Tropical Vol-au-vents with Passion Fruit Curd

For our letter V recipe, here are some sweet vol-au-vents!  This dessert is a process, but all the parts can be made ahead and assembled just prior to serving.  Just for my sanity in what has been a crazy busy month, I actually used store bought puff pastry for the first time, although I do love some rough puff and morning bun rough puff recipes that I have used often.  The curd recipe makes enough for two-three batches.  Leftover passion fruit curd may be frozen or used as ice cream topping or scone/muffin/toast topping.  I completely forgot that I had stashed away some frozen pomegranate arils to sprinkle on top for garnish!  The pastries were still amazingly delicious, regardless.

Tropical Vol-au-vents with Passion Fruit Curd
makes 5 desserts per sheet of pastry

Pastry cases:
1-2 sheets puff pastry (your favorite recipe, rough puff, or store bought are all fine)
1 egg

Filling:
¼ cup passion fruit curd, plus extra (there will be plenty) (Curd will require butter, sugar, eggs, juice/puree, and lemon zest)
1 cup heavy cream
2-4 tbsp powdered sugar

Topping:
fresh pineapple, chopped into ¼-⅜ inch squares
fresh kiwi, chopped into ¼-⅜ inch squares

Garnish:
powdered sugar or raspberry/blackberry coulis (I used leftover syrup from my tiramisu!) 

For the pastry cups:
Roll a sheet of puff pastry out about ¼" thick.  Cut out an even number of 4-inch circles, then cut out holes from half of the available circles.  (I was able to fit 10 circles from one sheet of store bought pastry, with one being half pieced together.)

Lay the base circles out on a parchment lined sheet pan, then dock them with a fork all over to let some of the steam out.  Brush the circles with an egg wash consisting of 1 egg whisked with 1 tablespoon water.

Align the cut circles on top and egg wash those.  Preheat the oven to 400ºF and refrigerate the sheet pan while it heats. Bake the cases until they are golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Let cool completely before filling.

When making ahead, wrap tightly in storage wrap or an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to three to four days.

For the filling:
Make the passion fruit curd according to the directions for lemon curd, substituting passion fruit juice* or puree for the lemon juice.
Refrigerate until cold.

* I picked up my passion fruit puree from a local chefstore in the frozen section.

In a mixing bowl or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine ½ cup passion fruit curd, 1 cup heavy whipping cream, and 2-4 tbsp powdered sugar.  Whip until the mixture is light and fluffy.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to assemble the pastries.

To assemble:
Set out all the pastry cases, pre-chop the fruit.

Spoon about 1 tbsp passion fruit curd into the bottoms of the pastry cases.

Spoon or pipe the passion fruit mousse into the cases, just slightly mounded.

Sprinkle a couple tbsp of the chopped fruit over the mousse.

Top with a little dollop of mousse or plain whipped cream.  

If desired, drizzle with a little raspberry coulis or sprinkle with powdered sugar.

To get really fancy, artfully add a few bloops of additional passion fruit curd and raspberry coulis around the serving plate as desired!

Be sure to check out the various V recipes:

• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Vanilla Mug Cake 
• Culinary Cam: Teriyaki Sauce-Swabbed Venison Burgers on Seeded Sourdough Buns
•  Sneha’s Recipe: Veggies Mixed Dal Khichdi
•  Karen’s Kitchen Stories: No Churn Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream
•  Blogghetti: Homemade Vanilla Latte
•  Mayuri’s Jikoni: Vegetable Cutlets
•  A Day in the Life on the Farm: Vietnamese Chicken Stirfry
•  A Messy Kitchen: Tropical Vols Au Vents
•  Food Lust People Love: Spicy Vinegar Braised Chicken
•  Magical Ingredients: Val Dal Veggie Paratha
•  Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Sweet & Spicy Balsamic Vinegar Deviled Eggs