This is a delectably sweet confection. I use strawberries, but any thinly sliced fresh fruit will do. The fruit should be paper-thin, otherwise the pastry will be soggy on the bottom. Place only 4-5 slices of fruit on each pastry; again too many slices will produce too much liquid and the bottoms will be soggy. Use only a tiny amount of brown sugar. I make them as a flat pastry, but I also make them in a tart shape by lining a cupcake tin with the filo. The effect is quite attractive, but you have to reduce the time in the oven to 8 minutes, otherwise the edge of the filo burns. The flat pastry can take up to 14 minutes or more making the caramelization process more successful.
STRAWBERRY PASTRIES
4 filo sheets2 Tbsp butter, melted
3 large fresh strawberries sliced 1/4-inch thick
6 tsp brown sugar
• Preheat the oven to 400F.
• Paper - thinly slice the strawberries.
• Remove the filo from the package and lay it on a flat surface.
• The stack of pastry sheets are folded in half. Open the stack in the middle.
• Leaving a single sheet on the board, fold back the rest of the filo sheets and set them aside.
• Quickly brush the single filo with melted butter.
• Place the filo stack back on top of the single sheet and fold down the bottom sheet from the stack.
• Remove the remaining pastry sheets and set them aside.
• You now have 2 filo pastries on top of one another.
• Brush the top pastry with melted butter.
• Repeat the procedure twice more until you have 4 pastry sheets on top of each other and each pastry has been brushed with butter.
• With a sharp knife cut the buttered filo stack into 12 squares.
• Depending on the brand of filo you use, you cut the filo differently. Just aim to get squares if you bake them in a cupcake tin. For flat pastry you can cut the filo into rectangles. Before I place on the fruit I fold back the ends creating a bit of a wall to contain the fruit.
• Arrange the strawberry slices inside the filo lined cupcake tin or on the top of each flat pastry stack.• Sprinkle each pastry with 1/2 teaspoon of brown sugar.
• Bake the pastries in the cupcake tins for 8 minutes and the flat pastries for 14 minutes.
• Makes approximately 12 pastries
• Serve with a small dollop of yogurt cheese and whipping cream.
