They are served with broths, used as molds for salads and snacks, and large flounces- an independent dish.

Vol-au-vents, valovanchiki
(the Russian name is “swindlers”, from the French vol-au-vent). from unleavened dough served with different broths. The peculiarity of vol-au-vents is that the dough for them is baked separately from the filling, for which various leftovers from other dishes are used and which is placed immediately before serving, in a recess cut in the middle of the vol-au-vent, and then covered with an overlay piece of pie crust. The convenience of vol-au-vents is that they can be quickly prepared for a large number diners and at the same time determine their number and size at the last moment: you just need to bake wide dough cakes (a finger thick), cut them into small pieces, and then quickly fill them with fresh (sometimes hot) ready-made filling.

The shape of the flounces can also be any: square, oval, hexagonal, rectangular, etc., depending on the cut. Vol-au-vents were popular until the end of the 19th century, and then were replaced by even more quickly prepared sandwiches (bread and butter).
(Culinary Dictionary of V.V. Pokhlebkin, 2002)

Vol-au-vents
It is believed that the name of these pies comes from the French vol-au-vent, which means "steal and hide." Pies or pies baked in the oven, in the center of which a notch remains. Minced meat is then put into it. Such pies made from unleavened dough can be served with broths. The dough for them is baked separately. Used for stuffing various minced meat. Were rolled and large sizes. For example, gross chicken, the technology of which was also prepared rolled from game, any poultry, veal and lamb.

Recipe for chicken volan. Boil the chicken as for soup and, when it becomes soft enough, disassemble it in parts, removing all the bones, chop. Boil 400 g of rice in lightly salted water, then put on a sieve and pour over cold water. Grease the inside of the saucepan with a thick layer butter, sprinkle well with breadcrumbs, put in it, mixed with 100 g good oil, level the edges, leaving the middle empty, sprinkle thickly with grated spicy parmesan-type cheese and put in the oven to brown, but not dry. Why should it be watered from time to time with the broth in which the chicken was cooked. When it is ready, put the chicken in the middle of the stewpan, pour over it with red main sauce (it is advisable to make it stronger, for which you should add more dry broth, lemon juice or citric acid, a little sugar and mix well over low heat), grease with sauce bechamel and again put in the oven to redden. Separately, you can serve a side dish of champignons.
(Culinary Dictionary. Zdanovich L.I. 2001) (Source: "United Dictionary of Culinary Terms")

Puff pastry:

• 250 g (2 cups) flour
• 1/2-2/3 cup cold water
• 1/2 egg or 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• A little citric acid
• 250 g butter

To lubricate the egg or egg yolk.

The preparation of puff pastry consists of three different operations.

1. Mixing dough. The flour is sifted into a bowl with a slide on a wooden board, a recess is made in the center. beaten egg, water, salt and citric acid mix, pour into the recess and knead a smooth dough. Since flour does not always swell equally, a little flour or liquid is added if necessary. When kneading in the dough, you can also put 1-2 tbsp. tablespoons of oil. The dough is covered with a napkin and put in a cold place for at least 30 minutes.
2. Oil preparation. Cold oil is mixed with 2-3 tbsp. spoons of flour, roll out on a floured board or paper in the form of a square or rectangle and also spread in a cold place. The dough and butter-flour mass should be equally steep. If the oil mass turns out to be stronger than the dough, then when rolling out the oil will not be evenly distributed between the layers, it will remain in one piece and may leak out during baking. Too much soft butter squeezing out when rolled.
3. Rolling out dough in layers. The dough is rolled out so that a square piece is obtained, twice as large as a piece of the butter mixture, and in the middle it should be somewhat thicker than at the edges. The prepared oil mixture is placed in the middle of the square with an angle, the edges of the dough are folded inward with an “envelope”.
4. Then the dough is rolled out, pressing lightly, so that a rectangle with a thickness of approximately 1.5 cm is obtained, folded three or four times, covered with a damp cloth so that the surface of the dough does not dry out and placed for half an hour in a cold place. You can also roll out the dough into a rectangle, put an oblong piece of butter mixture in the middle, cover it with the edges of the dough, then roll it up again, cover with a damp cloth and put in a cold place.
5. The chilled dough is rolled out again, folded and kept for 15 minutes in a cold place. This procedure is repeated 3-4 times. Flour is used sparingly when rolling, only so that the dough does not stick to the board. If there is a lot of flour, then the dough becomes too steep, products from it do not rise well and lose their taste.
6. The finished dough is stored in the refrigerator or in a cold place.
   

