Description
Delight in these Strawberry Cream Cheese Breakfast Pastries featuring flaky puff pastry filled with creamy sweetened cream cheese and fresh strawberries, perfect for a special morning treat or brunch.
Ingredients
Scale
Pastry
- 1 sheet (8.6 oz) puff pastry
Filling
- 2 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 1/2 Tbsp strawberry jam
- 1 drop red food coloring or beet powder (optional)
- 2/3 cup very small diced strawberries
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg whisked with 1 Tbsp water
Finishing
- Powdered sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- Thaw and Preheat: Thaw the puff pastry sheet according to package directions. Halfway through thawing, preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Prepare Cream Cheese Mixture: In a small bowl, use a rubber spatula to blend the softened cream cheese, strawberry jam, and optional red food coloring until smooth and lump-free. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator or briefly in the freezer to keep it firm.
- Cut Puff Pastry: Using a 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out hearts from the thawed puff pastry sheet, spacing cuts close together to maximize usage.
- Arrange on Baking Sheet: Place the pastry hearts onto a baking sheet lined with a silicone liner or parchment paper, spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart.
- Score Pastry Hearts: Lightly score a smaller heart inside each cut-out heart about 1/3 inch from the edge without cutting through the bottom layer of dough.
- Fill Pastries: Add 1 teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture to the center of each heart and spread gently outward, avoiding the 1/3-inch border. Top with the diced strawberries without covering the edges.
- Apply Egg Wash: Brush the exposed 1/3-inch border edges of the pastry hearts with the egg and water mixture to ensure a golden finish when baked.
- Bake: Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown.
- Cool and Serve: Remove from the oven and transfer pastries to a wire rack to cool. Once cool, dust with powdered sugar and serve the same day for best freshness.
Notes
- For a quicker version, cut 6 rectangles instead of hearts and slice strawberries evenly to cover more surface area.
- Increase the cream cheese to 3 oz and jam to 2 1/2 Tbsp and use 1 cup strawberries for this adapted version.
- Use beet powder instead of red food coloring for a natural color option.
- Serve pastries fresh as puff pastry tends to lose flakiness upon storing.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 pastry (approx. 55 g)
- Calories: 190 kcal
- Sugar: 7 g
- Sodium: 150 mg
- Fat: 11 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 5 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 18 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Cholesterol: 25 mg
