Eight parcels from one tube of crescent dough sheets, filled with shredded chicken bound in cream cheese and two cheeses, and baked until the pastry is deeply golden and crisp.
The sauce happens on the hob at the same time, which is the only reason this takes forty-eight minutes rather than an hour. It is spooned over at the end so the pastry keeps the crust it spent twenty minutes earning.
Why This Recipe Works
- Cream cheese binds the shredded chicken into a filling that stays put when the dough is folded around it.
- Seam-side down means the pinched edge is held closed by the weight of the parcel rather than by the pinch alone.
- Brushing with melted butter is what turns golden into deeply golden.
- A flour-thickened milk and cream sauce coats without setting, so it sits on the pastry rather than soaking into it.
Ingredient Notes
- Crescent dough sheets
- One 8 oz tube, cut into eight rectangles. Sheets rather than pre-cut triangles, because a rectangle folds around a filling and a triangle does not.
- Parmesan, twice
- A quarter cup goes into the filling and a third of a cup into the sauce. They are doing different jobs and are measured separately.
- Cooked shredded chicken
- Two cups, already cooked. If you are starting from raw, it reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit before it is shredded.
How to Make It
Oven on, filling mixed
Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix chicken, cream cheese, mozzarella, 1/4 cup Parmesan, garlic powder, and pepper.
Cut, fill, fold, pinch
Cut dough into 8 rectangles. Spoon filling into the center, fold the edges over, pinch closed, and place seam-side down on a lined sheet pan.
Butter and bake
Brush with melted butter and bake 18 to 22 minutes until deeply golden and crisp.
Meanwhile, start the sauce
Meanwhile melt 1 tablespoon butter in a small saucepan. Cook garlic 30 seconds, whisk in flour, then slowly whisk in milk and cream.
Thicken and finish it
Simmer 3 to 4 minutes until lightly thickened. Stir in 1/3 cup Parmesan and salt.
Sauce over, not under
Spoon the pale garlic-Parmesan sauce over the browned pillows and finish with parsley.
The Oven and the Saucepan, Together
The recipe's fourth step begins with the word meanwhile, and that is the whole structure: twenty minutes of baking is exactly the window the sauce needs, and the two only meet on the plate.
In the oven, at 375F
- Before the oven
2 cups of cooked shredded chicken mixed with 4 oz of softened cream cheese, 1/2 cup mozzarella, 1/4 cup Parmesan, 1/2 tsp garlic powder and 1/4 tsp black pepper.
- Shaping
One 8 oz tube of crescent dough sheets cut into 8 rectangles, filled in the centre, edges folded over and pinched, laid seam-side down on a lined sheet pan.
- 18 to 22 minutes
Brushed with 1 tbsp of melted butter and baked until deeply golden and crisp. That browning is why the parcels are never cooked in the sauce.
On the hob, in a small saucepan
- 30 seconds
1 tbsp of unsalted butter melted, 2 minced garlic cloves cooked just long enough to smell, then 1 tbsp of flour whisked in.
- Slowly
1 cup of whole milk and 1/2 cup of heavy cream whisked in gradually rather than poured, which is what keeps the flour from seizing into lumps.
- 3 to 4 minutes
Simmered until lightly thickened, then 1/3 cup of Parmesan and 1/4 tsp of salt stirred in. Lightly thickened, not reduced - it has to pour.
On the plate, and only there
The pale garlic-Parmesan sauce is spooned over the browned pillows and finished with 1 tbsp of chopped parsley. Everything about the finished dish - crisp golden pastry sitting in a pale sauce rather than soaked through by it - depends on those two tracks staying apart until this moment.
Success Tips
- Pinch the edges firmly and lay the parcel on the seam; a seam facing up opens as the filling warms.
- Start the sauce when the tray goes in, not before — four minutes of simmering is all it needs.
- Sauce the pillows on the plate rather than in the pan, so the crisp top stays crisp until it is eaten.
Serving Ideas
Four servings, two pillows each, browned side up on white plates with the pale garlic-Parmesan sauce spooned over and parsley scattered on top.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I bake the pillows in the sauce?
No. The pastry browns because it is dry in a hot oven; sitting in sauce it would steam instead, and the finished dish is defined by that browned top.
What if I am starting with raw chicken?
Cook it to 165 degrees Fahrenheit first, then shred it. The two cups in the ingredient list are already-cooked chicken.
Can they wait before serving?
Keep the filled pastries hot until they are served. The sauce is spooned over at the last moment.
