Vol Au Vent

Ingredients

2 sheets of puff pastry dough

egg wash

Directions
It's very simple…First place 1 sheet of chilled puff pastry on a flat surface. Brush it with egg wash and place the second sheet on top. Using a 4” circle cookie cutter, cut through both pastries. After all your 4” circles are cut, use a 2-2 1/2 " circle cookie cutter and cut a circle inside the 4” circles…but not all the way through. The smaller circle should only go through the top sheet of dough. They will look like bullseye shapes.

The excess 2” circles are used and cut into crescents for a garnish. Place The 4”circles and the crescent garnishes on sheet trays lined with parchment paper and into a preheated oven at 375°.  Keep them in there until they puff up completely and are golden brown.

This is how they should look when taken out of the oven. The only difference with this picture and the result is that after they were taken out of the oven, the middle of the bowls were hollowed out so the meat stew or another dish can be added. I would strongly recommend doing that because if they were not hollowed out, barely any food would fit inside.

This is the final result of the Vol Au Vent with Chicken Fricassee a la King inside garnished with asparagus tips and the crescent shapes we made with the scraps of puff pastry. This presentation is tilted but one could present them straight up with other stew, soup, or a chowder. Expand your horizons!

If anyone tries this with their own recipe to fill it with, please post pictures! I’d love to see how this recipe turns out for others!