I don’t do a lot of desserts on this blog, mostly because there’s no one around much to eat it up besides me and my husband if he’s in town, which means I’m pretty much the only person eating it. However, the other day I picked up some apricots at the market and thought I’d make something sweet and yummy with them, or maybe just some kind of a cocktail. I settled on this super simple to make Apricot Mascarpone Stuffed Puff Pastry dessert (or breakfast…you choose!).
I tend to get hung up on flavor combinations every now and then. This week it’s bourbon, apricots and honey for me. So why not try to combine them in a dessert? And I’ve been wanting to make something with puff pastry for a while so this seemed like a nice time to try it out. I bought a box of Pepperidge Farm puff pastry and thought flavoring some mascarpone cheese with bourbon and sweetened with some honey would taste nice with it. And, it seemed easier than trying to make some kind of custard or cream filling. All I had to do was mix the mascarpone in a bowl with a little honey and bourbon and, voila, done. Doesn’t get much easier than that. I thought about just slicing the fresh apricots to top the pastries with, but decided to roast them in the oven to really intensify the flavor. WOW. So good. After they were assembled I sprinkled some chopped mint and drizzled them with more honey. DELICIOUS! The slightly sweet mascarpone with a hint of bourbon is a really nice match with the roasted apricots and honey.
You want to hear a funny story? Well, maybe not funny, just a stupid moment in the kitchen. I’ve never bought puff pastry shells before. I baked them according to the package directions. When they were done, let them sit a bit to cool. The box says to remove the “tops” and the gooey insides. Okay, easy enough. I pulled the top half off of a couple of the puff pastries first, then realized there was a little round “top” they were talking about, not the entire top half of the pastry puff! Yikes! Oh well, I put them back together the best I could. You can’t really tell in the picture can you? Then, when the apricots were finished cooking, I let them cool a bit. I was so excited to take some photos (my favorite thing lately) I plopped a warmish apricot on top. It melted the mascarpone and slid right off! So be warned…let the apricots cool if you want them to stay in place and not melt your mascarpone! Now, if you’re not worried about that, go ahead and eat it while it’s warm…it was delicious…I ate the goofed up one on the spot!
So now that I’ve worked out the kinks for you, here’s the recipe for some tasty Apricot Mascarpone Stuffed Puff Pastry treats.
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- 1 box Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry shells (in the freezer)
- 3 apricots, pitted and sliced in half
- 1 8oz. container Mascarpone cheese
- 2 Tbls. honey, divided
- 1 Tbls. bourbon
- 1 Tbls. chopped fresh mint
- extra honey to drizzle on top
- Prepare the Pepperidge Farm puff pastry shells according to package directions (I used an egg wash as suggested on the package). Set aside. Reduce oven to 350 degrees.
- In baking dish, place apricot halves pitted side up. Drizzle 1 tablespoon honey over the apricots. Bake in oven 15 minutes. Flip them over and bake another 10 minutes or so. Take them out before they collapse. Set aside and let cool.
- In small bow, combine mascarpone cheese, 1 tablespoon honey and 1 tablespoon good bourbon.
- Fill puff pastry shells with mascarpone, top each with apricot half. Sprinkle with chopped mint and a good drizzle of honey.