The best way to improve is to practice. It's how I got good at making puff pastry: I spent one summer in my 20s working at a cooking school in Burgundy, France, and for the village Bastille Day celebration our kitchen crew of three made 2000 palmiers by hand. I went to sleep that night dreaming of pastry and smelling of butter. Palmiers, also known as elephant ears, are a fine example of what happens when puff pastry and sugar join forces. They're flaky, caramelized, and when you use ourFast and Easy Puff Pastry, a fun and not-too-taxing baking project. And theseFlaky Cheese Twists, which also use Fast and Easy Puff, combine puff pastry and Parmesan; the rich, golden twists are a dynamite accompaniment to a bowl of soup. But palmiers and cheese straws aren't the only things you can make with Fast and Easy Puff; thesePastelitos, a stalwart of Cuban bakeries, also rely on that same dough for flaky layers; hidden within each tender turnover is a filling of guava paste and sweetened cream cheese. Or you can go big — very, very big — and use Fast and Easy Puff to make this absolutely bonkers-in-the-best-wayGiant Sheet Pan Chocolate Croissant, which has all the appeal of a pain au chocolat (the gooey chocolate, the shatteringly crisp layers of pastry) with much less of the work. And while spring may still be a glimmer in the eye for those of us living in northeasterly climes, elsewhere the first strawberries and rhubarb are beginning to appear. There's no better way to use the season's dream team than in theseStrawberry and Rhubarb Galettes, which feature the sweet-tart fruit atop a buttery disk of — you guessed it — Fast and Easy Puff Pastry. Practice makes perfect, | 
