Baking Project

You can have a pretty and simple to make dessert, even at home.. Just keep some ready-made puff pastry in your fridge, and have a few cans of fruit fillings. And you gotta have whip cream all the time.

This is how I made my quick puff pastry. Thaw the puff pastry for about 10 minutes so you can cut it. If it’s the small square type, you could just use it straight away, or cut out shapes with your cookie cutter. Cut a pair of every shape.

Then, bake it in the oven at 200C (the instruction on the packet says up to 230C) but I don’t want the top to burn. You could try. Do not open the oven door at least for the first 15 minutes. After 15 to 20 minutes, the puff pastry should be ready.

In the mean time, prepare the filling. Here are 2 recipes, one is the plain old whippped cream and the other, with mascarpone cheese.

Whipped Cream Recipe

1 cup whip cream/ heavy cream
1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add all ingredients together and whip at medium or high speed until the cream has doubled in volume, smooth and thick. Serve immediately or refrigerated for a day.

Mascarpone Cream

4 oz. mascarpone cheese

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. orange or lemon zest

Combine everything. Beat until smooth at high speed until stiff peaks form. Cover and refrigerate until needed. Can be kept for about 4 days.

So I made my filling with the mascarpone cheese..(intended to use this for my tiramisu, but just couldn’t find the time to try it.) To assemble your dessert, make sure the puff pastry has cooled a bit. Layer the cream on it, followed by the fruit fillings. Then top with the second layer. Easy kan ?

Yum..yumm

I think I put too much of everything, can’t see the first layer of the puff pastry beneath.. and the cream could be slightly thicker. Doesn’t matter, everything is gone after I took this picture.. Have a try, you’ll surely love it.

p/s : Check out “Soup with puff pastry” posted on 6th April, 08. Thanks.

I don’t know what you call this..soup in a mug, soup with pastry dome. I love having this whenever I go to Secret Recipe. Making this is very simple. Ingredients you need are :

A can of your favorite soup, such as Campbell mushroom soup, Heinz tomato soup, the choices are endless.

Onions, and any veggies such as mushroom, potato, celery, carrot, corn. Cut into bite size pieces.

Chicken, cut into tiny pieces, if you like

Ready made pastry. You can buy this from any big supermarkets.

1 egg, lightly beaten

butter, pepper, salt

Method

First, dilute the soup with some water, milk or cream according to the consistency you like. Heat some butter. Saute the onions, then add the chicken. Once the chicken is almost cooked, add the veggies. Lastly add the soup. Season with salt and pepper.

Take the pastry which had been thawed. Cut it into round shape if you like, or leave it in its square shape. Fill the oven-safe mug with the soup about 3/4 full. Brush the rim of the mug with the egg and lay the pastry on top. Press down the sides. Brush the top of the pastry with the remaining egg wash. Bake at 375 F for about 15 to 20 minutes until the pastry is golden.
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This is the ready made pastry.

Ready to be baked. I put 2 layers for the extra puff.

After 15 minutes :

A great recipe when you are too lazy to cook a full fledge meal, and kids love it too ! Give it a try.