Quick and Fruity Breakfast Pastries

The best way to get everyone to like you is to fill them up with sweet treats. A Sunday brunch seems like the perfect opportunity for bribing people with some sort of delicious breakfast bites except for one thing: I hate getting up early. HATE IT. I also like to go out on Saturday night, so if I am going to make it the day before, it has to be fast and easy.


Black currant and cherry pastries with lemon zest sugar topping.

I've been obsessed with whipping up these quick danishes by stuffing puff pastry with a berry filling. Pre-made puff pastry is a shortcut we approve of, as making puff pastry from scratch is putzy and time consuming. Fresh or frozen berries can be thickened with sugar and cornstarch to create the filling or if you are really pressed for time, you can just open up a can of pre-made pie filling.



Quick Fruit Pastries

• fruit filling
• 1 package of puff pastry
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. sugar
• citrus zest.

To make your own Fruit filling:

• 2 cups berries or chopped fruit, frozen, canned or fresh (doesn't matter)
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 heaping Tbs cornstarch
• 1/2 c. fruit juice (you can just use water if you don't have juice)

Mix in a sauce pan, bring to a boil and continue to stir until the sauce is nice and thick. You can add some added flavoring to the filling depending on your fruit. Almond extract goes great with berries. Citrus zest can give be fun, but a little goes a long way.



Puff pastry usually comes in a box with two sheets. Defrost dough and roll out each sheet into 12" squares. Cut the squares into quarters and quarter again so you have 16 small squares. Spoon 1 tsp of fruit filling into the center of each square. Brush raw egg along all edges of each square.



Assemble the small pastries by pinching the corners together at the center. Then pinch together the open corners so there are no places where filling can leak out. Pinch tightly with fingers to seal, if the dough is giving you trouble you can twist the dough.



Brush with raw egg and top with sugar. I like to add some fresh lemon or orange zest into the sugar to give some added pep!



Bake little guys for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Remove from oven when the dough is nice and golden. Allow to cool completely before placing in air tight containers.



The next morning, these pastries are little light crispy bites of fruity friendship. Everyone will like you and you will be happy.

A Quick Easy: Palmiers

Also known as elephant ears, palmiers, made with sheets of sheets of puff pastry, are perfect for those who are afraid of making pastry or just want a quick cookie.

I always get the Pepperidge Farm puff pastry because its the most readily available and relatively inexpensive at around $4.00 a box. Each box comes with two sheets.

Roll out defrosted dough on a floured surface. The more you roll your dough out, the smaller your cookies will be. Traditionally these cookies are bigger, but I like to add more sugar to create a really caramelized cookie, which is also very rich. I roll the dough out pretty thin, to make a smaller cookie. Using a knife, trim irregular edges to make a rectangle.



Mix:
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Divide sugar in half and one half per sheet. Pat the sugar to embed into the dough. Using a knife, score the middle of the dough on two parallel sides. With an unmarked edge, begin rolling and roll dough to score mark. Roll opposite side to central score mark until two rolls are together. Using a pastry brush, brush some milk between where two rolls come together and press so they stick together. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least an hour.

Remove from fridge, and using a knife, cut into slices into approx. 1/2" slices. Lay slices out on a tray a couple inches apart. Pour 1/2 tsp - 1 tsp of sugar on each cookie. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place trays in freezer while oven preheats. Bake cookies for about 8 minutes. Remove trays from oven and flip over. Bake for another 8 minutes or until cookies are nice and caramelized.



These are cookies are easy to make, rich in flavor and look gorgeous. I love them.