Leftover Gajar Halwa Puffs | Puff Pastry Dessert
Make your Valentine's Day special with these cute heart shaped puff pastries, filled with leftover Gajar ka Halwa (Gajrela), also known as the Indian carrot pudding. Very simple to make at home, this will be fun to make as one of the easy Valentine's Day desserts!
Ingredients
- 1 Puff Pastry Sheet I used 1 sheet from Trader Joe's 2-pack pastry sheets
- 1 Egg
- Flour A sprinkle, for dusting
- 1/4 cup Gajar Halwa You can use leftover gajar halwa, homemade or store bought
Instructions
- Thaw the frozen puff pastry sheet as per package instructions.
- Take the thawed pastry sheet, unfold it carefully, spread some flour on your kitchen surface (where you want to prepare the puffs) and lightly dust both sides of the sheet. With a rolling pin, roll the sheet from all sides.
- Prepare egg wash by beating 1 egg in a bowl and keep it aside. If you want to avoid using egg, you can use milk wash in place of egg wash. Just apply milk using a pastry brush on top of the hearts (where we are using the egg wash in the recipe).
- With a heart cookie cutter, cut the sheet into heart shapes (Make sure to dust the cookie cutter every time before you cut each dough heart). You can use any other shaped cookie cutter as well. I used the heart one to give a special Valentine's touch to the recipe.
- Also use the leftover sheet after cutting hearts together to form another dough ball. Flour the surface a little more if needed. Roll the dough into a thin sheet using a rolling pin, and cut out more hearts. You need an even count of hearts in total. I was able to cut 14 hearts in total, and so was able to make 7 Gajrela Puffs.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degree F (or 200 degree Celsius).
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper and place seven heart cut outs on the lined tray.
- Using a pastry brush, apply egg wash to the sides of each heart on the tray.
- Now add around half a tablespoon or more of leftover gajar halwa to the center of each heart.
- Cover each of these hearts with the remaining heart cutouts and press slightly on the sides to secure both hearts together to form a single puff.
- Then, using a fork, create a design around each heart puff very carefully.
- Finally, apply egg wash on top part of all the prepared pastry hearts.
- Bake the prepared pastry heart puffs in the preheated oven for around 18-20 minutes (I baked them for 20 minutes exactly). Once done, remove the baking tray from the oven.
- Serve the hearts warm or you can even refrigerate them for sometime, and then serve cold. Optionally, you can drizzle some melted white chocolate (chips) on top of the puffs for more flavor.
Video
Notes
- If you want to avoid using egg, you can use milk wash in place of egg wash. Just apply milk using a pastry brush on top of the hearts (where we are using the egg wash in the recipe).
- Optionally, after the puffs are baked and cooled to room temperature, you can drizzle some melted white chocolate (chips) on top of the puffs for more flavor.
- It is important to dust the cookie cutter with flour every time before cutting out each heart from the puff pastry sheet. This prevents the cookie cutter from sticking to the sheet.
- Feel free to use any other cookie cutter shape.
- I have used leftover gajar halwa for this recipe. But, feel free to add your choice of filling.
- I have used the Puff Pastry sheet from Trader Joe's. You can use any brand of ready-made puff pastries available.
Tried this recipe?Mention @livelaugh974 or tag #bakewithkanwal on Instagram!