   
   Roll out the puff pastry into a layer 1 cm thick, cut out 2 round cakes with a diameter of 18-20 cm from it with a sharp knife. Place one cake on a baking sheet sprinkled with cold water and brush with egg (especially the edges).

   Cut out the middle of the other cake with a notch of a smaller size so that a ring 2 cm wide is obtained, and put it on the cake located on the baking sheet. Put a second, smaller cake on the baking sheet as well or roll it out to the size of the first one, cut off the second ring and put it on the baking sheet. Put the remaining scraps together, roll out thinly, cut into strips 1.5 cm wide and put in the form of a lattice in the middle of the ring so that the ends of the strips remain under the ring. Top with egg. Bake in preheated oven until golden brown (12-15 minutes).

   The ring or wire rack will bake faster, so it is recommended to bake separately. When baking, the edge of the volauve rises high, leaving a recess in the middle, which is then filled with hot filling and covered with a separately baked ring or lattice. The filling is chicken meat stewed in a small amount of sauce, fish, liver, veal kidneys, mushrooms, etc.

   If the vol-au-vent is baked earlier, then before putting the filling, it should be placed in hot oven so that it warms up and becomes crispy. Vol-au-vents are served on or as an appetizer on.

   Small portion flounces are prepared in the same way as large flounces. But cakes are formed with a diameter of 6 cm and rings with a width of 1 cm. Small flounces are not covered with a lattice. The filling can be hot or cold. Cold vol-au-vents are filled with caviar, crabs, crayfish, cheese, pate, etc. Sweet fruit and berry fillings with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream are also suitable.
   
   

Puff pastry flounces are the perfect solution to fill the buffet menu with new snacks. Such small sandwiches are not difficult to make with your own hands, the fillings are selected based on your own preferences and the wishes of the guests. It is important that the treat be with high-quality filling in a crispy shell and beautifully decorated.

How to make vol-au-vents from puff pastry?

It is not troublesome to make vol-au-vents from puff pastry with filling, you can buy a frozen blank and bake small baskets without even using special molds, in which case you will get small tartlets, on top of which the filling is distributed. Usually use yeast-free puff pastry, a metal mold for cupcakes, to give the blanks the look of a "basket".

Ingredients:

• puff pastry - 500 g;
• yolk - 1 pc.

Cooking

Square vol-au-vents from purchased puff pastry can be prepared in a similar way by laying two layers of strips on the bottom of the workpiece, thus forming a “boat”, but you can do without modeling by using another not tricky method:

The most common type of buffet appetizer is vol-au-vents with caviar. If it is possible to prepare baskets with your own hands, it is better to cut blanks of small diameter, cutting with a diameter of 5-6 mm will do. About 15 small baskets come out of 500 g of puff pastry. Complement the caviar with butter, ricotta or cream cheese.

Ingredients:

• puff flounces - 15 pcs.;
• red caviar - 150 g;
• cream cheese - 100 g.

Cooking

Originally decorated salmon flounces will make a splash during the feast, these delicious baskets will definitely be eaten first. For a spectacular decoration of the snack, you need to cut the fish into thin plates so that it is easy to work with the pieces and mold them into interesting shapes: roll up, roll up.

