Cakespy: Mini Galettes des Rois

Place the almond paste into a food processor with about half of the sugar, and process until well blended.

Add the butter and remaining sugar; process until smooth. Blend in one of the eggs, vanilla extract, almond extract, flour and salt. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set to the side.

Roll out one sheet of the puff pastry into an 11-inch square. Keep the pastry cool, do not knead or stretch. Using a cookie or biscuit cutter (I used the "tartelette mold" which Williams-Sonoma uses on their gift wrapping), cut out as many rounds as you can from the sheet and lay them on the prepared baking sheet. Mound a bit of almond filling in the middle of each round, leaving about half an inch all around it. If you'd like, put a little prize or bean (something tiny works best) inside of any (or all) of them.

Note: I had some extra filling left even after adding it to all of my prepared rounds of puff pastry. If you have more puff pastry, by all means, make more galettes; the filling also works beautifully stirred into cake batter or sugar cookie dough, or as a filling for crescent rolls.

Roll out a second sheet of the puff pastry and repeat the cutouts, but this time place them on top of the ones with filling. Press down the edges to seal (I used a fork to press down the sides to ensure that they were sealed). Beat the remaining egg with a fork, and lightly brush onto the top of the galettes. Prick several small slits in the top to vent steam while baking.

Bake in a preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until puffy and golden on the sides and top. Try to avoid opening the oven during baking (ideally an oven with a window works best) to ensure that the pastry puffs nicely.