Homemade Strawberry Crossover Puff Pastries
Berry Puff Pastry Recipe Update June 2015. The method for using the dowel depicted in the original photos below makes it easy to have a uniform cut for the crossovers. However we have found we often skip using a dowel. Just free-hand the cuts and transfer of the dough to the baking sheet. Both methods work great so use which ever you prefer. We also have examples of two different types of puff pastry doughs. One is with homemade puff pastry (light background images with strawberry filling). The other is with store bought frozen puff pastry (darker background images with mixed berry filling).The above photo is made with frozen puff pastry dough . Below berry pastry made with homemade puff pastry dough
Easy Berry Puff Pastry Recipe
Wake up early one morning and one’s love (who is normally just a salt person) requests a breakfast sweet, there are three main options: Feign early morning incomprehension. Go out and buy something. Make a breakfast pastry for the love of your life.
A one who loves to bake and has an affinity for spoiling those he loves only has one choice that won’t haunt the recesses of his heart and soul; fire the oven and bake up a flaky delight.
The fridge hadn’t been resupplied for a few days, but there were still enough basic supplies hanging around the kitchen to make something up. Fresh berries. Milk. Eggs. Sugar. Some homemade puff pastry dough in the freezer (doesn’t everyone have that stocked in the icebox? ). Yeah, there was something to work with here.
Using the puff pastry as a base, some pastry cream would be quick to make, combine it all together to be enraptured by the fresh berries, and bake. Easy. The “proof” setting on the oven would speed up the thawing of the frozen puff pastry dough to about 15 minutes so it wouldn’t take long too get things underway. The only thing left to be decided was the form of the pastry.
Turning to the household baking Bible, The Professional Pastry Chef, a few flips of the pages brought up Bo’s cherry crossovers. A cherry filling wrapped in puff pastry with enticing slits allowing its sweet center to peak through. What a perfect way to package the fresh berries! Soon the sweet scent of puff pastry and strawberries baking filled the morning kitchen air, arousing the dogs and mingling with the aroma of the daily cappuccinos.
Does it even need to be said that the end result was heavenly? Flaky, buttery puff pastry combined with smooth, slightly sweet pastry cream, all serving as a backdrop to the sweet, slightly tangy, tartness of the strawberries. Someone was a very lucky this morning.
Todd
updated method using frozen puff pastry dough without the dowel:
original method with using the dowel & with the homemade puff pastry recipe :
Wrap the dough around the dowel, slice the strips, and transfer to baking sheet
Spread pastry cream, fill with berries, and cross
After crossing, press with dowel to seal, and brush with egg wash
above photo is made with frozen puff pastry dough
Berry Crossover Recipe
Ingredients
Pastry Cream Ingredients
- 1/4 cup sugar (60g)
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (15g)
- pinch of salt
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 cup milk (240ml)
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Berry Crossover Ingredients
- 1 pound Puff Pastry (455g) , if dough is frozen allow to thaw for 20-30 minutes or until pliable
- 1 pound fresh berries (455g) , cut into 1/2-inch pieces (blueberries can be left whole)
- optional-sugar , to taste - see headnote
- 1 cup Pastry Cream (recipe above)
- Egg Wash (1 egg white beat w/ 1 tablespoon water)
- Powdered Sugar (optional)
Instructions
Pastry Cream Directions
- Combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together then add egg yolks and mix until smooth. Set aside.
- Put milk in a thick bottomed saucepan. Bring up to a simmer, stirring frequently to keep the milk from burning to the bottom of the pan. After the milk begins to simmer, remove from the heat and pour about 1/3 of the hot milk to the egg/sugar mix, whisking rapidly. Then pour the tempered egg/sugar/milk mix back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk.
- Return the saucepan to the stovetop and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture begins to boil and thickens to a pudding-like consistency. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla extract.
- Set aside and cover with a piece of wax or baking paper to keep a skin from forming. If not using right away, store in the refrigerator until needed. Can be kept in fridge for 3-4 days when used for baking.
Berry Crossover Directions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheet pans with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Keeping the puff pastry dough lightly dusted with flour, roll out half of the dough (keep other half in the refrigerator until ready to use) to 1/8-inch thick and in a 9-inch x 9-inch square (if using store bought puff pastry, this is often the size each 1/2 pound section comes in. Just thaw to a workable pliability and dust with flour.) Trim the edges of the dough to form straight edges if needed.
- Cut the dough in 1/2 lengthwise and 3rds crosswise (you'll have six 4.5-inch x 3-inch rectangles). Along the long edges of each rectangle, cut strips about 1-inch long and 1/2-inch wide -see note below for alternate cutting method. Be sure to slice all the way through the bottom layer. Place the rectangles on a prepared baking sheet pan. Repeat the rolling and scoring of the dough with the remaining 1/2 pound of puff pastry.
