Enjoy a sweet, easy & patriotic treat on Memorial Day or 4th of July weekend!
Use product immediately upon removal from refrigerator as there is no need to thaw! No need to use flour and a rolling pin to stretch the dough.
Dough will roll out and cut easier if it is chilled. If you're trying to create a specific shape, keep the pastry as cold as possible (but not frozen) and it will be easier to make precise cuts.
If you want to keep the inside from rising as much as the edges, just use a paring knife to score a border. Don’t cut the dough all the way though! Use a fork to prick the dough. The pastry will still be light and flaky with the edges puffed up and the center will stay down.
Pop the dough in the fridge after working with it, while the oven preheats. This step gives the fat in the dough a chance to re-solidify, to get an even better baking result.
Egg-wash: Just before baking, brush your puff pastry with egg wash (1 large egg with about 2 tablespoons water, beaten) to give it an attractive shine and color.
To seal the pastry edges for any stuffed pocket-style pastry, just brush a thin layer of water or egg whites along the edges and press them together to make them stick.
Crimp edges of smaller pastries like hand pies with a fork. Larger pastries can be crimped with your fingertips.
Serve soon after baking! Puff Pastry is best when fresh, so ideally bake close to serving. Only few recipes are great to make ahead. Puff Pastry is best when baked and served the same day.
To unroll the dough, remove dough from package and gently separate the dough and parchment paper from the roll, so that the dough on paper begins to lay flat. Be careful not to separate the dough from the parchment paper. There may be some sticking, but the dough and paper should easily pull away from the roll.
Once the dough is lying flat on the baking tray, cut off or tuck any excess paper under, so it does not hang over the edge.
1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Unroll refrigerated Puff Pastry Dough on enclosed parchment paper and place on a baking sheet. Using a small 1 or 1 1/2 inch circle cutter, cut as many circles as possible out of dough. Line a cookie sheet with included parchment paper and arrange circles on parchment.
3. Brush circles with egg wash. Mix one Tbsp. sugar with 1/8 tsp. cinnamon and dust the top of pastry circles. Bake in oven for 15 minutes until golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack.
4. Meanwhile, wash berries, cut off tops, and cut into small, even pieces.
5. In a separate medium bowl, combine Mascarpone and honey with remaining cinnamon. Mix together and adjust honey and/or cinnamon to taste.
6. To make sugar icing: In another bowl, combine confectioners' sugar with milk and vanilla. Mix sugar icing well and set aside.
7. Once pastry bites are cool, carefully separate the tops and bottoms, and using a plastic bag with a hole cut in the bottom, fill the bottoms with a dollop of Mascarpone. Fill with strawberries and then place tops back on. Drizzle with icing.