Ingredients
| BROWN SUGAR PASTRY CREAM | |
| 240ml milk | |
| 1 teaspoon vanilla paste | |
| 2 egg yolks | |
| 60g brown sugar | |
| 15g cornflour | |
| 30g butter | |
| ROAST PEACHES | |
| 3 peaches | |
| 2 teaspoons brown sugar | |
| 2 tablespoons good-quality NZ oil (I used Lot Eight aromatic olive oil) | |
| PUFF PASTRY | |
| 1 sheet store-bought or home-made puff pastry | |
| icing sugar | |
| TO FINISH | |
| 3 fresh peaches | |
| edible flowers | |
| cream |
Instructions
| 1. | BROWN SUGAR PASTRY CREAM |
| 2. | Heat the milk with the vanilla paste. |
| 3. | Whisk the egg yolks with the brown sugar and cornflour. |
| 4. | Pour some of the hot milk into the egg mixture and whisk to combine. |
| 5. | Pour back into the pot and return to a low heat, whisking constantly and vigorously until boiling. |
| 6. | Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter. |
| 7. | Pour into a container, place a piece of baking paper on the surface so that it doesn’t get a skin and chill. |
| 8. | This can be made up to 3 days ahead. |
| 9. | ROAST PEACHES |
| 10. | Cut the peaches in half, remove the pit, then cut each half into 4-6 wedges, depending on the size. |
| 11. | Toss the peach pieces in the sugar and oil and bake at 190°C for 10-15 minutes, until lightly singed on the edges and softened. |
| 12. | Leave to cool. |
| 13. | You can make these up to a week ahead and leave in the fridge. |
| 14. | PUFF PASTRY |
| 15. | Roll the pastry to 1cm thick. |
| 16. | Using a dinner plate or large cake tin as a guide, cut out a 30cm circle (it doesn’t have to be exact). |
| 17. | Bake at 190°C for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden. |
| 18. | Remove from the oven and dust lightly with icing sugar. |
| 19. | Return to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes until fully golden and the icing sugar has lightly caramelised. This will help keep your pastry nice and crisp. |
| 20. | Leave to cool before finishing. |
| 21. | Ideally you would bake this the day of serving, to keep it as crisp as possible, but if you need to you can bake it the night before and keep it in an airtight container overnight, then just refresh it by baking for 5-10 minutes to help crisp it again. |
| 22. | TO FINISH |
| 23. | Whisk the pastry cream to soften it – if it seems too thick to spread, add 1 tablespoon of liquid cream at a time until it is a thin spreading consistency. |
| 24. | Spread a 2cm-thick layer of pastry cream on top of the pastry, leaving a 2cm gap around the edges. |
| 25. | Cut the fresh peaches the same way you cut the roast peaches. |
| 26. | If you’re making this a few hours in advance, toss the fresh peaches in 1 teaspoon of apricot jam, which will make them nice and shiny and stop them from oxidising or drying out. |
| 27. | Top the pastry with the fresh and roast peaches, covering as much of the surface as possible and overlapping them to create a natural look. |
| 28. | Finish with edible flowers and serve. |
TIPS • Any leftover pastry can be sprinkled with sugar, rolled and baked to make palmiers, frozen for later use, or sprinkled with cheese, cut into sticks and baked to make cheese straws. • Freeze leftover egg whites for next time you make a meringue.
Recipes & food styling Maxine Scheckter / Photography Amber-Jayne Bain / Styling Deborah Sweeney
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