Ingredients:

• puff flounces - 15 pcs.;
• slightly salted salmon - 150 g;
• ricotta - 100 g;
• lemon or fresh cucumber- optional.

Cooking

Vol-au-vents are nutritious and very unusual in taste, this product combination has long established itself as very successful and has been successfully used by many chefs. In the form of a “basket”, you can bake blanks using a cake mold: cut out circles from the dough, put them in cells and bake for 20 minutes. You need to fill completely chilled puff pastry flounces.

Ingredients:

• flounces - 15-20 pieces;
• smoked breast - 100 g;
• pineapples - 2 rings;
• onion - ¼ pcs.;
• mayonnaise;
• greenery for decoration.

Cooking

You can just cook it, but it’s better to be creative and complement the appetizer with an original one. Italian sauce, which in its homeland is served with fish or shellfish. Cocktail, or pink, sauce can be made more affordable by using products that every housewife has on hand.

Ingredients:

• puff baskets - 12 pcs.;
• peeled shrimp - 200 g;
• low-fat mayonnaise - 100 g;
• ketchup without spicy additives - 100 g;
• cognac (brandy) - 10 ml;
• lemon juice- 1 tbsp. l.

Cooking

1. Scald the shrimp in salted boiling water for 2 minutes.
2. Mix mayonnaise, ketchup, cognac and lemon juice. Cool down.
3. Leave part of the shrimp for decoration (12-22 pieces), chop the rest finely.
4. Combine chopped shrimp with sauce, mix.
5. Fill the flounces, garnish with whole clams.

You can fill flounces from ready-made puff pastry with any filling, and one of the most understandable and often used is cod liver, which is supplemented with boiled eggs, green onions and oil. In this embodiment, it is better to use a pate, which you can make yourself from simple ingredients. You can decorate the appetizer using a pastry bag with a curly nozzle.

Ingredients:

• flounces - 10-12 pieces;
• cod liver - 1 b.;
• boiled eggs - 3 pcs.;
• onion - ½ pc.;
• boiled carrots - 1 pc.;
• salt pepper;
• lemon juice - 1 tsp

Cooking

1. Blend all the ingredients for the pate in a blender until smooth.
2. Cool the pate, put in a pastry bag.
3. Fill the flounces with pâté and serve immediately.

It is very unusual to apply. In this option, it is better to use baskets prepared by oneself and make them larger (10 cm diameter shape) than for one bite, they will serve as a kind of cocotte. When cutting rings, the remaining middle does not need to be removed, it can also be baked separately and used as a “lid” when serving, adding to the finished treat.

Ingredients:

• flounces - 10-12 pieces;
• champignons - 400 g;
• onion - ½ pc.;
• hard cheese - 100 g;
• sour cream - 4 tbsp. l.;
• oil for frying;
• salt.

Cooking

1. Finely chop the mushrooms, fry with onions, salt.
2. Add sour cream, mix, turn off the fire.
3. Fill the "baskets" with fry, put a handful of grated cheese.
4. Place in hot oven until cheese is melted.
5. Serve the appetizer hot, covering with a puff "lid".

To transform a boring salad without changing the composition of the ingredients, the method of serving in small baskets will help. Vol-au-vents with crab meat- a good example of cooking simple salad in a new way. For a high-quality implementation of the idea, the ingredients need to be very finely chopped, some cooks chop the products with a blender (not to a pasty state) or rub on a coarse grater, each method is good in its own way.

Ingredients:

• flounces - 10 pcs.;
• crab meat - 100 g;
• hard cheese - 100 g;
• boiled eggs - 2 pcs.;
• green onions - 3 feathers;
• corn - ½ b.;
• mayonnaise;
• fresh cucumber - 1 pc.

Cooking

1. Finely chop all the ingredients for the salad, mix.
2. Season with mayonnaise, immediately fill the puff pastry and serve.

