Pura Nut Pastries Food

PURA (NUT PASTRIES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix together all ingredients except phyllo and butter.
• Brush half of a sheet of phyllo with meted butter fold other half over and brush with butter so that you have a piece of phyllo 7 1/2 x 12 inches. Sprinkle with 1 TBL of nut mixture. Beginning at one end roll phyllo as you would a jelly roll. Cut into halves making 2 rolls approximately 3 1/4 inches in length.
• Place on a greased cookie sheet (or on parchment) with smooth side of pastry up and brush with melted butter.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. While hot dip into warm Cinnamon-Honey Syrup and drain. (Don't burn your fingers!).
• Cinnamon-Honey Syrup.
• Mix all ingredients together and simmer for 30 minutes. Cook only until light brown.

DANISH PASTRIES

Steps:

• Pulse together the dry ingredients plus 2 tsp salt in a processor, then pulse in the milk and egg, plus 100ml water, until you have a smooth, slightly sticky dough. Knead for 1 min, using a little flour, until just smooth. Put into an oiled bowl, cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hr until doubled in size (overnight in the fridge if you like).
• Flour your surface, then pat the dough out to a rectangle, 1cm thick. Lay the butter slices out over the middle of the dough, in a rectangle. Fold the pastry over the top, bottom and then sides until the butter is completely hidden. Press the edges down.
• Roll the dough out to a 50 x 30cm rectangle, first tapping out the dough with the rolling pin in gentle ridges, so that you can tell the butter is being squashed out evenly inside the pastry, before rolling properly. Turn dough 90 degrees, then fold the right third over and the left third over that. Do this three times, chilling for 15 mins after each roll.
• Cut the dough in half, into 2 squares. Roll one piece of dough to 35 x 35cm. Cut into 9 squares, then follow the instructions below for each filling and shape. If you want to make more than one shape, it's easy to divide the filling quantity. Don't worry if your squares rise as you work, just roll them out a bit again.
• To make 18 pecan pinwheels, whizz 85g pecans until fine, then stir in 50g light muscovado, 1 tbsp maple syrup and 25g softened butter. Cut each square of pastry almost to the middle from each corner, spoon on 1 tsp filling, then fold each point over and press into the middle. Scatter more chopped pecans and a little sugar over before baking. Drizzle with a little maple syrup to serve.
• For 18 apricot custard turnovers, you will need 150g tub custard, 2 x 320g cans apricots and a few tsps apricot jam. Put 2 tsp custard in the middle, sit two apricot halves on top, dot with jam, then pull 2 corners over and pinch to seal.
• To make 18 raisin swirls, mix 50g raisins, 25g caster sugar, 1 tsp mixed spice and 50g soft butter. Instead of cutting the dough into 9, leave it whole and spread the filling over. Roll up, slice into 9 rounds, then squash each one. Blend 50g icing sugar and a few drops of water to drizzle over once baked.
• Once shaped and filled, let the pastries rise for 30 mins until puffed and doubled in size. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Brush with beaten egg, make sure you pinch any edges together again, then bake for about 20 mins until golden and risen.

FRUIT AND NUT PASTRIES

Steps:

• Sift flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Cut the butter into the mixture until mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar. Make a well in the dry ingredients.
• Beat the egg and milk together and pour into the well. Mix until a soft dough consistency.
• Divide the dough into two pieces and wrap with plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, mix the honey and coffee in a mixing bowl. Add the candied peel, walnuts and nutmeg. Stir well, cover and leave for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
• Roll one portion of dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Using a 4 inch pastry cutter, stamp out rounds.
• Place a heaped teaspoon of filling on one side of each round. Brush the edges with milk, then fold over and press together to seal.
• Repeat with second piece of pastry until all the filling has been used.
• Place the pastries on lightly greased baking sheets, brush lightly across the top of each pastry with a little milk and sprinkle the powdered sugar across each piece.
• Make a steam hole in the center of each pastry with a skewer.
• Bake for 35 minutes or until slightly puffy and lightly browned.
• Cool on a wire rack.