Our Easiest Puff Pastry Desserts

By MyRecipes
June 01, 2018
Con Poulos
Pastry dough is easy-to-use, convenient, and instantly transforms into elegant desserts that can be assembled with a few simple steps. The light, flaky pastry puffs up during baking as the butter melts between its multiple layers creating its signature texture. Keep a few frozen sheets on hand whenever you need to make a quick, no-fuss sweet treat.
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Puff Pastry Summer Fruit Slab Pie

Photo: Jen Causey; Food Styling: Karen Rankin; Prop Styling: Kashara Johnson
Puff Pastry Summer Fruit Slab Pie Recipe

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. 

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Puff Pastry Summer Fruit Shortcakes

Photo: Jen Causey; Food Styling: Karen Rankin; Prop Styling: Kashara Johnson
Puff Pastry Summer Fruit Shortcakes Recipe

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.

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Baked Brie with Pumpkin Maple Sauce 

Sara Tane
Baked Brie with Pumpkin Maple Sauce  Recipe

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.

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Layered Eggnog Cream with Puff Pastry

Photo: Linda Pugliese, Hector Sanchez; Styling: Heather Chadduck Hillegas, Buffy Hargett Miller
Layered Eggnog Cream with Puff Pastry Recipe

Any seasonal berry works with this dessert.

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Boysenberry Danishes

Photo: Annabelle Breakey; Styling: Robyn Valarik
Boysenberry Danishes Recipe

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.

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Plum Puff Dumplings

Photo: © Hallie Burton
Plum Puff Dumplings Recipe
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.
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Rustic Pear Tarts with Crème Fraîche

Photo: Rachel Weill; Styling: Dan Becker
Rustic Pear Tarts with Crème Fraîche Recipe
Time: about 1 1/4 hours. Fresh pears and purchased puff pastry add up to an incredibly easy seasonal dessert.

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Strawberry Shortcake Napoleons

Photo: Kelsey Hansen; Food Styling: Karen Rankin; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis
Strawberry Shortcake Napoleons Recipe

Ring in the new spring season with sweet, fresh strawberries that make this dessert festive and beautiful.

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Summer Berry Tarts

Con Poulos
Summer Berry Tarts Recipe
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.
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