PUFF PASTRY WITH CUSTARD AND FRUIT RECIPES

Steps:

• For the custard: In a small saucepan, combine 1/2 cup sugar, 5 tablespoons flour and a pinch of salt. Stir in milk, a little at a time, until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil 60 seconds, then pour a small amount of hot liquid into the 2 egg yolks, and stir. Then return now heated egg yolks to saucepan and stir, over heat, until mixture starts to bubble again. Remove from heat, add vanilla. Cover and chill in refrigerator.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
• For the pastry: In a medium saucepan, combine shortening and water and bring to a boil. Sift together 1 cup flour and a pinch of salt and pour all at once into boiling mixture. Stir vigorously until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat, and add eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition. Drop by spoonfuls onto baking sheet, or pipe into desired shape.
• Bake 10 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce heat to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and bake 25 minutes more, or until golden. Cool completely, split, fill with custard, and replace tops.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C, Gas 4, 350F. Grease your baking tin. (if you have a silicone sheet, then no need to grease or line)
• Make the custard, by adding custard powder, 2 tblsp sugar and the milk to a pan and heating until thick. Leave to cool until tepid.
• Cut your cherries in half. If they are from a can then you will need to put them on some kitchen paper to drain the juice. Also remove the stones if not already done.
• With your sheet of pastry, cut into squares, roughly 6cm x 5 cm (depends on the size of your pastry sheet) The main thing is to make sure they are square shapes. Alternatively, if you have a cookie cutter, you can make different shapes as seen in the photos.
• Fill a piping bag with the cooled custard. I used a large nozzle, but you can choose what size depending on the size you cut your pastry shapes. You can just forget about the piping bag and spoon the custard onto the pastry, but it may get a bit messy!
• If you are doing square shapes, run the custard diagonally, from point to point down the center two times, (so you have two layers of custard on top of each other high) as in the photo opposite
• Place as many halved cherries on top of the custard as you wish. Brush all the sides with milk.
• For the squares, fold one side over to the center, and then the other side, pressing down gently so the pastry sticks together where it is joined.
• Brush all the exposed pastry with milk
• Place in to oven for 5 - 20 minutes - You will need to check them as cooking times will vary depending on how big or small your pastries are and also how much filling you have used.
• As a rough guide, the flower shaped ones took 15 minutes in the oven, and the folded squares took 25 minutes.
• When ready (see photo below and your pastries should have puffed up and have a nice brown colour) let them cool on a rack and then give them a light dusting of icing powder.
• Make yourself a cup of tea and enjoy!