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Puff Mommy

Oscar night always makes me feel a little fancy shmancy, and what's more fancy than puff pastry? Not much I say! Besides, puff pastry is a lot like Hollywood: it's flaky, it's rich, and a little hollow.



That's where these little beauties come in. Pear halves baked in puff pastry topped with vanilla whipped cream and a pastry cap. So delish! Not too hard to make either.



You didn't think I made the puff pastry dough from scratch, did ya? Ha! Sometimes there is time for such endeavors. But these days in my house, with two young children, there usually isn't. The frozen dough is really good and I like to keep one or two boxes of the stuff in my freezer, ready for any last minute puff emergencies.



I read about how to make the puff pastry cases on page 152 of James Peterson's Baking: 350 recipes and techniques, 1500 photographs, one baking education. Once they were baked, I cut the centre out for the cap, tucked a canned pear half in each one, sprinkled some cinnamon on each pear, then popped them back in the oven to bake for another 15 minutes at a lower temperature. In the meantime, I whipped some cream with a splash of vanilla and a few sprinkles of sugar. When the warm pastries came out of the oven, I topped them with a blob of the cream, popped on the pastry cap, and there you have it! Nom nom nom...

Made anything with puff pastry lately? Thinking about trying it? Tell me about all your flaky adventures!