Apple & Pear Strips

So what else can be done with puff pastry? Building on the puff pastry and the almond frangipane from the last post, we can add some fruits and sweets and make another delicious dessert.

This one, I really like...a lot of it is due to aesthetic reasons. I have a particular fondness for shiny foods. Somehow they look more delicious when they glisten. My only real complaint is that I would've liked all my apple/pear slices to be the same size...but to do that would've required the sacrifice of many more apples and pears...and a lot of waste.

Poached Pears on the left, Apples on the right

So to make these...

Apple Strips

1 lb puff pastry
1 egg for egg wash

1 lb almond frangipane
4 golden delicious apples
1 oz melted butter

2 oz apricot glaze
Optional Finishing: Sliced Almonds and Confectioners' sugar


1) Roll dough into a rectangle approximately 14"x18". Allow dough to rest in refridgerator for about an hour.
2) Cut dough into four 1" strips and two 5" strips. Place the 5 inch strips on a baking pan and dock (take a look at this if you don' t know what that means: Ateco 1357 Dough Docker). Paint the edges with the egg wash. Apply the 1" strips to the long sides. Press down on edge with the pointer and middle finger approximately 1/2 inch apart. Cut through all layers by taking a knife and slicing the dough between your fingertips at ~1/2 inch intervals. This is to get the 1" and the 5" strips to stick to each other. Refrigerate until firm.
3) Pipe frangipane between the 1" strips. Peel, core, and slice apples to 1/8" thick. Fan slightly and place over frangipane. Brush with melted butter and brush the edges with egg wash.
4) Bake at 350 degrees until the pastry is well colored (check the sides to make sure they aren't white), ~30 minutes.
5) Brush apples with apricot glaze.
Optional: If your sides didn't rise evenly or doesn't look very good, you can top with almonds or confectioners sugar to hide the "flaw."

If you want to do the pear version, poach some pears and follow same instructions. Note: Pears don't have be sliced as thinly.

Poached Pears
Cold water
1/2 oz lemon juice
1 1/4 lbs ripe pears
1/2 lb granulated sugar
1/4 vanilla bean

1) Combine water and lemon juice in a large pan.
2) Peel, halve, and core pears. Add to pan. Add sugar and vanilla.
3) Cover with parchment paper cut to fit inside the pan with a hole in the center (prevents the pears from getting too colored). Bring to a boil and remove from stove. Allow to cool.

I really like puff pastry. It might also be because I really like butter. However, mixing puff pastry with a nice fruit and the sweet taste of apricot...wowweee. The only downer is that this is definitely not as good the second day. In fact, it gets sort of stale and that's not cool! Or maybe that's just an excuse to eat it all in a day.

xoxo,
lemonie