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date pastries

Pistachio Date Pastries

  • Author: joshisbaking
  • Prep Time: ~30 Minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 Minutes
  • Total Time: ~1 Hour
  • Yield: 9 Pastries 1x

Description

These pistachio date pastries are a blissful blend of sweet, salty, and flaky. Layers of puff pastry are folded over a spiced date paste filled with pistachios and then baked to golden, crispy perfection. 


Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 4oz. pitted dates (115g), finely diced—I used these dates.
  • 1/2 cup water (4oz.)
  • 2 tablespoons sugar (28g)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract/paste
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 cup coarsely chopped, shelled pistachios (35g)—mine were roasted & salted.
  • One sheet of store-bought puff pastry, thawed (245g)
  • 1 large egg (50g) lightly whisked for an egg wash
  • Optional: Turbinado or demerara sugar to sprinkle overtop

Instructions

Make the Spiced Date Paste

  1. In a small saucepan, add your diced dates, water, and sugar. Heat over medium-high heat until boiling. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally (the mixture should gradually thicken and end as a loose paste). Once thickened, take your saucepan off of the heat and stir in your vanilla, spices, and pistachios until evenly mixed in. Scrape the mixture into a heat safe bowl and set aside at room temperature until needed (it will thicken more as it cools down, which is what you want).

Assembling & Baking the Pastries

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and prep a large baking sheet with parchment. Gently roll out one sheet of thawed puff pastry until about a 1/4 inch thick, roughly a 10-12 inch square. Trim the edges if desired for cleaner lines and then cut into 9 equal squares. Place these evenly spaced out onto your baking sheet.
  2. Light whisk your egg for the egg wash (if not done so already). Brush a small amount along the border of each square, but just on two sides that meet at a corner (this will help seal the edges). Scoop 1 1/2-2 Tablespoons of your date paste into the center of each square, leaving the egg washed border untouched (see photos in the blog for what mine looked like).
  3. Fold the opposite corner of each pastry (the sides without the egg wash) overtop your date paste so that you’re left with a triangle-shaped pastry. Press down firmly with your fingers along the two sides where your egg wash was to help seal the edges. Then, crimp those edges with a fork and poke a few holes in the top of each pastry to let steam escape.
    1. If your pastry is a little sticky or hard to handle at this point, pop them into the fridge for 15-20 minutes to firm back up before baking (see notes below for why).
  4. Brush each pastry all over with your egg wash (more egg wash = darker, crispier pastry) and then sprinkle some turbinado/demerara sugar overtop each if using. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until desired browning (rack in the middle or upper thirds). Once out of the oven, let cool for 10 minutes before serving or transferring to a separate rack to cool completely.

Notes

  • Storing: While best enjoyed same-day (the crunch is always better), these will keep for up to 3 days stored at room temperature in an airtight container. If not eating the day you make them, make sure to let them cool completely at room temperature before storing in a container.
  • Assembly/Shaping Note: You don’t have to make these into triangles, that’s just the shape I chose! You could still cut these into 9 even squares and then fold into side-to-side instead of corner-to-corner to form little rectangle-shaped pastries.
  • Can You Double This Recipe? Go for it! This recipe lends itself well to being doubled, as store-bought puff pastry sometimes comes with two sheets. Note that you may need a larger saucepan when making the paste, just to be safe. Plus, one egg will be enough egg wash for two sheets of puff pastry, so no need to double your egg.
  • Pastry Getting Sticky/Hard to Work With? You always want to work fairly quick with puff pasty once it thaws, as it has a high amount of butter in it. The more you handle it with your handles, the sticker and harder to work with it can be. If that ever happens, just place your pastry (assembled or otherwise) in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to firm back up a little before continuing on.