A while ago, Pepperidge Farm contacted me and asked if I wanted to take on their Puffection™ Springtime Entertaining Challenge. Since the challenge involved puff pastry, I jumped in with both feet!  Mixed Berry Baskets was my springtime assignment, and that sounded like something that would go over BIG  in this house. If you remember from past posts, I’m married to a fruit – a – holic.  Mixed Berry Baskets sounds like spring.

Spring has sprung . . . so they say.  In Idaho, it’s still trying to Spring.  I can feel the “busy” creeping into my life, and I’m sure you can feel it as well.  Mother’s Day brunches, picnics, showers and party tables are all in need of impressive desserts, entrees or savory appetizers.  There is one problem . . . time!

If you have one key ingredient, it can be simple and impressive.   Puff Pastry takes the so-so to stunning to perfect Puffection.

All you need is:  Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Shells, seedless raspberry jam, lemon juice, thawed or frozen berries:  blueberries, raspberries & strawberries, vanilla yogurt or a dallop of whipped cream.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  (The oven has to be pre-heated)  Place the pastry shells on ungreased baking sheet or parchment lined sheet, with “tops” up.  Bake for about 20 min. or until golden brown and puffed.  I placed my cookie sheet in the center of the oven.

Heat the jam in a 1 quart saucepan over medium low heat until melted, stirring often.  Remove the saucepan from the heat.  Stir in the lemon juice and the berries.  note: (My homemade Raspberry huckleberry jam was already thin enough, so it didn’t need melted)

The shells are golden brown.  Fifteen minutes was just perfect in my oven.

Use a fork to remove the “top” and soft pastry underneath. Set the shells aside.  Use the tops as garnish.  fyi: The nice thing about this dessert, is that you can bake these little shells ahead of time, then just fill them before serving.

Spoon the berry mixture into those beautiful Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry shells.

Stand back and admire them!  Hopefully you made an extra one.  You could hurry and eat one now, while know one is watching . . . then just pretend like you can hardly wait to try them!

Top these beautiful little baskets with a dallop of vanilla yogurt or whipped cream, and you have a stunning dessert!

These would be perfect for your Mothers Day Brunch, birthday celebrations, 4th of July or just because! You can also be part of the Puffection™ Springtime Entertaining Challenge from Pepperidge Farm.  Just pick up some puff pastry sheets or shells and create something stunning!

I’ll be showing you another Puffection™ recipe next week.  Today was sweet . . . next week . . . Savory!  I better give you a heads up though. It was easy to prepare, a main dish & scrumptious!!!

Do you have an amazing Puffection™ recipe using Pepperidge Farms® Puffed Pastry? Share your recipe on the Pepperidge Farm® Facebook page.  For more Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry recipes, visit PuffPastry.com

Pepperidge Farm has provided me with a stipend for time and materials invested in the Pepperidge Farm® Puffection Springtime Entertaining Challenge, but as always, all opinions are my own.

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Mixed Berry Baskets

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

adapted from: puffpastry.com

Jonna Warnke: Get off your butt and Bake

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 1 pkg. (10 ounces) Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Shells
• ½ cup seedless raspberry jam
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 3 cups fresh or thawed frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries, sliced strawberries)
• vanilla yogurt or whipped cream

Instructions

1. Prepare the pastry shells according to the package directions.
2. If the jam is thick, heat the jam in a 1 quart saucepan over medium low heat until melted, stirring often. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Stir in the lemon juice and the berries.
3. Spoon the berry mixture into the pastry shells. Top with the yogurt or whipped cream.

Notes

Shells can be prepared up to 24 hours before serving. Do not fill the shells with the berry mixture until just before serving.

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As part of the Puffection™ Springtime Entertaining Challenge that I eagerly took on, I was to use my own “creativity” and come up with a delicious twist of my own. Well, that sounded fun!

Since the challenge involved puff pastry, I figured it would be easy. Anything I’ve ever created with puff pastry has magically been scrumptious. After putting my thinking cap to work, I decided to take one of my most popular posts – Creamy Bacon Carbonara Pasta and pair it with Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Shells.

Can I just tell you now . . . I didn’t have to convince anyone to eat it.  We devoured it!  It was fast, easy and a stunner of a meal!