Rarely, flounces are prepared from, but in this case the basket will come out more magnificent and more crumbly, the method of formation is the same as from yeast-free dough. You can fill such blanks with absolutely any filling, liver paste will be a good solution for preparing excellent treats.

Ingredients:

• puff yeast dough- 500 g;
• yolk - 1 pc.;
• beef liver - 200 g;
• carrots - 1 pc.;
• onion - 1 pc.;
• lard - 100 g;
• butter - 100 g;
• pickled cucumber for decoration;
• cranberries - 1 handful.

Cooking

1. The first to prepare the pate: bake the chopped liver, bacon, carrots and onions until the liver is ready.
2. Scroll the hot ingredients twice through a meat grinder, salt, throw in the oil, mix until smooth. Cool completely.
3. Roll out the dough, cut out 10 circles and 20 rings.
4. Form baskets, fastening with yolk.
5. Bake for 25 minutes at 200 degrees. Cool completely.
6. Fill the flounces with pate using a pastry bag and a shaped nozzle,
7. Garnish with berries and cucumber slices.

Very unusual, bright flounces with fish are a great way to serve an appetizer that is ideal for strong drinks. The beetroot layer can be seasoned with mayonnaise or a lighter sauce based on sour cream and garlic can be made, lightly salted herring is chosen. Baskets will be tastier if you bake them yourself, you need to fill them completely chilled.

Ingredients:

• flounces - 10 pcs.;
• slightly salted herring fillet - 1 pc.;
• beets - 2 pcs.;
• sour cream - 3 tbsp. l.;
• garlic - 1 clove.

Cooking

1. Combine sour cream and crushed garlic.
2. Grate boiled beets on a medium grater.
3. Mix with sour cream, put in the refrigerator.
4. Cut the fillet into strips 1-1.5 cm thick.
5. Fill the flounces with beetroot salad.
6. Place a piece of fish on top and serve immediately.

Making puff pastry vol-au-vents at home is not at all difficult, it takes a little time and imagination to fill them in an interesting way. This option, described below, will captivate lovers of unusual combinations in food and the combination of sweet and salty ingredients. Thin slices of ham are harmoniously combined with pears, and maasdam cheese balances the taste.

Why flounces are a great format:

1. Prepare easily and quickly. If the dough is defrosted in advance, then molding and baking will take no more than 30 minutes.
2. Baked without molds. Unlike tartlets and baskets, vol-au-vents do not need special forms, they are baked on a baking sheet.
3. The shape and size of the vol-au-vents can be different: round, oval, square, from 3 cm to 6 cm, depending on what molds you have at hand.
4. "Puff cups" can be baked in advance and filled just before serving.
5. Compared to waffle tartlets, stuffed vol-au-vents do not soak longer and do not lose appearance, look appetizing.

Today I will tell you how to cook vol-au-vents at home from ready-made puff pastry. And I will share the recipes for the three most popular fillings for vol-au-vents: with mushrooms, chicken and sprats.

Total cooking time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Yield: 10-20 pcs.

Ingredients

• yeast-free puff pastry - 500 g
• chicken egg - 1 pc.

How to cook stuffed vol-au-vents

We need puff yeast-free dough, you can cook it yourself or buy it ready-made, rolled into thin sheets. I completely thawed the dough on the table, at room temperature. So that during this time it does not dry out from above, I recommend covering cling film or package. The layer should be approximately 3 mm thick. If necessary, you can roll it out a little - always in one direction, from the center, so as not to disturb the puff qualities of the dough.

Next, we need 2 cuttings for the dough - one with a diameter of 3-5 cm (glass, ring), and the other about 1 cm smaller (stack, lid, etc.). Cut out circles from the dough with a large ring. It is not necessary to use exactly round shapes for cutting blanks, any that you have will do: square, oval, stars, and so on. You should get an even number of blanks.

We leave half of the blanks whole - this will be the bottom of the vol-au-vents. And the remaining blanks are pressed through by cutting a smaller diameter.

