Strawberry Cream Cheese Breakfast Pastries
User Reviews
5
Strawberry Cream Cheese Breakfast Pastries
Description
Strawberry Cream Cheese Breakfast Pastries start with thawed puff pastry cut into heart shapes using a cookie cutter. A creamy filling of softened cream cheese blended with strawberry jam and optional red food coloring is prepared and chilled to firmer consistency. The pastry hearts are scored inside the edges to allow the centers to puff separately. A teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture is placed in each heart center, topped with finely diced fresh strawberries. The pastries are then brushed with an egg wash before baking to achieve a golden color. Once baked, they are dusted with powdered sugar for a sweet finish. The resulting pastries have flaky, buttery layers with a tangy-sweet cream cheese and strawberry filling that offers a fresh fruit texture contrast. They are suitable for breakfast or brunch and can be adapted by using rectangles instead of hearts to speed preparation and increase filling area.
Ingredients
- 1 (8.6 oz) puff pastry sheet
- 2 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 1/2 Tbsp strawberry jam
- 1 drop red food coloring (or use beet powder) optional
- 2/3 cup strawberry very small diced
- 1 egg whisked with 1 Tbsp water, large
- powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Thaw puff pastry according to directions on package and halfway through thawing preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- While puff pastry is thawing, in a small bowl and using a rubber spatula, mix together cream cheese, jam and food coloring while pressing mixture along bottom and sides of bowl to smooth large lumps.
- Transfer to refrigerator until ready to use (so it's not runny, you can flash chill in freezer if you prepared this near the end of the pastry thawing).
- Cut pastry into heart shapes using a 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter (space them as close together as possible so you can get as many as you can out of the sheet).
- Transfer hearts to a baking sheet lined with a silicone liner or parchment paper, spacing 1 1/2-inches apart.
- Using a sharp pairing knife, lightly score a heart inside of each cut-out heart coming about 1/3-inch from the edge, without cutting entirely through bottom of the dough.
- Add 1 tsp of the cream cheese mixture to center of each heart then spread outward without covering the 1/3-inch edge.
- Add strawberries over cream cheese layer, again without covering the edge. Using your fingertip brush the 1/3-inch edge with egg/water mixture.
- Bake in preheated oven 14 - 15 minutes until edges are golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack then dust with powdered sugar. Serve the day they are prepared.
Notes
- To save time, cut the puff pastry into rectangles and increase cream cheese, jam, and strawberry quantities accordingly.
- Chilling the cream cheese mixture helps prevent it from running out during baking.
- Use fresh, finely diced strawberries for texture variation.
User Reviews
Overall Rating
5
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