The Saucy Chef

Pasticini con i Cumquat
Breakfast Pastries with Cumquat

Another little Sunday-morning creation here- not much of a "recipe" as such... but then, none of my sweet dishes ever are! It was the cumquats again that led me into temptation at the market hall yesterday... I just had to have them! I had planned on using them in a salad, but as I made my yummy puntarelle and mandarin orange salad with mint yesterday- I had the chance to do something else with them today- and this was it!

I heated up the oven, ready to bake the pastry- and then had an idea as to how I could prepare the cumquats to make them yummy and soft and better-suited to this light preparation... and this is what I did!

 

I washed and sliced the cumquats, removing any pips, and then sprinkled them with some home-made vanilla sugar- which is nothing more than a little granulated sugar which I put into a jar with a empty vanilla pod. I am sure you are all familiar with this and it is a great way to get some delicious flavor into your sweet dishes.

I sprinkled the cumquat slices with sugar and wrapped them in a little parcel of aluminum foil, making sure it was tightly sealed and popped them into the very hot oven for 4-5 minutes. After this time, they had become softer, had lost their bitterness through the heat, taken on the sweetness of the sugar and oozed their yummy juice into it to create a wonderful, rich syrup. But be careful- it will be HOT!

Simply cut out the pastry and arrange the cumquats decoratively on top. Drizzle with any residual juice and bake in a hot oven for 10-15 minutes, until puffed up and golden brown!

And have a wonderful and sunny day!