Puff Pastry Summer Fruit Slab Pie
This show-stopper is easy to assemble, but so impressive. The only component of this effortlessly elegant tart that needs to bake is the puff pastry base itself. Once it’s baked and cooled, you’ll top it with a creamy, fluffy spread of sweetened mascarpone cheese mixed with marzipan (i.e. almond paste), vanilla, freshly whipped cream. You’ll want to wait until right before serving time to assemble your dessert. All of those glorious summer fruit juices are going to start seeping into your puff pastry and will lead to sogginess if prepared too far in advance.
Puff Pastry Summer Fruit Shortcakes
These easy and impressive dessert stacks utilize the same almond-flavored marscarpone cream and macerated stone fruit that we use in this simple Puff Pastry Summer Fruit Slab Pie. However, rather than spreading the mixtures over a slab of baked puff pastry, you’ll be sandwiching them between cut, baked squares that stand in as an airy alternative to a traditional shortcake biscuits. You’ll want to wait until right before serving time to assemble your dessert. All of those glorious summer fruit juices are going to start seeping into your puff pastry and will lead to sogginess if prepared too far in advance.
Baked Brie with Pumpkin Maple Sauce
Your friends will be astonished at the ease and delight that baked brie brings to the table before dinner is served. It’s the perfect mix of sweet and salty with benefit of a warm, gooey inside and a crispy, flaky crust on the outside. Store-bought puff pastry wraps around the entire wheel of brie, and it’s finished with a drizzle of the pumpkin-spiced maple sauce that’s decadent and sweetened with maple syrup. With a sprinkle of a few sliced almonds for a crunchy texture and a rich, nutty flavor, this starter is ideal menu item to any fall themed meal.
Boysenberry Danishes
Even if you're a baking newbie, you can turn these out with ease, thanks to frozen puff pastry. To keep them from sticking, remove the pastries from the pan right after baking.
Plum Puff Dumplings
For her elegant interpretation of fruit danish, Grace Parisi tosses wedges of big purple plums with sugar and cardamom, then pinches them into neat little puff pastry pockets and bakes them.
Rustic Pear Tarts with Crème Fraîche
Time: about 1 1/4 hours. Fresh pears and purchased puff pastry add up to an incredibly easy seasonal dessert.
Strawberry Shortcake Napoleons
Ring in the new spring season with sweet, fresh strawberries that make this dessert festive and beautiful.
Summer Berry Tarts
Excellent-quality puff pastry (F&W likes the Dufour brand) makes all the difference to this minimalist fruit dessert. Berries simmered in a little sugar become a slightly gooey, fresh-tasting topping.
