Easy Cherry Custard Pastries are perfect for serving at a tea party, or just to have for yourself! Easy to make and fun for kids to help too!
Easy Cherry Custard Pastries. These are so delicious and easy to make!
I had some friends unexpectedly pop over for a cup of tea yesterday, and needed to get my thinking hat on fast! The thought of not having any tasty little morsels to offer my visitors filled me with horror, so after hunting around my store cupboard and freezer, I came up with a very quick and easy recipe which would impress anyone!
If you had the time and ingredients, of course, you could make everything from scratch, but on this occasion, I used ingredients which I already had.
These little cherry custard pastries give a lovely crispy texture, and the light sweetness of the custard, in contrast to the slight tartness of the cherries is really a delicious sensation. We all found these pastries to be very more-ish indeed, and in hindsight, I wish I had made more!
Of course, I have used cherries here in this recipe, but you can try with blueberries or some other berry. Just make sure you're using a firm fruit because of the heat from the oven when you bake. you don't want the fruit to go mushy from the heat.
You can serve these warm, not hot, from the oven, or like I prefer, allow to cool and eat them with a lovely cup of tea! These little cherry custard pastries would be great if you're having an English Afternoon Tea party too!.You can make ahead and store in an airtight container for a day or so, then arrange on a pretty plate together with a few more delicious treats for your tea party, such as some of our Easy Cherry Cheesecake Sopapilla Bars, savory salmon or shrimp vol au vents and perhaps a lovely vanilla pound cake and some of our delicious Classic English scones.
So let's get straight to the recipe and see how easy it is to make these little cherry custard pastries. Please enjoy!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 8
Ingredients:
The Pastry
1 packet ready rolled puff pastry. (I used a sheet measuring 30 cm x 15 cm, 275g packet) OR you can make your own flaky pastry, see here for the recipe.
For the filling
1 pint or 2 ½ cups of milk
2 Tablespoons custard powder *
2 tablespoons of sugar
A handful of cherries. Mine were from a can.
For the topping
1 Tablespoon milk (for glazing)
1 Tablespoon sugar
½ Tablespoon icing sugar powder
* If you would like to make your own custard from scratch, you will need 1 pint or 2 ½ cups of custard.
To buy Bird's Custard Powder, see below
Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 180C, Gas 4, 350F.
2. Grease your baking tin. (if you have a silicone sheet, then no need to grease or line)
3. Make the custard, by adding custard powder, 2 tbsp sugar and the milk to a pan and heating until thick. Leave to cool until tepid.
4. Cut your cherries in half. If they are from a can then you will need to put them on some kitchen paper to drain the juice. Also, remove the stones if not already done.
5. With your sheet of pastry, cut into squares, roughly 6cm x 5 cm (depends on the size of your pastry sheet) The main thing is to make sure they are square shapes. Alternatively, if you have a cookie cutter, you can make different shapes as seen in the photos.
6. Fill a piping bag with the cooled custard. I used a large nozzle, but you can choose what size depending on the size you cut your pastry shapes. You can just forget about the piping bag and spoon the custard onto the pastry, but it may get a bit messy!
7. If you are doing square shapes, run the custard diagonally, from point to point down the center two times, (so you have two layers of custard on top of each other high)
8. Place as many halved cherries on top of the custard as you wish.
9. Brush all the sides with milk. This will help stick the pastry together when you come to fold over.
10. For the squares, fold one side over to the center, and then the other side, pressing down gently so the pastry sticks together where it is joined.
11. Brush all the exposed pastry with milk and sprinkle with a little sugar.
12. Place into oven for 5 - 20 minutes - You will need to check them as cooking times will vary depending on how big or small your pastries are and also how much filling you have used.
As a rough guide, the flower shaped ones took 15 minutes in the oven, and the folded squares took 25 minutes.
13. When ready (see photo below and your pastries should have puffed up and have a nice brown color) let them cool on a rack and then give them a light dusting of icing powder.
14. Make yourself a cup of tea and enjoy!
We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our Easy Cherry Custard Pastries recipe. Did you make any changes or add some other goodies? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!
Here are a few more lovely desserts for you to enjoy!
- 1 cm packet ready rolled puff pastry. (I used a sheet measuring 30 x 15 cm 275g packet) OR you can make your own flaky pastry, see here for the recipe
- 1 pint or 2 ½ cups of milk
- 2 Tablespoons custard powder *
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- A handful of cherries. Mine were from a can.
- 1 Tablespoon milk for glazing
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- ½ Tablespoon icing sugar powder
-
Heat oven to 180C, Gas 4, 350F. Grease your baking tin. (if you have a silicone sheet, then no need to grease or line)
-
Make the custard, by adding custard powder, 2 tblsp sugar and the milk to a pan and heating until thick. Leave to cool until tepid.
-
Cut your cherries in half. If they are from a can then you will need to put them on some kitchen paper to drain the juice. Also remove the stones if not already done.
-
With your sheet of pastry, cut into squares, roughly 6cm x 5 cm (depends on the size of your pastry sheet) The main thing is to make sure they are square shapes. Alternatively, if you have a cookie cutter, you can make different shapes as seen in the photos.