The result will be thin rings that will serve as the walls of our " puff cups". You will also have very small mugs that can be baked and then used to make mini snacks with pate or other spread, they will look very pretty on the table.

I moved the whole base circles onto a piece of parchment. I smeared the edge with a loose egg (for gluing the layers of dough) and laid out the rings on top.

Then she brushed the flounces with egg. I pricked the bottoms 3-4 times with a fork so that they rise so much.

I sent the baking sheet to the oven, preheated to 200 degrees. Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on size. The puff pastry will rise in the oven, resulting in tall and crispy cups. If the bottoms have risen very much, then they can be slightly pressed down with a rolling pin, mortar, round handle from a ladle, or something similar.

If your dough suddenly grew too much or the top fell sideways during baking, then do not be discouraged - while the dough is still warm and soft, it can be adjusted. We take a hot vol-au-vent, you can even without removing the baking sheet from the oven (only very carefully!), And lightly correct the top that has moved down, press it down with the palm of your hand. The dough will eventually settle and become like a glass.

The flounces should be completely cool, transfer them to a dish or tray on which we will serve (they are fragile, so be careful). It's time for the toppings!

Vol-au-vents with champignons

Mushroom filling can be prepared separately or combined with fried pieces chicken fillet, it will turn out no less tasty.

Ingredients

• fresh or frozen champignons - 200 g;
• onion - 1 pc.;
• butter - 20 g;
• vegetable oil - 1 tbsp. l.;
• sour cream or cream - 1 tbsp. l.;
• salt, pepper, ground nutmeg- taste.

I cut the mushrooms into small pieces, chopped the onion into a cube. Heat the mixture of butter and vegetable oil, fried until soft, first the onion, and then the mushrooms. Fry everything together, stirring occasionally, until all the moisture is gone from the pan. Then she added salt, pepper and nutmeg, a spoonful of non-acid fatty sour cream. The fire was reduced and extinguished for another 3-4 minutes. I filled the flounces with the cooled filling (it is better to fill it immediately before serving).

Vol-au-vents with chicken and cheese

Spicy and spicy chicken filling goes very well with crispy puff pastry. Equally tasty both warm and cold. Oddly enough, it tastes a bit like pork.

Ingredients

• chicken fillet - 200 g;
• onions - 1 pc.;
• vegetable oil - 1-2 tbsp. l.;
• hard cheese - 50 g;
• ground sweet paprika - 0.5 tsp;
• salt, ground hot pepper - to taste.

I cut the chicken fillet into a medium cube, chopped the onion a little smaller. I heated some vegetable oil in a frying pan and sautéed the onion. Then she added meat, salted it, peppered it, sprinkled it with sweet ground paprika and hot pepper chili (the amount can be freely adjusted to taste). Fry for another 5 minutes fully prepared Chicken. Removed from heat, added chopped cheese on a fine grater, mixed. Served vol-au-vents with chicken, garnished with herbs and chili.

Vol-au-vents with sprats

Fish filling can be classic, that is, from sprats, boiled eggs and processed cheese when everything is ground on a grater. Or simplified, without an egg. It is better to start mini-glasses, for one bite.

Ingredients

• sprats in oil - 1/2 can;
• chicken egg - 2 pcs.;
• garlic - 1 tooth.

I drained the oil from the jar, kneaded the sprats with a fork, added boiled egg, chopped on a fine grater, as well as a clove of garlic, passed through a press. I decorated the appetizer with fish tails on top, you can limit yourself to greens or use red caviar for decoration. Enjoy your meal!

By 02.04.2016

For those who love to arrange dinner parties and buffet parties in their home, we recommend that you pay attention to this recipe with a photo. We offer to cook vol-au-vents from puff pastry. With these delicious baskets, you can simple meals and snacks to serve in an original and interesting way.

