These eye-catching pastries are, essentially, a jam turnover, but with a little deft handling, they are transformed into an unusual and appealing shape.
Another hit from the team of Harris and Borella’s All About Pastries, they date from the turn of the nineteenth century.
The original recipe suggested Greengage conserve for the filling, but alas, my cupboard was as bare of this preserve as the supermarket shelves. I was more than slightly perturbed by this sad state of affairs: I had merely run out, but I would have settled for ‘store-bought’. Seeing as Greengages are a classic in preserves, I was disconcerted to find my local Sainsbury’s devoid of Greengage Conserve, despite internet assurances that they would have some.
Of course, any high-quality preserves can be substituted – I opted for mirabelle – the real pleasure comes from enjoying the combination of crisp pastry, crunchy sugar topping and sweet/sharp burst of fruit in the middle.
With a sheet of ready-rolled puff pastry, these treats come together very quickly – and will no-doubt disappear just as fast.
Plum Cannons
1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry
Plum conserve
egg-white for glazing
caster sugar to sprinkle
- Use a rolling pin to roll the pastry a little thinner, so it measures at least 24cm by 36cm
- Cut the pastry into nine rectangles 12cm by 8cm.
- Put a teaspoon of jam/conserve in the middle of each piece of pastry.
- Damp the edges of the pastry and fold the ends inwards to cover, overlapping the pastry by at least 3cm.
- Turn the pastries over, so the seal is underneath and trim the ends (the original long side) straight with a sharp knife.
- Arrange on a cutting board and chill for at least 30 minutes until firm.
- Heat the oven to 200°C, 180°C Fan.
- Remove the chilled pastries from the fridge and, again with a sharp knife, cut a neat V-shape from each end.
- Arrange the pastries on a lined baking sheet (the jam WILL run during baking, and cleaning baked-on jam from a metal baking sheet is not fun).
- Brush the pastries with lightly-beaten egg-white and sprinkle with sugar.
- Cut a small vent in the top to let out steam – I was a little heavy-handed with this batch and the slits opened too much. No-doubt yours will be the epitome of elegance.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, turning the baking sheet around after 15 minutes. NB This might seem a long baking time, but puff pastry needs a surprisingly long time to both puff up AND bake thoroughly. If you’re sceptical, before you remove the pastries from the oven, check underneath to see that they are golden brown. If you remove the pastries too early, they will sink as they cool and their layers disappear into stodge.
- Cool on a wire rack and serve either warm or at room temperature.
- Store in an airtight container and ‘refresh’ by crisping them in a low oven for 10 minutes.
Deja Food 