Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have. I had chocolate! The sun will refuse to shine the day my cupboards are bereft of chocolate! I always have a stash or two hidden in my cupboards. And my new point of focus is PUFF PASTRY! One huge batch I made some time ago and stashed into the freezer (in separate zip pouches mind it!) which is now coming handy.
Handy is as handy does.
Hot puff pastry and melting chocolate ganache (also removed from the freezer…) with a dusting of icing sugar…and with that some hot, hot coffee! Better midnight snacks couldn’t be thought of.
Pressure came from sweet child, who is all set to prepare for his end of term exams…I say set to prepare- I mean set to prepare, the only thing I see lacking at the moment is the dedication to his books. Every time someone even mentions PS2 I see that longing that probably was in Rapunzel’s eyes…
So I decided to be a “sweet “mum for a change and make something chocolate.
Cake and cookies take too long, and puff pastry seemed to be the only alternative…so 30 mins to let one batch of puff pastry thaw and then it was quick.
Puff pastry seems like a blank canvas, whichever way you stroke the brush, it just lights up….and how. Just waking up to this magical pastry, I know I do not have too much time, summer fast approaches- soon puff pastry will be all sludgy and oily in my hands. So I’m going to make hay while the sun shines… use as much puff pastry as I can, till it becomes too hot to handle it.
For the
Chocolate Puff Pastry Stars...
You need
100 Gms puff pastry
50 Gms chocolate
2 tbsp cream (or alternatively-4-5 tbsp chocolate Ganache)
Icing sugar to dust
I made ganache when I made the Eggless tiramisu-piped the Henna Tattoo – the disposable piping bag went straight into the freezer. Find the recipe for the chocolate ganache here. If you've been keeping track....I used loads in the Brandy Drenched Cake.
Yes, my freezer is quite cavernous. At the moment, besides the 3 bags of puff pastry, I also have 2 bags of shelled peas, 3 bags of fried nandru- lotus stem and about half a kg of cashew burfee. I plan to make Danishes with the cashew burfee one of these days…
Alright, Wengers used to be favorite outlet in CP Delhi, but off late, I find most things a wee bit de hydrated, and maybe my palette needs a change. They make these star shaped Danish Pastries that are full of marzipan (which tastes like cashew Burfee…hence the half Kg in, my freezer). The pastries look really pretty, and I attempted a small version of them last night.
Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle, about 6 inches by 8 inches .
That’s the new fluted pastry cutter, not as fluted as I would have liked, but that’s all that Lifestyle Pacific Mall had to offer-rather that’s all I had time to buy when I was in Delhi visiting Sanskriti.
6 squares now. Well, almost. I made only 6, make not, and eat not!
Now was the tricky part…make 4 cuts diagonally, just don’t go all the way. Leave some space in the centre.
With one end fold the pastry something like, fold every other corner to the centre, and press to seal. I’ll redo the folding and paste the pics tomorrow.
A bit wash with milk or egg or if you are vegan, a light sugar solution and then into the oven.
In the mean while warm the ganache, you want melted, slurpy, wet and yummy chocolate on the starts-not fat globs of chewy chocolate cream.
In 12-15 minutes, depending on your electricity supply, you’ll have lovely crisp, golden brown stars.
Out on a platter; just make a small indent in the centre. See the Pit in the centre?
Plated, and the ganache poured. The icing sugar dusted on…
The first star…I poured the ganache. Restraint thy name is MUM!
The others…sweet child, just being sweet. That by the way is his Math text; we were revising Ratio and Proportions!
That shooter had milk and Hershey’s Strawberry syrup with topped with the ganache that obviously doesn’t like the cold.
Quick to make and quicker to disappear.
These were the Chocolate Ganache Puff Pastry Stars. Already in heaven.
Unseasonal Rains have ruined our flowers, here in Ranchi. So we simply appreciate the chocolate and puff pastry!And stay HAPPY!
So what are you baking today???
PS hey, tried them again and got the STARS right...
Enjoy!!!
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