- Spread about 1 tablespoon of pastry cream on down the middle of each rectangle. If adding extra sugar to the berries (see headnote), toss with sugar to taste. Place a layer of berries on top of the pastry cream.
- Face the rectangles so the cut edges are on the left and right. Begin at the bottom, cross one strip over the pastry cream and berries. Cross the opposite side strip over the first strip. Continue this alternating left and right, making sure each strip is overlapping the previous opposite side to help lock it in. Do this down the length of each pastry and for all of the pastries.
- Press down a little going the length of each pastry to help seal and lock the strips together. Brush with egg wash.
- Bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden. If necessary, a sheet of parchment paper can be draped over the top of the crossovers if the tops are cooking faster than the rest of pastry.
- Allow to cool, dust with powdered sugar if desired and enjoy.
Could cream cheese be substituted for the pastry cream? Perhaps strawberry cream cheese?
That would probably work fine. We haven’t tried it that way, but it should theoretically work fine.
Amazing recipe! I know you say you can refrigerate the pastry cream itself… Just wondering if it’s possible to freeze the prepared pastries for a couple of days before baking? If not, is it possible to refrigerate the prepared pastries for 2-3 days?
Thanks Monique! We haven’t tried freezing prepared pastries yet, but for most of it there should be no problem. The only thing I am not sure will work is the pastry cream. Discussion go back and forth on if pastry cream can be frozen or not, mostly due to the cornstarch. It may work fine since there isn’t that much pastry cream in each danish and they are still going to be baked. If the pastry cream still doesn’t bake well after being frozen, I would try subbing tapioca starch for the cornstarch. A 1:1 substitute should work fine. I wouldn’t do the second option. It would work but after a couple days, a refrigerated puff pastry just doesn’t taste as good. Good luck!
T
YUM, I just made these. Super easy and super delicious. You can make the pastry cream (creme patissiere for the… http://t.co/ZkWL0AVI
Baking this as one long criss-crossed pastry with fresh strawbs. It’s in the oven right now! First time I’ve made pastry cream and it came out perfectly delicious. Thanks for this easy recipe.
this recipe is amazing, so simple ! The pastry cream took a while to thicken but it tastes awsome !! , thank you !!
They look great! Will try them this weekend!
What a wonderfully simple recipe! I collected some strawberries from my garden yesterday and was researching recipes that included puff pastry and voila! Thanks for the great pictorial instruction.
I am going to make these for the kiddos at Cal-Wood this week. They look wonderful.
I tried these – delish – not too sweet – pictures were a great help. Came out tasty even though the I didn’t have anything to remove the clumps from the pastry cream.
Well, this is probably insanely late compared to the rest of the comments, but this recipe was wonderful! I used to buy similar pastries at a cafe on WashU’s campus last summer, so I was thrilled to find this just as I was longing for them again. I actually ended up splitting the recipe and making half of the pastries with strawberries (we have loads!) and half with chocolate. These are right up there with my personal scone recipe. Thanks!
Hi, there, Todd and Dianne!
Dianne, you won’t mind if Todd comes to my house and makes me breakfast every now and then, will you?! 😉
I just had a really quick question… When cutting the puff pastry into strips, how long would you recommend them to be? I’m going to go with the 1/4 inch width because I’m intending to make individual pastries, but I’ve never done anything like this so don’t really know what I’m doing.
Also, if you’d like, feel free to come and check out my blog (http://sandiesbitchinkitchen.blogspot.com/) or follow me on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sandies-Bitchin-Kitchen/152833831432325)! 🙂
Thank you, in advance, for your help!
Sandie
I’m sorry, I just reread the recipe and found the answer to my question about the length of the strips! Never mind!! 🙂
But, now I have to ask… Would it be okay if I shared your technique with the dowel on my blog?
How far in advance would you make these? I ask because I’d love to make these in the morning and serve them for after dinner dessert.
By the way, love your website!
Thanks! They’ll hold up fairly well especially if you have a good puff pastry. You could also slightly underbake them then pop them in the oven for a few minutes before you are about to serve them. Hope it turns out beautifully!
i made these yesterday and they were delicious. it’s really a good thing to have frozen puff pastry on hand. i’m thinking of making these pastries with different fillings, sweet or savory. thanks for the instructions and the beautifull photos.
this looks sooo good…. thanks for sharing – i have some puff pastry in the fridge i need to use up!
Looks so yummy.
So, I forwarded this to Bill 5 times…and all 5 times he somehow concluded that I wanted to either marry Todd or be Diane….! Not once did he conclude “hey maybe I should try this!”…
That’s where I stand. The only possible solution is we (you or us) move closer to one another and you (Todd) can show him how to do this more often.
Great post!