-
Fill a piping bag with the cooled custard. I used a large nozzle, but you can choose what size depending on the size you cut your pastry shapes. You can just forget about the piping bag and spoon the custard onto the pastry, but it may get a bit messy!
-
If you are doing square shapes, run the custard diagonally, from point to point down the center two times, (so you have two layers of custard on top of each other high) as in the photo opposite
-
Place as many halved cherries on top of the custard as you wish. Brush all the sides with milk.
-
For the squares, fold one side over to the center, and then the other side, pressing down gently so the pastry sticks together where it is joined.
-
Brush all the exposed pastry with milk
-
Place in to oven for 5 - 20 minutes - You will need to check them as cooking times will vary depending on how big or small your pastries are and also how much filling you have used.
-
As a rough guide, the flower shaped ones took 15 minutes in the oven, and the folded squares took 25 minutes.
-
When ready (see photo below and your pastries should have puffed up and have a nice brown colour) let them cool on a rack and then give them a light dusting of icing powder.
-
Make yourself a cup of tea and enjoy!
abigail Trewartha
making these right now! they smell delightful! i changed my milk to soy and now they're also a dairy free treatie! perfect!
lovefoodies
Hi Abigail, that sounds great! Please enjoy!! When I last made them, they were eaten very fast, so you may have to hide a few (for yourself!) . Please enjoy!
Bon
Oh my--this looks like a little piece of HEAVEN!
lovefoodies
Perfect for your Tea parties Bonnie, but mine don't last before guests arrive!
Michael Kirkland
The custard just leaks out in the oven so not sure how this is meant to work.
Lovefoodies
Hi Michael, be sure not to over fill them and also make sure the custard is cooked so it’s thick. They shouldn’t run out then!
kewkew
Wow! These look amazing. And to think, I still have custard powder in my cupboard from when my uncle brought me some from England. Thanks for stopping by and sharing these over at Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen!
lovefoodies
I'm so glad you liked the recipe! Lucky that you still have some custard powder too. This is a lovely recipe for the kids to get involved in, and they'll love eating them after 🙂
Kristine Foley
YUMMO! Featuring you at this weekend's party!
THANK YOU for linkin up to my Sunday FUNday party! Hope to see you tonight!!
Kristine - The Foley Fam {unedited}
lovefoodies
Oh My! Thanks very much for choosing the recipe to feature Kristine 🙂
megin
YUM! These look delish ~ I bet the are amazing.
I found you today
thru the Linky Party at Create Craft Love where I'm #212. I hope you get a
chance to stop by my blog and leave a comment, too!
~ Megin of VMG206
http://www.vmg206.blogspot.com
lovefoodies
Hi Megin, Thanks for popping over. I'll come and looky looky at your blog now:) Always nice to make new friends!
Mary
homemaidsimple
Those are really pretty! Thank you for sharing on Foodie Friday - I'm featuring you this week.
lovefoodies
Gosh! Thank you very much indeed. makes me very proud you like the recipe 🙂
Michelle
These look delicious. Thanks for sharing on Foodie Friends Friday!
lovefoodies
Thank you for hosting Michelle!
Amber @ DessertNowDinnerLater!
Looks fantastic! Thanks for sharing at Sweet & Savory Saturdays!
lovefoodies
Thanks for hosting Amber!
Diane
Great to know how to through something like this together. I could probably use some lemon curd I keep in the fridge. What do you think? Thanks for sharing this with us on foodie friday.
lovefoodies
Hi Diane, yes, lemon curd would also work, but I would swap the cherries for something not as sweet unless you want an attack of 'sharpness' from the lemon & cherry! Or leave the fruit bit out completely....a caramelised pecan nut would go with your lemon curd. Do you have a recipe for the curd? If so, would love to try it out! (maybe easier to share it on FB if you wish to) 🙂
Marlys Folly
These look perfect... I love custard pastries but never thought of making them myself. I will have to give these a try. Thanks for sharing on Foodie Friends Friday and remember to come back and vote on Sunday.
lovefoodies
Thanks very much Marlys, and they are really very easy to make! Will see you on Sunday for the voting 🙂
Marlys Folly
Just to let you know that I have picked these as my host favorite for this week. They will be featured in our Daily Dish magazine on Monday and also on next week's party on my blog. I am hoping to make them this week.. Thanks for linking them up.
lovefoodies
Oh gosh Marlys! that makes me feel very proud indeed. Thank you very much, and let us know how your pastries turn out. Happy baking 🙂
Joan
I just love anything lovefoodies shows us, with the little blurb about the person that sent it to her...am very happy that others are featuring her recipes. And I am going to attempt these pastries for tonight,,,,my son is still visiting, so have to impress him haha
lovefoodies
I'm so happy you like them Joan! they are fun to make ..and eat! So be sure to make plenty!!! Let me know via FB how you get on! Mary
Tanusree
these look so good. YUM...
lovefoodies
Thanks! You must make them..they're so easy and very tasty indeed 🙂