Hey folks! How’s everyone holding up? Hope you’re doing well and staying safe! I’ve been spending my days of #socialDistancing doing what I think many people have, cooking and baking. Much to the enjoyment of my family, hahaha. It’s not the worst way to spend days at home and I can honestly say I encourage this behavior. So, if the opportunity presents itself to you, bake away!
Now, baking isn’t really my forte in the culinary field (okay…realistically…I’m not sure I have a forte) but that doesn’t mean I don’t like to do it! I love trying all sorts of recipes and learning new techniques, but I will be the first to say this recipe involves pretty much no technique and very little effort yet, yields a pretty fantastic result. Have I piqued your interest with the “very little effort”. Well, I was hoping I had. So, today I present a simple, classic almond pastry with a Pakistani twist. I added some traditional Pakistani dessert flavors to create something that tastes…pretty darn good (If I do say so myself). But that’s enough out of me for this intro. Let’s get on with the recipe, shall we?
Ingredients:
- 100 grams (1 cup) peeled almonds
- 30 grams (1/4 cup) shelled pistachios
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- 2/3 cups powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons rose water
- 2 eggs
- 2 sheets frozen puff pastry
Directions:
Begin by preheating your oven to 425F. Good, great. Now we’re going to start off by preparing our filling. I used a pretty standard almond frangipane recipe from Jamie Oliver’s Almond Pastry Puff but I spiced it up (not literally, don’t worry) with some very Pakistani dessert ingredients. Those would be pistachios and rose water. Very Pakistani. There isn’t even very much of the pistachios and rose water but it’s enough to make themselves known and give a unique flavor to the pastry. Now to prepare go ahead a pop the almonds and pistachios into a food processor. Pulse these up until you have a coarse almond and pistachio meal. Once they’ve been ground you can add in the heavy cream, sugar, rose water, and an egg into the mixture. Blend for a few minutes until thoroughly blended.
You’re going to end up with a paste that’s not too runny and not too thick, the Goldilocks of fillings, if you will. Put your filling aside and turn your attention to the puff pastry that you should have taken out of the freezer to thaw in the meantime. I definitely did this…
So, I had about 1 sheet and a quarter left over from a previous dish, but I highly recommend using 2 full sheets of puff pastry. It will makes things easier in your future, trust me. Another tip to make things easier is dusting everything in powdered sugar and rolling out your (thawed) puff pastry in between two pieces of parchment paper. By “everything”, I mean the dough and the rolling pin…not like your whole kitchen, just wanted to make that clear. Working quickly, roll out the pasty until it’s around 1/4 inch thick you should be all set. At this point, spoon the filling you made earlier into the middle of the dough in a circle. Then you can roll out the other sheet of pastry to the same thickness and same relative shape to go on top.
I know what you’re thinking, “Wow Sana, where did you learn to roll puff pastry in such an expert manner?” Ah well, a magician never reveals their secrets. Now, place the second piece of pastry on top and using a plate of about the same size of the filling area cut off the excess dough. Using a fork crimp the edges of the pastry to seal everything in.
You’re just about done! First, to keep it from rising too much (and just to dress it up a little) make an indentation using your thumb in the middle of the pastry. Then using a sharp knife carefully makes a few lines from the center to the edge. Lastly, beat an egg and brush this on top of the pastry to give it that golden brown, shiny end result. Very nice. Once you egg washed the pastry, sprinkle with a little powdered sugar and then you want to place it on a baking sheet lined with some parchment paper. Put it on the bottom rack of the oven for 12-15 minutes. Yeah, I said 12-15 minutes and I realize that is so incredibly fast it seems unbelievable but you better believe it.
In 15 short minutes your pastry will be golden brown and ready to be pulled out of the oven. Smells great, from what I remember and tastes even better! Just let it cool for a few minutes before cutting into it. Or if you want to be a rebel, don’t wait, oooh. But really, it will taste better cooled.
Let me know if you give this recipe a try and be sure to check out Jamie Oliver’s Almond Pastry recipe here!
Almond Pistachio Pastry
Ingredients
- 100 grams (1 cup) peeled almonds
- 30 grams (1/4 cup) shelled pistachios
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- ⅔ cups powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoon Rose Water
- 2 eggs
- 2 sheets frozen puff pastry thawed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 F.
- In a food processor pulse the almonds and pistachios for 1 or 2 minutes until coarse.
- Into nut mixture add the heavy cream, powdered sugar, egg and rose water. Start with one tablespoon of rose water and then pulse thoroughly until everything is fully combined. Taste just a little bit to see if it is enough rose for your taste, if not add more rose water and mix. Pulse until fully combined.
- Once filling is done set aside.
- Dusting the puff pastry in powdered sugar roll out first sheet between 2 pieces of parchment paper to prevent sticking. Roll out until about 1/4 inch thick.
- Once rolled out spoon out a circle of filling into middle of puff pastry leaving a wide border at the edges.
- Roll out other sheet of puff pastry, as you did with first. Once at the correct thickness and size place on top of sheet with filling.
- Using a plate about the same size as filling put on top of pastry and cut off excess dough. Remove plate and crimp edges using a fork to seal.
- Place an indent in the middle of pastry using your thumb and then using a shark knife lightly score the top of pastry making lines from middle to the edge.Egg wash with a beaten egg and dust with powdered sugar.
- Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Put on the bottom shelf of oven and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown and shiny.
- Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before serving up.
- Enjoy!
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