Baked and bruised

Pastry making is an art that I never really had an interest in until I went to cooking school.  It's there that I learned to make different types of pastry – sweet, savoury and the famously scary puff. Of course the perfectionist  in me wanted to do the best job I could. Well, it turns out I can’t make a very good puff pastry – but I find it comforting to know that many great chefs have shared that they can’t either. Thank goodness.

Flavourful flakiness

When I was little my sister and I frequented a convenience store nearby our house. The store was a kids' dream – full of an endless variety of candy. While I would often go for hard, sugary candies like 'gobstoppers', my sister typically went for a yummy pastry filled with jam and cream, aptly named ‘passion flakie’.

Over time I have also come to appreciate creamy, flaky pastry items. While I do sometimes crave the trashy flavours of a store-bought, plastic-wrapped dessert, most often I decide to recreate a fresh, somewhat healthier version at home.

So here it is – my version of the passion flakie. I used fresh rhubarb to make a rhubarb, ginger and raspberry compote for a much more adult and classy version of this dessert. I made a cream cheese filling; sweet, creamy and vanilla-flecked. I used puff pastry – store-bought because I didn’t have the time or energy to make puff pastry and well, I just don’t make it as beautifully as I would like to. Once assembled together, these delicious little puffs of cream and sweet-sourness were devoured by my husband – just a few left!

rhubarb, raspberry and ginger cream puffs

makes about 10 little puffs – depending on how generously you fill them!

puff

1 package puff pastry

flour for dusting

icing sugar for sprinkling

compote

300g rhubarb, cut into 2 inch pieces

100g raspberries – frozen is fine

1/2  tsp grated fresh ginger

250ml water

30g raw sugar

2 inch piece lemon peel

1/2 vanilla bean

cream cheese

125g low fat cream cheese

1tbsp thickened cream

1 tbsp dark agave syrup

juice of a lemon wedge

Preheat oven to 220 degrees C

For the pastry: dust surface with flour and roll out pastry.  Using a cookie cutter, cut out 8cm circles and place onto baking sheet lined with baking paper. Place tray of pastry in fridge while prepping other ingredients.

For compote: place all ingredients except raspberries into pot and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes or until rhubarb is just soft. Take out rhubarb and add raspberries. Cook until thickened and raspberries have broken down. Add rhubarb back into pot and adjust for sweetness. Take off heat and let cool.

For cream cheese filling: bring cream cheese to room temperature, mix with other ingredients and place into fridge until ready to assemble.

Dust pastry with icing sugar and place into hot oven. Bake 5-6 minutes or until golden. Take out, let cool and slice through the middle to create two halves.  Assemble the puffs, first with a layer of cream and then compote, add the top layer and dust generously with icing sugar. Enjoy!