Learn Desserts

Strawberries make me smile, how about you?  I can remember sneaking into my great grandpa’s strawberry patch by crawling on my belly and snatching a few berries now and then.  Every time I eat strawberries it takes me back to those belly crawling days!  If you don’t care for strawberries, I suppose you could substitute with some other fruit, if desired.  But I have never before considered such a thing, as I am so strawberry crazy.

This French Strawberry Pastry recipe is great for dinner parties, or any event or excuse you can find to make them!  They really look quite gourmet but the secret is, they are so easy to make!

The quality of your strawberries is very important, as with any recipe, if you want a high quality delectable result, you must choose your fruit and your other ingredients with this in mind.

Here is the kicker tip for this recipe…You must and I mean must choose frozen puff pastry sheets for this recipe!  Please, do not substitute with phyllo dough pastry.  Phyllo dough pastry is not the same thing as puff pastry!  This will literally ruin this particular recipe.

Shopping List:

1/2 package (17.3) frozen puff pastry sheets (You will only need 1 sheet)

3/4 cup chopped pecans

2 tablespoons of light brown sugar

3 to 4 tablespoons of butter

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

8 ounces of sour cream

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon French vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups whipped topping

At least 12 large beautiful strawberries

Let’s get started:

First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Unfold thawed puff pastry dough onto a baking sheet.

Melt butter in a hot skillet.  Add the pecans.  Stir just until they are heated through and a little toasty.  Add the brown sugar and stir.  Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes.  Sprinkle half of this toasted nut mixture over the puff pastry dough.  Gently press the toasted nut mixture into puff pastry dough.

Now for step two:

Cut dough into 12 equal sized squares. (I like to use a pizza cutter)  Spread squares evenly over baking sheet.  Place baking sheet in heated oven for 15 to 17 minutes or until puffed pastry squares are barely golden brown.  Take the baking sheet from oven and let them cool completely.

Combine sour cream, french vanilla flavoring, and powered sugar together in a bowl.  Fold in whipped topping and set aside.

Wash and decap strawberries.  Gently dry with paper towels to remove excess water.  Slice strawberries and set aside.

Now you are going to separate each completely cooled puff pastry square by pulling off the top of each one like you would separate a hamburger bun.  Now you are going to layer ingredients sandwich style.

First, take half of the strawberries and place them onto the bottom of each puff pastry square, now put approximately 2 tablespoons of sour cream mixture and sprinkle with remaining toasted pecan mixture and then finish off each “sandwich” with the top of a puff pastry square.

Optional, you can leave the pastries as they are or you could get fancy and add melted chocolate drizzle over the top!  Just melt some chocolate chips in a microwave safe dish.  Let cool slightly, then pour into a zip lock bag.  Cut small corner off and drizzle over French Strawberry Pastries!

It is best to serve immediately.  I have actually made these and then chilled them for a good hour before serving and they were just fine.

You can serve these pastries on a cake plate or any food safe platter you choose.