Fruit Tart with Pastry Cream and Fresh Fruit

I doubt many of you have ever made your own puff pastry before – well neither had I before this lesson in school. I had never even used it before in fact. Surprisingly, it’s actually pretty simple to make. Note that I said “simple” and not “easy” because unfortunately, it’s also somewhat time consuming. There is a lot of rolling out the dough and letting it rest and rolling it out and letting it rest and rolling… I think you get the point.

Question: Have you ever wondered how pastry shops get their desserts to look so pretty and shiny?
Answer: Shellac.

Not actually, but close enough. The trick is this fruit flavored jelly like stuff. In this case we had apricot glaze to adorn our beautiful creations. Steps: Bake the puff pastry, top with pastry cream, assemble fruit, and shellac – done and done.