Can’t believe I’m Cooking again. So excited :)

Vol Au Vent shells.. I’ve had those shells for more than 2 months. everytime I think about using them I return them back again to the freezer and try something else. I was talking to my friend and she told me that she’s coming now and she wants tea and something nice and sweet. so I decided to give them a try.

its a puff pastry hexagonal peice that’s hollowed in the middle. When its baked, the whole thing puffs up leaving a hollow space in the middle for you to stuff it with any sweet or savoury filling you want. I made tiny pie like desserts with them. Turned out just perfect! loved them even more the next time when all the sauce got absorbed by the puff pastry.

alright, so I just opened the fridge and started assembling what might go along together, building the taste as we go.

Ingredients:

1. 3 pears
2. 3 apples
3. a squeeze of lemon
4. half a cup of sugar or depending on how sugary the apples and pears are
5. about 1-2 tsp of rose water
6. 1/3 stick of butter (you can put less)
a hand full of walnuts
grated nutmeg
cinnamon
7. couple of squeezes of thick cream (you can eliminate it but it gives the filling a silky texture)
8. and ofcourse the vol au vent cases. if you can’t find them, just substitute it with puff pastry or pie crust.

Directions:

1. peel the skin of pears and apples then chop them up. by the time I reached pear #2 I got bored and started chopping them with their skin on.. It didn’t make a difference to tell you the truth but if you want, you can p0ach them with hot water for couple of minutes. the skin will come off immediately.
2. squeeze a lemon on the fruits to prevent them from darkening.
3. add the rose water, sugar and mix them up
4. put the mixture in a pot  with the butter and heat them up.
5. add cinnamon and nutmeg
6. keep mixing untill apples and pears and soft and saucy
7. take them off the heat and mix in the heavey cream
8. while the sauce is cooking and while you’re cutting and mixing stuff, take the time to bake the shells in a 170-175 degree oven for 20-24 minutes or until puffed and golden.
9. fill in the shell and pour about a spoon of sauce on top.
10. let it sit for 15 minutes and serve it warm.

Taste: LOVED the rose water addition, and it tasted like .. home :)

Can be eaten cold as well. wait for the second day and you got yourself a winner.

Bon Appetit!

Basma