Puff pastry with mandarin

 

Ingredients for 8 pastries:

– preserved mandarin oranges
– 4 sheets of puff pastry
– 1 egg
– fine caster sugar

Ingredients for the mascarpone cream:

– 250 g mascarpone
– 120 ml double cream
– 2 tbsp vanilla sugar
– icing sugar

Preparation:

1. Cut the puff pastry into eight rectangles.
2. Beat the egg and brush it onto the puff pastry. Sprinkle sugar over the top. Bake the puff pastry until golden brown.
3. Make the mascarpone cream while you wait.
4. Take the puff pastry out of the oven and slice each one through the middle so that you have a top half (with sugar on top) and a bottom half.
5. Choose a piping bag with a round nozzle and pipe the mascarpone onto the eight bases. Arrange the mandarin segments on top along with one mint leaf and then finish with the top half of the puff pastry.

Here’s how to make the mascarpone cream:

1. Pour the double cream into a bowl.
2. Add the vanilla sugar and beat until stiff.
3. Add the mascarpone to a separate bowl and stir to soften, making sure it doesn’t become too thin.
4. Now combine the mascarpone and double cream. Stir together to create a creamy mixture. If you would like to make it a little bit sweeter, add a small amount of icing sugar.