Peach & custard breakfast pastries

The fruit for this pastry can really be any summer fruit – blueberries, slices of apricot or black doris plum – anything that will hold its shape once cooked. Even canned peaches (look for the Hawke’s Bay ones) work well if you can’t get your hands on fresh.

These pastries are best prepared in the morning before the heat of the day arrives so the pastry is easier to cut and shape as described in the method. If it does get fiddly to handle, place the pastry on the baking paper into the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up before proceeding.

PREP TIME 25 minutes // COOK TIME 15 minutes // MAKES 8 pastries

Custard

• 1 egg yolk

• 1 tbsp custard powder or cornflour

• 1 tbsp sugar or honey

• ¾ cup (180ml) milk (can use dairy-free)

Pastries

• 2-3 firm-fleshed peaches, cut into thin wedges

• 2 sheets butter-puff pastry, about 300g (25cm x 25cm)

• 1 tbsp apricot jam

• 1 tbsp boiling water

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C (fan 200°C). If you have the option go for fan bake here. Place a heavy-based oven tray on the middle shelf to heat up (this will deliver heat to the base of the pastry for even cooking).

2. If your pastry is frozen, place on the bench to thaw while making the custard. It will soften quite fast so don’t get it out too early.

Alternatively, transfer the frozen sheets to the fridge the evening prior to thaw overnight.

3. In a saucepan, whisk together the egg yolk, custard powder or cornflour, sweetener and ¼ cup milk until smooth. Whisk in the remaining milk.

4. Heat gently, stirring constantly for about 6- 8 minutes until the custard is thick. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

5. Place one of the pastry sheets into the fridge to keep it cool. Lay the other pastry sheet onto a strip of baking paper. Using the sharp tip of a small knife cut the sheet evenly into four smaller squares. If you want to be exact here you can use a ruler (as they do in bakeries).

6. Working with one pastry square at a time, cut a border about 1cm in from the edge. Cut the corners on the bottom left and top right, but don’t quite cut all the way on the top left and bottom right.

7. Carefully lift the pastry border from the bottom left over to meet the inside edge of the border on the top right. Repeat from top right to bottom left. You will now have a Danish-style pastry with raised borders and a twist of pastry at the top left and bottom right corners. Repeat with the remaining pastry squares, removing the extra pastry sheet from the fridge as needed.

8. Spoon a tablespoon of custard onto each pastry spreading to fill the inside of the pastry border. Arrange 3- 4 wedges of peach over the custard.

9. Transfer the pastries to the oven by sliding the baking paper they are on directly onto the pre-heated oven tray. Bake for 15 minutes until the pastry is golden. Transfer to a cooling rack.

10. Combine the apricot jam and boiling water in a small bowl and immediately brush it over the hot pastry and fruit. Serve while warm – these are best eaten on the day they are prepared.

Tip: Store the lone egg white in a container in the fridge to add to your next scramble or omelette.