Description
Flaky puff pastry braided around tangy cream cheese and sweet blueberry filling – perfect for brunch or when you need to impress people fast.
Ingredients
Blueberry Filling
- 2 cups fresh blueberries (frozen ones work fine too)
- 3 tablespoons regular sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice from a real lemon
Cream Cheese Filling
- 8 oz cream cheese (has to be soft – I leave mine out overnight now)
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Pastry & Finishing
- 2 boxes frozen puff pastry (I buy Pepperidge Farm)
- 1 egg plus some water (for brushing on top)
- 2 tablespoons coarse sugar (the chunky kind)
Instructions
Do the berries first since they need time to cool down. Put berries, sugar, and lemon juice in a pot over medium heat. Stir them around for maybe 6 minutes until they start popping and smell incredible.
Mix cornstarch with 2 tablespoons cold water in a small bowl until smooth. Pour it in with the berries and keep stirring for another minute until it thickens up. Take it off heat and ignore it while you do other stuff.
Beat the soft cream cheese with your mixer for 2 minutes until it’s smooth. Add sugar, egg yolk, vanilla, and lemon juice. Beat again until everything’s mixed together and looks creamy. Put it aside.
Heat oven to 400. Put parchment paper on a big baking sheet. Roll each pastry sheet on your counter with some flour into roughly 12×10 inches. Doesn’t have to be perfect – mine look wonky but they still work.
Spoon cream cheese down the center of each pastry in about a 3-inch strip. Leave space at the ends. Put your cooled berry mixture right on top of the cream cheese.
Cut strips about an inch apart on both sides of the filling with a knife. Cut from the filling to the edge. Fold strips over the filling going back and forth – left side, right side, keep going down. Looks fancy but it’s just folding.
Beat egg with a little water. Brush this all over the pastry parts you can see. Sprinkle that coarse sugar on top for the bakery look.
Put them in for 20-25 minutes. Want deep golden brown and puffy pastry. Filling shouldn’t wiggle when you shake the pan. Let sit 10 minutes before cutting or hot filling goes everywhere.
Notes
If pastry gets sticky while you’re working, stick it back in the fridge for 10 minutes. Cold pastry puffs better than warm pastry.
Don’t overfill like I did the second time. It leaked everywhere and made a sticky disaster on my pan. Less filling is better. I eat leftover berry stuff on toast.
Use a pizza cutter instead of a knife for cutting strips. Way easier and doesn’t drag the dough around.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American