Flaky ready rolled puff pastry filled with a freshly made strawberry apple compote and topped off with fresh orange zest, this is the perfect way to up-level your next brunch.
This is such a quick and easy recipe to make, especially as it uses ready made puff pastry. Instead of spending hours attempting to get the perfect puff, all you have to do is get the pastry out of the fridge for roughly 10 minutes to warm up and gently unroll. For this, I made a pastry ‘parcel’ – pastry squares with a dip in the centre for the filling to sit in.
To make this shape I cut the pastry into squares. Leaving about a 2cm gap ‘score’ a smaller square inside the bigger square. Then pierce the inside of the smaller square multiple times with a fork. Place the pastry squares onto a pre lined baking tray and brush some milk over the top and sprinkle with a little bit of sugar. When the pastry is a beautiful golden brown then you know that it’s cooked. When you remove it from the oven the whole pastry will have risen, even the smaller square that you scored in the centre. Using a sharp knife, gently go over the smaller square and peel the top off. You’ll be left with a little well in the centre, which is the perfect spot to add your filling.
Strawberry
This chunky strawberry apple compote is super simple to make and uses a basic compote recipe. To start with, cut up a few apples into small chunks and place in a saucepan. It’s best to use bramley ‘cooking’ apples, but if you don’t have access to these then normal apples work fine. Bramley apples are bigger than a standard eating apple, if you’re using a different variety then you may need to increase the amount of apple in the puree.
After you’ve added the apple, add strawberries to the pan, with the top chopped off and cut in half. You want to make sure that you add more strawberries then apples to the pan. You can use either fresh or frozen strawberries for this, but I find that fresh strawberries create a fresher flavour. Fill the bottom of the saucepan with a little apple juice and add a sprinkle of sugar. You can add more or less depending on taste. Bring the compote to the boil, then reduce it to a simmer and cook until the apples are soft, the strawberries are mushy and the juice is reduced.
Once cooled, fill the pastry gap with the cooled strawberry apple compote and decorate with fresh orange zest. Serve with a dollop of crème fraiche on the side. You can also add some extra orange zest to the top of the crème fraiche if you’re feeling extra fancy!
Quick, easy and delicious, this makes the brunch or afternoon snack. These are best eaten fresh and can’t be stored. If the filling is left in the pastry for too long, then it will start to get soggy so I would always recommend eating straight away.
Ingredients
- 2 Bramley Apples, peeled and chopped into small squares
- Handful Strawberries, top cut off and chopped in half - Fresh or frozen
- Apple Juice, to cover the bottom of saucepan
- Sprinkle Granulated Sugar
- 1/4 Pack Ready Made Puff Pastry
- 1 teaspoon Milk
- Orange Zest. for topping
- Crème Fraiche, to serve
Instructions
- Remove the pre made pastry from the fridge and leave to sit for roughly 10 minutes, meanwhile preheat your oven to 180*c Fan Oven/200*c/400*f/Gas Mark 6.
- Unroll the pastry and cut out two large squares.
- Leaving about a 2cm gap ‘score’ a smaller square inside the bigger square. Then pierce the inside of the smaller square multiple times with a fork (see picture).
- Place them on the pre lined baking tray and brush some milk over the top of each shape and sprinkle with a little sugar.
- Place onto the pre lined baking tray. Place in the oven for roughly 20 minutes, or until risen and a nice golden brown
- Once removed from the oven, allow them to fully cool down.
- When you remove it from the oven the whole pastry will have risen, even the smaller square that you scored in the centre. Using a sharp knife, gently go over the smaller square and peel the top off. You’ll be left with a little well in the centre, which is the perfect spot to add your filling.
- While waiting for the pastry to cool, start to make the filling.
- Place the cut apple in a saucepan along with the strawberries.
- Cover the bottom of the saucepan with a little apple juice and a sprinkle of granulated sugar.
- Bring the compote to the boil, then reduce it to a simmer and cook until the apples are soft, the strawberries are mushy and the juice is reduced, this should take around 5-10 minutes. Leave to cool.
- Once cooled, fill the pastry gap with the cooled strawberry apple compote. Sprinkle fresh orange zest over the top.
- Serve with a dollop of crème fraiche, adding a little orange zest to this if you're feeling fancy!
Notes
These are best eaten fresh and can’t be stored. If the filling is left in the pastry for too long, then it will start to get soggy so I would always recommend eating straight away.
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