make sandwiches at the same time without waiting for whatever someone else was using.  I thought they all sounded bad, but to this day, these are still their favorite condiments.

WITH AN EGG WASH AND A SPRINKLING OF POPPY SEEDS, THESE BATONS ARE READY TO BE BAKED

So, I’m sure the Night Owl will just love spreading mustard on the puff pastry dough, baking it for about 15 minutes, and then enjoying it like an old friend.  

Hubby grew up in PA where there are lots of good pretzels, both hard and soft, and a favorite is to eat these local specialties with lots of good mustard.  So for hubby, mustard with his dough is a really good idea too.  And I was converted years ago.  Because of this, the mustard batons sounded really good to me.

After rolling out the dough to about double it’s packaged size, ½ the area is spread with a good mustard...I used Dijon.  The plain dough area is folded down over the area spread with mustard and then cut into 1" strips.  These strips are brushed with an egg wash and sprinkled with poppy seeds.  I was thinking of other add-ins that would be good...maybe some minced chives, other kinds of seeds, even minced bacon, onion, ...

HONEY ENJOYS HER BATON

The batons puff up nicely in the oven and when browned are ready to eat.  Honey was my official taster; and, as expected, she enjoyed her baton.  Several others came home and upon entering the house I heard, “It sure smells good in here!”   Or, “I can smell something’s good in the oven!”  I hadn’t paid attention to the smells; I was too busy enjoying the whole baton making process which was really quite fun and simple.

These batons would be great with a fresh garden salad, a soup, something like a fish dinner, or as an appetizer.

Just wait until they all come home to the pepper steak next week...then the house really will smell good.  I’ve heard lots of good reports about this steak and am looking forward to enjoying another great recipe from Dorie.