This puff pastry plait brings together crisp puff pastry, sweet marzipan and fresh pears. With under 10 minutes of preparation and a good 20 minutes in the oven, it is a quick way to impress your guests with a dessert or an afternoon treat.
The centre of the pastry is spread with a remonce (the Danish butter, sugar and marzipan filling) flavoured with lemon, which gives a lovely balance of sweet and sharp. Thin slices of pear go on top of the remonce before the pastry is plaited around the filling. The result is a handsome plaited pastry that bakes crisp and golden in the oven.
To make the dessert even more irresistible, serve it with cold crème fraîche, ideally with a hint of vanilla stirred through, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The cold cream complements the warm, crisp pastry perfectly and makes for a wonderful contrast.
Whether you need a quick dessert for guests or simply want to treat yourself and your family, this puff pastry plait with pear and marzipan is a safe bet. It is easy to make, looks impressive and tastes wonderful.
Puff pastry plait with pear and marzipan
Ingredients
- 1 roll ready-rolled puff pastry
- 2 pears, thinly sliced
Remonce
- 40 g butter
- 50 g caster sugar
- 40 g marzipan, grated
- 1/2 lemon, finely grated zest of
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
To finish and serve
- 30 g marzipan, crumbled
- 1 egg, beaten – for brushing
- Pearl sugar (nib sugar)
- Full-fat crème fraîche (38% fat), to serve
- Vanilla sugar (optional)
Method
- Stir the ingredients for the remonce together until combined.
- Unroll the puff pastry on a sheet of baking parchment.The filling will go down the middle of the pastry, so cut diagonal strips into the pastry from the long edge, stopping 1/3 of the way in. Do this on both sides.See the photo just below the recipe for how the pastry should be cut.
- Spread the centre strip with the remonce and layer the pear slices on top until all the slices are used.
- Crumble the remaining marzipan over the top.
- Fold the short ends of the pastry in over the filling, then fold the strips in over the filling, alternating from side to side – one at a time.If in doubt, see the video above the recipe.
- Brush the top with the beaten egg and sprinkle with pearl sugar, if using.
- Bake the plait in a preheated conventional oven (top and bottom heat) at 200°C for about 20 minutes.
- Leave it to rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving.Serve with ice-cold crème fraîche, stirred with a little vanilla sugar if you like – or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Nutrition
Premium
