BERRY BREAKFAST PASTRIES FROM SECRET INGREDIENT COOKBOOK. PHOTO: (C) ROBERT BREDVAD
Christmas is here and so are Berry Breakfast Pastries with Cardamom to add to your traditional holiday morning menu.
These delicious and easy-to-make pastries are the brain-child of author Kelly Senyei.
The Secret Ingredient Cookbook
When you think there cannot be a new twist to a cookbook, along came The Secret Ingredient Cookbook by Kelly Senyei, the founder of the Just a Taste, a food site with millions of fans.
Senyi is a professional chef, television host, and mom who appears regularly on Food Network Kitchen and Hallmark Channel. She previously worked at Condé Nast on the Gourmet Live app and then Epicurious. She lives in San Diego, CA, with her family
Senyei’s twist is to add one readily available “secret” ingredient to each recipe. The secret ingredients, highlighted by a medallion at the top of each recipe, are often unexpected but make the recipe special.
The cookbook features 125 easy-to-follow recipes paired with her notes and many with beautiful photographs.
You will be surprised and delighted with Senyei’s twists, like Vanilla Bean Drop Doughnuts made with Greek yogurt and Sweet and Tangy Baked Chicken Wings made with blackberry jam. Kale takes a twist in Kale Panzanella made with croissants. Try the Healthy White Chicken Chili made with hummus or the Crispy Slow Cooker Carnitas made with cocoa powder.
The book includes recipes from breakfast, snacks, soups, and salads to entrees, sides, desserts, and drinks. Senyei shares ideas on essential ingredients to have on hand and fun tips, her “not-so-secret kitchen secrets.”
We can all learn some new culinary tricks, such as her ideas on proofing bread in the dryer, quickly ripen bananas, and how to freeze fresh herbs.
We like Berry Breakfast Pastries with Cardamom. This easy-to-make pastry uses store-bought puff pastry, mixed berries, and the earthy flavor of cardamom. It looks like it came straight from the local bakery.
Store-bought puff pastry doesn’t get the credit it deserves,” Senyei said. “With a few simple tricks, it transforms from a humble freezer item to a breakfast indulgence worthy of your local bakery’s display case. While I’m all for making things from scratch, when it comes to puff pastry, store-bought is one shortcut I always take. . . Ground cardamom lends an earthy richness to the tangy vanilla cream cheese filling and pairs perfectly with whatever fruit is currently hitting its peak—pears in winter, rhubarb in spring, berries in summer, or apples in fall.”
Berry Breakfast Pastries with Cardamom
Makes 12 pastries
- 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
- All-purpose flour, for dusting work surface
- 1 (17.3-ounce) package frozen puff pastry (2 sheets), thawed
- 3 cups mixed berries
- 1 large egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water
- Demerara cane sugar, for topping (optional)
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the cream cheese, white sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and cardamom until combined.
Lightly flour your work surface, then unfold each sheet of puff pastry. Using a rolling pin, roll each sheet into a 10-inch square. Cut each square into six rectangles for a total of 12 pastries.
Transfer the pastries to the prepared baking sheets, arranging them so that they aren’t touching. Prick the centers of each pastry several times with a fork, then score a 1/2-inch border around the edges.
Divide the cream cheese mixture among the pastries, spreading it evenly inside the scored section. Top the cream cheese with the berries. Brush the egg wash along the edges of the pastries, then sprinkle the brushed area with the cane sugar, if using.
Bake the pastries for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown and puffed around the edges. Remove the pastries from the oven, let them cool for 5 minutes, then serve.
Excerpted from THE SECRET INGREDIENT COOKBOOK © 2021 by Kelly Senyei. Photography © 2021 by Robert Bredvad. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