I would start by making some nice crisp bacon.  Line a cookie sheet with heavy duty foil.  Place the strips of bacon on the foil.  You can lay the strips fairly close to each other, as they will shrink up as they begin to cook.  Place the sheet of bacon in a cold oven, and turn your oven to 400 degrees.  Let the bacon cook until it as done and crisp as you like it.  Carefully remove the cookie sheet from the oven. Remove the bacon from the foil and place onto a paper towel lined plate.  Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  (Oven must be preheated) Place pastry shells on ungreased or parchment lined baking sheet with “top” up.  Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown and puffed.

Just like this!

Use a fork to remove the “top” and the soft pastry underneath. Save the little tops for garnish. For extra crisp shells, place them back in the oven for 3 to 5 more minutes.

In a medium sized bowl, add the eggs, cream, parmesan cheese, parsley, salt and pepper flakes.  Using a fork or a whisk, beat the mixture until nice and smooth.  Set aside.  Melt 1/2 stick of butter in a small bowl.  Place 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese in a small bowl.

Using a Pastry brush, brush the sides and the top of the crisp puff pastry shell with melted butter.  Roll the shell in parmesan cheese until it’s well coated.  Continue this process, until each shell is covered with cheese.

Alternatives:  If you don’t necessarily love parmesan cheese, grated swiss or cheddar cheese, crushed garlic croutons, crushed nuts such as pistachio’s would also be very good.

Set the shells and the Pasta sauce aside, while you prepare the Pasta . . .

Add Pasta to boiling pot of water.  I add 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil to the pot, as well as a sprinkle of sea salt.  Once the Pasta is done, drain the pasta.  I like to save a few tablespoons of the hot pasta water, in case the sauce thickens more than we like.  The hot pasta will temper the eggs, but you can also temper as follows:

Save 2 to 3 tablespoons of the hot pasta water.  Slowly whisk it one tablespoon at a time into the eggs, cream, parmesan mixture and whisk continuously.  Add the hot pasta water very slowly, so that you don’t cook the eggs!  Keep whisking until the sauce is smooth and the water is incorporated fully, then add the drained pasta to the mixture.

Simply fill the parmesan puffed pastry shells with the Creamy Bacon Carbonara Pasta.  Top with some big parmesan shavings, crisp bacon, parsley and a bit of garnish and you have a entree fit for a king!  I served these with a crisp green salad and a loaf of crusty bread.    Add broccoli or asparagus to the pasta or as a side!

Let’s face it . . . you could put mud in puff pastry, and it would probably still taste good.  I’m not suggesting that, but I do suggest you get off you butt and make these!

Do you have an amazing Puffection™ recipe using Pepperidge Farms® Puffed Pastry? Share your recipe on the Pepperidge Farm® Facebook page.

For more Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry recipes, visit PuffPastry.com

Pepperidge Farm has provided me with a stipend for time and materials invested in the Pepperidge Farm® Puffection Springtime Entertaining Challenge, but as always, all opinions are my own.

Creamy Bacon Carbonara Pasta in Parmesan Puff Pastry Shells

 

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Ingredients

• 1 pkg. Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry shells ( 4 shells needed for recipe below)
• PASTA SAUCE:
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup Cream (Whipping Cream)
• ⅓ cup Parmesan
• Fresh diced Parsley or dried flakes
• ¼ tsp. Salt
• ½ tsp Red Pepper flakes
• ½ lb. bacon fried crisp then crumbled
• ½ lb. Pasta

Instructions

1. Prepare the pastry shells according to package directions, then set aside.
2. Fry the bacon until crisp, then crumble and set aside.
3. Using a whisk or a fork, beat the eggs, cream, Parmesan, parsley, salt and the red pepper together in a bowl. Set aside.
4. Melt butter in small dish. Place Parmesan cheese in another dish. Brush the outside and top of the baked Pepperidge Farm Puff pastry shell with melted butter, then roll in parmesan cheese until well coated on both the sides and top. Once all the shells are coated, set aside.
5. Cook and drain the pasta. (Reserve 2 to 3 tablespoons of the pasta water)
6. Pour cream mixture into the pasta, and stir over low heat for one to two minutes. (If the sauce gets thicker than you like – simply add a bit of pasta water.)
7. Important: Don’t do this on high heat, or you will make scrambled eggs.
8. Crumble the crisp bacon over the top & serve with additional Parmesan.

Notes

Alternate note on TEMPERING EGGS: If you’re concerned about tempering the eggs, save 2 to 3 tablespoons of the hot pasta water. Slowly whisk it one tablespoon at a time, into the egg, cream, parmesan mixture and whisk continuously. Add the hot pasta water very slowly, so that you don’t cook the eggs…. until encorporated fully, then add the drained pasta to the mixture.

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