Fruit and Almond Puff Pastry Slices

Here it is, my favorite recipe for fruit pastry.

I've been making this for several years and I must tell you when I tried this fruit pastry recipe from my King Arthur Cookbook, I stopped looking for any other. It is that good.

I promise you, if you make these everyone will be impressed, including yourself because it looks (and tastes) like a fancy pastry but is actually incredibly EASY to prepare.

The finished pastry looks and tastes as if it was prepared by a professional pastry chef. It appears as if there are many steps involved, but not so.

Just before slicing into individual portions.

First you make a simple dough and spread it into two rectangular shapes on a baking sheet, then coat top an sides with batter, similar to a choux (puff pasty dough) and bake.

While the pastry is still warm you spread it with jam, then almonds and icing. Since it makes two pastry rectangles, I usually top one with raspberry jam, and the other with apricot for variety, and they look so pretty on the serving platter.

It is truly delicious.

Fruit and Almond Pastry Puff Slices

Adapted from King Arthur Flour

First Layer:

1/2 cup butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup water

Second Layer:

1 cup water

1/2 cup butter

1 cup flour

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon almond extract

Topping:

2/3 cup jam or preserves

1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Icing:

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 teaspoons milk

Method~

Preheat oven to 350-degrees (F), racks in center position of oven.

Grease a large baking sheet, set aside.

First layer:

In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine the butter, flour, and salt, working the butter into the flour with a pastry blender or fork, your fingers, or a mixer.

Mix until everything is crumbly, then stir in the water.

The dough will become cohesive, though not smooth. Divide the dough in half. Wet your hands, and shape each piece of this wet dough into a rough log. stretch and pat the logs into approximately 11 x 3-inch rectangles on the prepared baking pan , leaving at least 4 inches between them, and 2 inches on each side. These will puff up in the oven, so spaced is needed for expansion. You can use two baking sheets instead of one, if you don't have one large enough to accomodate both strips.

Second layer:

In a medium-sized saucepan, bring the water and butter to a boil. Stir until the butter melts, then add the flour (and salt, if you're using it) all at once. Stir the mixture with a spoon till it thickens, begins to steam, and leaves the sides of the pan; this will happen very quickly.

Transfer the dough to a mixing bowl, or the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat it at medium speed for 30 seconds to 1 minute, just to cool it down a bit. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; beat until the dough loses its shiny look, and each egg is totally absorbed. Mix in the almond extract.

Divide the batter in half. Spread half the batter over one of the dough strips on the pan, covering it completely (sides and ends, too.) Repeat with the remaining batter and dough.

With a spatula (or your wet fingers) spread the batter until it completely covers the entire bottom layer of dough. Smooth it out as best you can.

Bake the pastry in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until it's a deep golden brown. Remove it from the oven, and transfer each pastry to a wire rack. While still warm apply topping.

Topping:

Spread each warm pastry with about 1/3 cup of jam or preserves. (Any flavor is fine, but my favorites are raspberry and apricot.) Sprinkle the toasted almonds over the jam. By this time, your beautifully puffed pastries are probably starting to sink; don't worry, this is all part of the plan.

Icing:

Stir together the sugar, vanilla, and enough milk or lemon juice to form an icing that is thick, but will drizzle easily from a fork. Drizzle the icing over the top of the pastries. Allow the icing to set up, then cut into strips (crosswise, or at an angle. )

I always toast a few extra sliced almonds and sprinkle over the icing as a final touch, but that's up to you.

I hope you'll try this deliciously easy treat. It's good for breakfast or brunch, as a dessert, or as a treat with coffee or tea.

Incredibly easy to make, yet tastes and looks as though a professionally trained pastry chef likely labored over it for hours.

Makes about 16 to 20 servings.