Chai Custard Pear Pastry Puffs

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Oregon Chai®. The opinions and text are all mine.

Fall is coming. By the time September hits in my little country town, the fields are all glistening with wheat the color of golden honey. The rolling hills are browned and scorched from the summer sun and the trees in the distance are speckling the landscape with pops of orange and red. Less tangible is that subtle change in the air – it just feels and smells different. As soon as that autumn air arrives I start thinking about my favorite fall indulgence: TEA. Warm cups of herbal tea with nut milk and honey RULE my fall days.

Chai tea is always a favorite, with its sweet spices and comforting aroma. This year I’m letting it seep into another important aspect of my autumn-loving life – PASTRIES. Usually I measure a slew of different spices to get that chai flavor but today I am hacking things with this Oregon Chai® Tea Latte Concentrate that I found at Target. Why? Less time spent making these fancy/deceptively easy pastries means more time for me to enjoy them…along with a cup of creamy chai, of course 😉 The fact that it’s organic and non-GMO Project Verified is just an added bonus.

How am I using this chai concentrate? To scent a custard that is baked into these pastries. Little Chai Custard Pear Pastry Puffs, to be exact. Flaky rolls of puff pastry envelop thin slices of pears and a lightly chai-scented custard floods the cracks in between. Top each one with brulee’d sugar and you have something straight out of a Parisian bakery. The day I made these I met my husband in town to close on our house and I pressed one into his hand just as we parted. 2 minutes later I get a call from him where he exclaimed “Are you kidding me?! These pastries are freaking incredible!!!” I’m pretty sure that’s the most excited he’s ever been about flour, butter, and sugar. These babies are a win, folks.

P.S. If you love a good deal as much as I do, save on Oregon Chai with Cartwheel in the Target app, now through 11/10/18!

Chai Custard Pear Pastry Puffs

 

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How many puffs you end up with will depend on how large you cut your circles and strips to form the puffs. I can get about 12 puffs out of a package of puff pastry if I roll the dough thinly and use about a 2" diameter circle. Puffs can be baked in muffin tins, or for the prettiest results, I like to bake them in individual cheesecake pans with removable bases (pictured).

Serves: 8-12 puffs

Ingredients

• softened butter, to grease the baking tin
• 1 package frozen pre-made puff pastry (2 sheets), thawed - or use homemade
• 4-6 small pears, cut in half, cored, and thinly sliced
• 1 egg
• 3 egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons Oregon Chai Tea Latte Concentrate
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons raw cane sugar
• superfine sugar, for caramelizing on top of the puffs

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Coat 12 muffin tin wells (or mini cheesecake pans) with softened butter.
3. Lightly flour your work surface and roll out your sheets of puff pastry to be quite thin. Cut out 12, 2" diameter circles and place them in the bottom of the greased tins.
4. Cut out 12 long strips of puff pastry that are about 1" wide.
5. Line each strip of pastry with slices of pears with the pear sliced overlapping. You should be able to fit about 12-15 slices of pear down each strip of pastry.
6. Carefully roll the pear-lined pastry strips up to form a swirl. Place the swirls in the prepared tins on top of the pastry circles.
7. Place the egg, egg yolks, chai concentrate, cream, vanilla, and sugar in a bowl. Whisk until well combined and smooth.
8. Pour the mixture over the swirls until it just covers the pears but is not overflowing the pastry. You may not need all of the mixture. Discard any extra.
9. Place the pan of pastries in the oven and place a baking sheet on top of the pan (this will keep the pastry from puffing up over the tin and give the pastries a nice, uniform shape.
10. Bake the pan of pastries in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the top of the pan and continue to bake for another 10 minutes, or until the pastries are golden brown.
11. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of each pastry and remove from the pan.
12. Place on a serving dish.
13. Sprinkle the top of each pastry with superfine sugar and caramelize the sugar with a kitchen blow torch.
14. Best eaten the same day baked, but can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

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