Rosie Makes Fruit In Puff Pastry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently, I used puff pastry to make little shells for asparagus and a dill/cream cheese sauce. 

See here for instructions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After enjoying the savory appetizer, I still had puff pastry sheets left and I wanted something sweet.  I also had blueberries and strawberries, so I'm making a chocolate sauce for the strawberries and a sweet yogurt sauce for the blueberries.  Before I get to the how-to, you need to know about puff pastry.

First, what is puff pastry?  It's a very delicate, flaky, light pastry, also known as pâte feuilletée, made by repeatedly layering and folding dough and cold butter through a process known as lamination.  Throughout the process, the dough is kept chilled in the fridge while it rests and develops the gluten structure.  When baked, the water in the butter turns to steam and the many layers are puffed up and stretched until they're a glossy beautiful golden pastry.

If you're using store-bought puff pastry, always check the ingredients list.  Butter should be Numero Uno on the list, since ingredients are listed in order of volume.  The only brand of puff pastry I can find on the beach that meets this criteria is Dufours brand, sold at Fresh Market.  

Here's the ingredients list from Dufours:  Ingredients USDA Grade AA Butter (Cream, Natural Flavorings), Unbleached Unbromated Flour, Water, Salt, Lemon Juice

And here's the ingredients list from Pepperidge Farm brand:  MADE FROM: ENRICHED WHEAT FLOUR (FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), WATER, VEGETABLE OILS (PALM, SOYBEAN, HYDROGENATED COTTONSEED), CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, SALT, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, SOY LECITHIN, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, TURMERIC AND ANNATTO EXTRACTS  .

 Keep the puff pastry in your freezer.  Let it thaw in the fridge overnight before using it.  And when working with it, keep the pastry cool.  You don't want the butter to melt on you.

To prepare the pastry for baking, cut your sheets into small rectangles. Take a knife and score around each rectangle about 1/4" border, then prick inside the scoring.

Bake according to package directions - 400° for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown and puffy.

Let cool, then remove the scored section.  You'll have a shell for your fillings.

 

 

 

 

For the strawberry shells, I thinly sliced strawberries and tucked the slices into the puff pastry rectangles.  Then I drizzled a chocolate sauce over top.

Chocolate Ganache

Heat 1/4 cup cream.  When hot (not boiling) pour in 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips.  Stir until melted.  If it's too thick, simply stir in a tablespoon or so of cream.

 

 

For the blueberries, I'm making a yogurt sauce.

Yogurt Sauce

1/2 cup Greek whole milk yogurt

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 TB honey 

Stir until smooth.

Drizzle over shells and blueberries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy!