I remember as a kid my mom loved it when my dad would go to the bakery and bring home cream cheese pastries. I found this recipe which looked easy so I thought I would give it a try. These pastries seem pretty decadent - like something you might only eat…say while you were on vacation at a Bed and Breakfast.
Any choice of berries will do in this recipe. I wanted to do strawberry, blackberry, and raspberry, but the store was out of raspberries. Sam went for the blackberries just like he did with the blueberries for the blueberry bread, but this time he only got to one. He thought they had too many seeds and spent his time trying to pick them out. After he squished through the first one, he gave up and waited for his taste of the final product.
I realized that I don’t have any circular cookie cutters. So I opted for using a margarita glass and a pint glass for the indent. The pastries may have been a little bigger than they were supposed to be, but you use what you got, right?
Let me just say that these things might give Dotty a run for her money in the pastry department. Yummy! Sam and I ate all four of them before Derek even knew they existed.
Ingredients
2 sheets frozen puff pastry
8 oz cream cheese
¼ cup white sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 cups fresh berries
1 egg
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
3 – 4 tablespoons milk
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°.
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the cream cheese until soft and fluffy.
Add white sugar, lemon juice and zest and whip until well blended and smooth.
On a lightly floured surface, unfold a sheet of puff pastry and cut into circles using a round cookie cutter. A glass or jar would also work.
Use a smaller cookie cutter or glass to create an indent around the edge, then prick the center several times with a fork.
Spread a dollop of cream cheese mixture in the center of each puff pastry round.
Top with berries to your heart’s content.
Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry. (I was able to get 5 pastries per sheet of puff pastry based on the size of my cookie cutter.)
Beat the egg with a bit of water, then brush the edges of each pastry with egg wash.
Place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake for 18 – 20 minutes or until golden.
Once baked, remove from the oven and then transfer pastries to a wire cooling rack.
While they cool a bit, sift powdered sugar into a mixing bowl. Add milk slowly, whisking until smooth.
Drizzle over each pastry then serve!
Recipe by: thesweetestoccasion.com