A simple but rather artful dessert to finish out Vrghr's Christmas holiday meal.

Light, sweet, and fruity. With a delicate crunch of puff pasty. Wuffy chose a combination of strawberry and kiwi fruits to provide a festive red and green motif to match the holiday colors. And the kiwi and strawberry flavors paired quite nicely.

Vrghr used canned whipped cream this time, but wasn't quite so happy with how rapidly the cream melted on the warm puff pastry. Next time, this wuff will whip up his own cream in his new soda siphon, and stabilize it a bit with a touch of Xanthan Gum. That ought to let it last long enough to get all the puffs made for all the guests, and to get from kitchen to table with the cream froth still intact. The canned whipped cream didn't impair the flavor, thankfully. Which was quite good!

You can easily substitute your favorite berries for the filling. Blueberry, blackberry, even combinations like strawberry-rhubarb would do very nicely in this!

Ingredients:
1 sheet frozen Puff Pastry
8 oz Mascarpone Cheese
1 pint fresh Strawberries (can sub frozen berries)
4-5 Kiwi fruits
~ 3 Tbs granulated Sugar
~ 2 Tbs Honey (can sub Agave syrup or other sweetener)
3 + 3 tsp Unflavored Gelatin
1/2 + 1/2 C water
Whipped Cream for Garnish

Directions:
Remove the leaves from the strawberries and slice into small chunks. Reserve a couple berries for garnish.
Peel the kiwi fruits and slice into small chunks. Reserve a few slices, cut in half, for garnish.
Place the fruit into separate containers. Sprinkle the granulated sugar over each, half on one and the other half on the other. Stir the sugar into the fruit, and place in the refrigerator for about an hour for the sugars to sweeten and draw out some of the juices.

After the fruit has rested, fill two small containers (wuff used coffee cups) with about 1/2 C of water each, and sprinkle 3 tsp of powdered unflavored gelatin into each. Allow the gelatin to "bloom" for about 10 minutes.

Place the fruit into two small sauce pans and bring to a simmer. Taste for sweetness, and sweeten as needed with honey, Agave or other sweetener. Mash with a potato masher until thick, chunky pulp.
Remove from heat and stir the gelatin into the fruit.
Return the fruit with gelatin to the fridge until it sets up (about an hour).

Allow 1 sheet of frozen puff pasty to thaw enough to easily unfold it. Slice it into thirds down the folds, then in half cross-ways to make six rectangles.

Place on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet, and bake according to directions on the package.

Remove the Mascarpone cheese from the fridge while the pastry is baking, to let it warm a bit and make spreading easier.

While the baked puffs are cooling, remove the fruit from the fridge and stir it up so it isn't a block of jello. Should be a very thick pulp.

When the puffs are cool enough to handle, with a SHARP knife, cut them in half and separate the tops from the bottoms.

Plate the puff bottoms. Spread a thick layer of Mascarpone cheese on the bottom of each puff. Top with a layer of berries, half kiwi and half strawberry. Place the top of the puff over the berries. Garnish with whipped cream and slices of the fruit and berries.

Serve quickly so the moisture from the fruit and cheese doesn't make the crisp puffs too soggy.

DEVOUR!

(Makes 6 servings)