August 11, 2007

Cherry Coconut Puff~Tarts

My favourite meal of the day has to be breakfast. It's my favourite meal to prepare as well!
Unlike the majority of my peers; I'm a morning kid. I get excited and enthusiastic stepping out of bed and get a tiny bit cranky when I've had too much to sleep. I know it's a little strange for a young person like me; but it's just something about the bright sunshine and early morning quiet which 'butters my toast' *giggle*.
I often wake up in the morning with vague thoughts of my dreams the night before; laced with ideas and inspirations for 'play' in the kitchen! Even before my teeth are clean and my eyes are comfortably open; I often make my way downstairs to dig around for things to put together. I don't get to do this very often now that Uni has begun; but it's nice to lay off the cereal and peanut butter jelly sandwiches when I have the morning to myself.
Cooking breakfast for family and friends is fun too...but I guess I rarely have company at 8 in the morning. I only get Dad wide awake early with me in Malaysia; here, I leave it on the table...and when they're ready; they'll have a bite themselves.The inspiration for these came from toasted berry pop tarts~I went back and forth with a few apple, cherry and berry ideas before I decided on a cherry coconut combo. It was nice to have a pastry filling with a a good chewy texture from the coconut. Apple and cinnamon was getting a little boring.

This recipe makes 2 large square puffs
1 sheet ready rolled puff pastry
1/2 cup pitted morello cherries in syrup
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
1/4 cup castor sugar
2 tbsps milk
2 tbsp coarse sugar for dusting

Mix cherries and sugar in a large microwaveable bowl. Microwave on high for 60 seconds. Stir well to combine and remove clumps. Allow to cool for at least 15-20 minutes till mixture thickens a little. Add in coconut and stir to form a pink paste.
Lay out sheet of pastry and divide sheet into 4 equal corners. Cut out cute shapes in the center of 2 of the squares and place spoonfuls of filling onto the other 2. Top the filling with tiny holed pastry squares and press down on all sides to close. Press seams with a fork to tightly seal. Repeat with second puff. Brush tops of pastry puffs with a little bit of milk to give it shine and sprinkle coarse sugar on the edges for a nice caramelized crust around the corners.
Bake in preheated 190 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until pastry is puffed and golden.
Serve with warm with a spoonful of custard; or just on its own!
Puff pastry doesn't keep very well in the fridge or just left to cool on the table top. It's best to warm them up in a toaster oven right before serving if you're making them more than a couple hours in advance.

Soggy pastries ruin fun breakfast-ses! BOOOooo!

9 comments:

marias23 said...

Beautiful and inspirtional, as usual!

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful tart. They look so delicious too.

Archita D Logiana said...

Hello... My name is ACIT i'm from Indonesia , i always looking your blog.. ( it's beautiful & inspire me). i want ask something.. please answer it.... ( please.. i'm begging you...). can u tell me the tips to shaping the fondant ( usually the fondant will 'crack' or dry)....

Ali-K said...

I know what you mean about starting early...I love a sleep in but if it gets too late I get cranky because of all the day I've missed.

Brilynn said...

Those are adorable!

I'm MammaViv ... said...

Hi,
Wonderful blog!
Have seen your videoclips on youtube.
How do you combine still pictures and videoclips?

Care to share the program?

Thanks!

Big Boys Oven said...

They look so lovely, must be very tasty.

Unknown said...

pig...those look SOOO scrumptious !!
coconut & cherry, perfect duo

i will certainly be bright & chirpy if i start my day with those =)

Su-Yin -Décorateur said...

thanks for the comments guys! I had to eat the whole tart myself :( Noody woke up to finish it! *LOL* I'm not complaining though :p ehehehe

archita: always rememer to cling wrap your fondant...and you need to wokr wiht it really quickly..it isnt much like playing with clay or play dough. The beauty of fondant is that is hardens and dries into the shape you want. You just need to work quickly with it:) the portions you arent using need to e protected wit cling wrap :)

ali-k: Yay for morning ppl! :P

mammaviv: I use te usual windows movie maker. it's real easy to use :) i think windows XP comes with it.

ashwini: pig?!?! Donkey!!! *laughs* I'll be visiting melbourne soon weh...call you :P