Vol-au-vents are the same tartlets, but their difference is in shape and taste. Prepared from fresh puff pastry. You can bake them in advance, for example, 4-6 days before the feast. They will not deteriorate, dry out or lose their taste if they are stored in a bread box or food box until serving. It is important to wait for them to cool completely before sending the flounces for storage. Can't be stored in bags.
These tartlets are prepared very simply and quickly, but you need to understand the principle of their preparation for baking. You can serve any appetizers and salads, dessert dishes in vol-au-vents. And they are incredibly tasty with ice cream, condensed milk and whipped cream.
We offer to cook vol-au-vents from puff pastry, and the recipe with a photo will help.

Ingredients

• Puff pastry - 100 g
• Egg - 1 pc

Step by step cooking process at home

1. For the preparation of vol-au-vents, any puff pastry and an egg are suitable. You can buy ready-made frozen dough in a pastry shop or supermarket to save cooking time.



2. Defrost the dough, sprinkle with flour, and roll into a thin layer.



3. Using any rounded shape, cut out circles. For one vol-au-vent, you will need 2 or 3 circles (depending on how high you want to cook such a tartlet).



4. Further, in order to prepare one vol-au-vent for baking, you need to make holes in two circles with a rounded shape of a smaller diameter, and leave one circle whole



5. Separate the egg yolk from the white and beat.



6. When everything is ready, you can proceed to the formation of the flounce. To do this, first smear a circle without a hole along the rim with whipped egg white. Next, the first test ring is laid out on top and the rim is lubricated again. Behind him is the second.

Vol-au-vents are baskets of puff pastry with filling. As a rule, vol-au-vents are served on the table as a snack dish. Vol-au-vents are an alternative to sandwiches. They look quite aesthetically pleasing and are great for both festive table, and for solemn events as a dish for a buffet table or a buffet. Most original filling for these products is red caviar or red fish, there are other varieties. For example, shrimp with sauce, crab sticks, mushrooms, julienne, etc. I propose to cook vol-au-vents with one of the simplest and most affordable fillings, namely, with cheese. The dough can be purchased ready-made or you can cook it yourself. You can bake baskets on the eve of the holiday, and just fill them with stuffing before serving.

Ingredients:

• puff frozen dough;
• egg or egg yolk for filling;
• hard cheese;
• mayonnaise;
• garlic optional.

How to make puff pastry vol-au-vents:

Remove the finished dough from the freezer and defrost for 30-40 minutes. Then roll it out 5 mm thick.

For vol-au-vents, you will need two round cuttings. The standard diameter of the product is 5 cm, and the diameter of the inner circle is 2 cm. First, cut the dough into circles with a diameter of 5 cm.

For them, a shape with smooth edges is used, or you can use wavy ones. The edges of the cutting must be sharp, otherwise the dough will not be cut, but torn and the layers will stick together, as a result, the flounces will be crooked and ugly.

In the second half of the circles, it is necessary to cut out the middle to make a ring.

Now put half of the circles on a dry, clean baking sheet. When baking yeast-free puff pastry, it makes no sense to use parchment, since the products are already perfectly removed from the baking sheet. This is provided large quantity fat in dough.

Next, you need to fold the ring with a hole onto the base, but before that, you need to grease the bottom circle with a beaten egg or yolk, diluted with a little water. Grease the circles very carefully so that the grease does not get on the layers, otherwise they may stick together.

We lay the rings on the greased bases and also grease their surface with an egg. Pierce the center several times with a fork.

We send the blanks for the vol-au-vents to the oven preheated to 190 C and bake until golden brown.

While the boxes are baking, let's prepare the filling. Using a coarse grater, grind the cheese and add mayonnaise to taste, stir. Garlic and chopped greens are placed as desired. The filling is ready.

Finished boxes have a beautiful yellowish tint.

We take them out of the oven, cool, and put the filling in the recess.

By the way, sweet creams and fruits can also be used as fillings.

Enjoy your meal!!!

Sincerely, Maria Alexandrovna.