Recipe: Mini Apple Pastry Puffs

These pop-in your mouth pastry puffs are that perfect extra something for that brunch or special breakfast…. or just because.

When we’re at the house in upstate New York… our local grocery store has a fabulous bakery… from coffee cakes to Danish to fabulous desserts and cakes… oh and did I mention glorious muffins … large and good… we do not have that luxury in Georgia…. so when we’re in NY, I spoil us.. I buy a variety of goodies… last month I did just that… and little fruit pastry puffs were among the goodies… they were positively addicting.

Back in Georgia.. last weekend I went to our local Publix… they have a pretty good bakery.. nothing like the one in upstate NY.. but good. I happened to buzz by a table of pastries.. and lo and behold.. there were the fruit pastry puffs…. in the cart they went.

As we sat there last Sunday with our morning coffee nibbling on the puffs.. I decided to make them… I figured they would be easy… well they are now.. after working out the kinks… we had fun eating the rejects…

TIPS

Size… not to conjure up other thoughts.. but size matters… in making these… I tried large, medium and small… round shapes folded… squares and rectangles… in my humble opinion… I would stick to the small ones.. or the fairly large ones.. depending on what you have in mind when serving them…



Shape… I highly recommend you forget about making the rounded ones.. too much wasted dough when cutting out the circles… the little rectangles work fine.. trust me.

Filling…. I used apple pie filling.. you can use anything you want… BUT… make sure you think about the size of the fruit… the apple pie filling had to be chopped into small dice, otherwise it becomes difficult to fill them with the right amount.

Quantity of filling… very important.. my first instinct was to fill them with more than I really should.. after all .. I wanted the apple filling to be apparent… not needed… read on…

So what is the perfect size and filling amount?.... after much experimentation…. Rectangles of 2 inches by 3 inches… filled with ½ teaspoon pie filling .. works best… a perfect imitation of the commercial bakery ones.

Large ones really can be any size you want… just remember you don’t want more filling than what will cover half the dough… otherwise they pop open in baking. Start with 3 inches by 4 inches… and about 1 teaspoon of filling… make a few .. and make any adjustments to size and filling amount that you want when making the rest. Baking times will be the same as for the smaller ones.

You must brush a small border of water around the edge so they seal.

Put the filling inside that border and fold over the dough… then using a fork crimp the edges… oddly enough.. you really need to do this so they don’t pop open.. even so.. some do… but the crimp “bakes away” into a smooth edge… go figure… but trust me.. it works.

You need to brush the tops completely (NOT the bottom) with an egg wash… which is a an egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water.

Another thing you need to do to give them that professional bakery look.. is sprinkle them with Demerara Sugar… don’t know what Demerara Sugar is?… read my post about it… it’s not expensive and it is easy to find.. and will add soo much to your pastries, muffins and other baked goods… well worth it to get it.

I always use non-stick foil on my baking sheet… parchment paper also works well.
Make two little slits on top to allow steam to escape… and pop them in the oven…

Add these to your next brunch… you won’t be sorry!






Recipe: Mini Apple Pastry Puffs

All you need:

Frozen Puff Pastry sheets, thawed according to pkg instructions
Flour
1 can apple pie filling
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
Water
Demerara Sugar

All you need to do:

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Line a baking sheet with non-stick foil or parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, chop the apple pie filling into very small dice.

Unfold the thawed pastry sheet onto a pastry board that has been lightly floured.

Using a rolling pin, lightly roll the pastry dough to get the seams flattened.

Cut the dough into 2 inch by 3 inch rectangles.

Using a brush, brush water around the edge creating a small border.

Drop a ½ teaspoon pie filling in within the border. Fold the 3 inch side over the filling.

Use a fork to crimp the edge closed.

Using a sharp knife make 2 small slits in the top. Place them on the prepared baking sheet.

In a small bowl, beat the egg with 1 tablespoon water.

Brush the egg wash on the TOPS of the pastries.

Sprinkle with the pastries with the Demerara Sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes or until they are golden brown. Cool on a baking rake.. serve warm or at room temperature.