ALMOND PASTRIES (Almond Cruffins)
Make these succulent almond pastries tonight! They are bakery worthy, and nobody will know you used a ready-made dough, if you follow these steps exactly!
If I want something fairly simple and sweet for entertaining — something that is tasty and looks like it took a long time to make, I will usually make a crescent pastry of some kind. I love almond flavour and there’s nothing like an indulgent almond pastry, whether it’s a croissant, muffin, or frangipane tart!
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This almond pastry is not quite a traditional one in that it will not take you hours to make a laminated dough and it comes together to bake in under 30 minutes!
I make these little pasties in muffin tins for two reasons:
- #1. Who doesn’t love miniature bites of food? Instead of making large pastries, you can eat one or two of these and feel like you’ve only eaten a small bite!
- #2. It helps with portioning when you’re making food for a crowd because these will fill a platter quickly. No fuss at all!
These almond pastries/cruffins are flavourful and simple to make. Filled with homemade almond paste, topped with sliced almonds, and dusted with icing sugar.
- 3 cans Pillsbury crescent rolls (or 2 tins of Jus-Rol croissant dough)
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus 1 tablespoon, softened
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed (or brown sugar alternative)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 cups (200g) almond flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons sliced almonds, (for garnish)
- icing sugar (Confectioners’ sugar), (for dusting tops of pastry)
- In a small microwaveable container, add 1 tablespoon of butter. Set aside. You will need this for Step 9.
- Use scissors to cut 16 to 18 squares of baking parchment, this will be used for Step 8. (You can also use cupcake liners or pre-cut baking squares).
- Method:
- On a flat working surface, place a long sheet of baking parchment down (have a sheet long enough to lay out the dough lengthways).
- Roll out the crescent dough lengthways (in a long rectangle), making sure that all the dough sides are touching each other. Use your fingertips to close together any holes or perforated parts of the dough.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add the brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, and almond flour. Use a silicone spatula to blend.
- Now, add the almond extract, and fold in the egg, using the spatula to blend the mixture well until a paste forms (mix this about 1-2 minutes).
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C.
- Use a spatula (or offset spatula) to spread a generous amount of the almond paste on top of the dough, along the length of the dough. Continue to dollop and spread the paste on the dough until you use all of it.
- Along the longest edge of the dough, roll the dough inward (folding in the dough and rolling it in the form of a pinwheel). *See images. You should have a long log. With a sharp knife, slice down the middle of the log, lengthways. Then, cut the dough into 2 to 2 ½ -inch slices (around 5 to 6 cm slices). You should have around 16 to 18 pieces or so depending on how big you make your cut pieces.
- Place 1 cut square of baking parchment in each muffin cavity. Next, add one piece of dough inside the baking parchment.
- Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in the microwave. Use a pastry brush to brush the tops and sides of each pastry in the muffin pan. Then, add several sliced almonds on top of each pastry. Bake for 20-23 minutes, or until the pastry tops have browned and puffed up in size.
- Remove from the oven, and dust with icing sugar. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before devouring!
Equipment: I used a standard 12-cavity muffin pan. You will need two of these pans or you may use one pan for the first batch, then re-use the same pan after you have baked the first batch.
*If you use a mini-muffin pan, you will have smaller pastries and a higher volume. You may or may not also need to adjust the baking time.
