Apricot and Almond Puff Pastries
Prepared with commercial puff pastry, this first recipe is the perfect primer. Nicolas used rolled sheets, which he cut into squares. The next steps were relatively simple: He topped each square with pastry cream, almond powder and apricot halves. Then he connected the two ends, brushed on an egg wash and popped the tarts into […]
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (55 g) sugar
- 1 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 cup (250 ml) warm milk
- 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) 35% cream or milk
- 2 cans (14 oz/398 ml each) pitted apricot halves
- 2 tbsp sugar, plus more for dusting
- 1 lb (450 g) store-bought puff pastry or basic pastry dough
- 1/2 cup (65 g) ground almonds
Instructions
- In a small pot off the heat, whisk together the sugar, flour and cornstarch. Add the egg and egg yolk. Mix well. Add the milk, vanilla bean and seeds. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom and sides of the pot, just until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat. Pass through a sieve set over a bowl to remove any lumps.
- Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the cream. Let cool and refrigerate until step 6.
Prepared with commercial puff pastry, this first recipe is the perfect primer. Nicolas used rolled sheets, which he cut into squares. The next steps were relatively simple: He topped each square with pastry cream, almond powder and apricot halves. Then he connected the two ends, brushed on an egg wash and popped the tarts into a hot oven. All that was left was to wait for the scent of golden pastry to fill the air.