Puff Pastry Desserts: Recipes, Techniques, and Cultural Significance

This assignment delves into the world of puff pastry desserts, providing a detailed overview of several popular recipes. It begins by introducing puff pastry, its composition, and its use in various desserts. The assignment then explores specific desserts, including palmiers, Miguelitos, mille-feuille, strudel, conversation tart, and tarte tatin, each with its origin and method of preparation. The discussion encompasses the ingredients, techniques, and cultural significance of each dessert, offering a comprehensive understanding of the diverse applications of puff pastry in culinary arts. Finally, the assignment concludes by emphasizing the universal appeal and versatility of puff pastry desserts, highlighting their importance in different cuisines.

SITHCCC019 –
Produce cakes,
pastries and
breads
PUFF PASTRY AND ITS USES IN DESSERTS

Introduction
1. Puff pastry, named in French as ‘pâte feuilletée’, is a type of light, flaky pastry, prepared out
of dough which has been laminated in some form of solid fat, such as butter.
2. The butter is added inside the dough and is then folded repeatedly and rolled before finally
being used for baking.
3. This pastry is characterized by a number of gaps which can be observed between its layers.
4. This is caused by the butter which melts during baking and is pushed as a result of the steam
formed from the water during the high temperatures occurring as a result of baking.
5. Puff pastry finds use in a number of dessert recipes popular across several cultures all over
the world.

Palmier
1. A dessert originating from France, which can be translated to ‘leaf
of a palm tree’ and is a dessert shaped in the form of butterflies or
leaves resembling those of a palm tree.
2. They are prepared out of puff pastry by rolling the pastry and
covering it with sugar.
3. The two sides of the pastry roll are rolled together to converge in
the middle, sliced with a thickness of 6 mm and then baked after
coating in sugar.

Miguelitos
1. It is a type of dessert made puff pastry and originating from Spain.
2. It comprises of a simple cake prepared out of puff pastry and is filled with
custard cream.
3. It is then dusted with powdered sugar and baked to obtain a flaky crust
similar to a cake.
4. The filling of the puff pastry can be varied to include dark, white or milk
chocolate or simple cream.
5. They can served both cold or hot and are paired best with Spanish coffee or
café con leche.

Mille-feuille
1. It is dessert which can be translated from French as ‘thousand sheets’ and is
a type of pastry comprising of custard or vanilla slice.
2. This dessert is made out of sheets of puff pastry where three layers of puff
pastry sheets contain alternating layers of cream.
3. The topmost layer is then coated with a range of ingredients like icing sugar,
crumbs of pastry, cocoa or pulverised pieces of roasted nuts like almonds.
4. The pastry is also often glazed with alternative combinations of chocolate and
white icing sugar and then combed to form stripes.

Strudel
1. It is a form of dessert originating from Germany, made out of puff pastry
containing sweet cream filling.
2. The dough comprises of an elastic, puff pastry dough made using oil, water
and flour with a high amount of gluten.
3. The dough is stretched, rested and rolled thinly before being placed on a tea
towel.
4. It is then filled with a range of fillings like apples, milk cream, apricots, plums,
sour cherries, poppy seeds, nuts and raisins, then rolled carefully and firmly
before being placed for baking.

Conversation Tart
This is type of pastry
originating from France,
which is prepared out of
puff pastry, filled with
cream from frangipane
and dusted with royal
icing prior to baking.