Chai Custard Pear Pastry Puffs
Serves: 8-12 puffs
 
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).
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.
Recipe by The Kitchen McCabe at https://www.thekitchenmccabe.com/2018/09/30/chai-custard-pear-pastry-puffs/