Strawberry Jam & Cream Cheese Pastry Bars

  • Strawberry Jam & Cream Cheese Pastry BarsI have been baking with strawberries quite a bit lately, and I’m not even going to apologize for it.  (I am thinking of strawberry shortcake as I type this, and so you’ll probably end up seeing that dessert here soon.)
    If you don’t like strawberries then a.) I don’t know if we can continue with this relationship, b.) you can always swap the strawberries for another fruit of your choice, and c.) hold on for another three months for when I go through my pumpkin phase.  Pumpkins in, strawberries out.  Fall- it’s a ‘comin.

    But back to the dessert at hand.

    Can I tell you how much I love puff pastry?  (Can I tell you how uncomfortable I feel calling it “puff pastry” instead of “puffed pastry”?)  One day I am going to be a bakeasaurus and make the puffed pastry on my ownsome, but for now the freezer pastry will do just fine.  It’s lovely to thaw pastry that has already been slaved over by someone else (although I still can’t bring myself to buy a frozen pie crust, which makes no sense at all).  I have noticed over the years that you can stuff pretty much anything you want inside of two rolled out pieces of puff pastry, as long as you seal the edges well.  It’ll bake up and you’ll have a successful dessert in front of you (hopefully just you, so you don’t have to share.)

    (Oh- one last thing: don’t do what I did when making this dessert recently- as chronicled in this post here called The Carbon Crust… okay?)

    Adapted from Eagle Brand’s guava paste recipe…

    1 sheet puff pastry, thawed (half of package)

    3 oz. cream cheese, softened

    1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

    1 tablespoon lemon juice

    2 teaspoons cornstarch

    1/2 cup strawberry jam (or jam of your choice!)

    1 cup berries (optional)

    1 egg, lightly beaten

    1. Thaw puff pastry sheet according to package directions (about 40 minutes at room temperature or overnight in fridge).
    2. Preheat oven to 375°, and line a baking pan with parchment paper (or foil with non-stick spray).
    3. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and cornstarch until smooth (about a minute).
    4. Roll puff pastry on a lightly floured surface into a 12 x 9″ rectangle.  Cut in half crosswise, so you have two 9 x 6″ rectangles.  Place one half on the prepared baking sheet.
    5. Spread jam (and berries if using) onto bottom pastry crust (on sheet), leaving a border of an inch.  Spoon cream cheese mixture overtop of jam and berries, and spread evenly (see picture at right).
    6. Brush edges of bottom pastry with egg, and place second half of pastry overtop.  Press with a fork to seal edges all the way around the pastry.  Cut 5 – 6 slits in top of pastry, and brush top with beaten egg as well.
    7. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until puffed and golden brown (not charred).  Cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.  Cut into bars and enjoy.

    Tips:

    • Rolling out the pastry  is SO much easier if you use a silicone mat (with a silicone rolling pin, too).  I used to hate working with dough, and now it’s not a thing to shudder at… although still annoying.
    • Berries are optional.  Would you like me to be totally honest?  The strawberries ended up looking a little bit anemic after this dessert was baked, so next time I’ll just stick with the jam.
    • Flavor ideas… feel free to swap out the following for the strawberry jam (but keep the cream cheese): the original recipe calls for guava paste with the cream cheese… how about 1 cup of butterscotch chips… small sliced apples with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 cup confectioners’sugar… 1 cup chocolate chips… 1 or 2 of your favorite chocolate bars chopped up into pieces… 3/4 cup of sliced peaches… 3/4 cup of cherry pie filling… 1/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs with 1/2 cup of milk chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of marshmallows (skip the cream cheese, maybe)… 1 cup of crumbles of your favorite cookie…T
    • The seal is kind of important.  Make sure to really mash the edges together with the tines of a fork, or the contents will ooze out a the pastry bakes.
    • The slits in the pastry are kind of important.  As you’ll see from my picture at the top, I forgot to add them and the poor pastry blew up like a balloon.
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    July 7th, 2012 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: , ,

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