Monday, November 9, 2009

Super Simple Dessert Drama -- Pithiviers

Pithiviers is a classic French dessert made out of puff pastry and an almond cream filling. It is delicious, and also dramatic--coming out of the oven like a beautifully puffed golden package

The secret about Pithiviers is that it is SO simple to make if you're using store bought puff pastry. All you do is roll out the pastry, fill it with almond custard, or any filling--even something savory, seal the two pieces of pastry together, and bake. If you're filling is already made you can have this on the table in about 40 minutes.

Pithiviers is usually round, but since my puff pastry was square I decided not to even bother cutting it. I used a lemon custard filling because when I started to make this I realized I didn't have enough almonds. Usually the filling is thicker than mine, but the custard I was using was not as thick as it could have been. To get the pattern on top, score the pastry with a knife just before baking.

If you want a super fast way to make this, use packaged pudding mix for the filling--just make it using the instructions for pie filling.

This is one of my favorite desserts and people are always amazed when they find out it's homemade. I'm amazed at just how easy it is to make! Here's the recipe:

5 comments:

  1. The design on top looks so pretty! I've had this with almond cream, but lemon sounds really good too.

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  2. I've never had such a glorious creation - but the idea of filling it with lemon would make it a hit in my house.

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  3. It looks wonderful! I'm all about ease!

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