11/19/2008

Pomegranate Orange Pastries with POM Honey Glaze

Did you know that Pomegranates have almost 3 times more antioxidants than red wine? A recent study also showed that Pomegranate juice was found to have the highest polyphenol content of any beverage, even outcompeting recent "superfoods" such as acai berry or green and white tea. Very cool. So, I came up with this luscious dessert for any occasion that you can also feel good about! This is so easy to prepare (20-30 minutes) and it's a "sure-to-impress" dessert. I also included options for cutting the fat and calories that will make each serving under 300 calories!

Pomegranate Orange Pastry with POM Honey Glaze
Ingredients:
1 Cup arils from 1 or 2 large POM Wonderful Pomegranates
½ Cup POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
1 sheet puff pastry dough, thawed
8 oz. reduced fat cream cheese, softened
¼ Cup Powdered Sugar
½ Cup heavy whipping cream (substitute 1 C. Fat Free Cool Whip if you want a low-cal dessert)
2 Tablespoons orange zest (about 1 orange)
½ teaspoons almond extract
2 Tablespoons white coarse sugar, optional
Parchment or Baking Paper
1 gallon freezer bag or pastry bag to pipe filling

Honey Glaze:
Ingredients:
¼ c. Honey
Juice from 1 large POM Wonderful Pomegranate or 2 T. POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix Honey and 2 T. Pomegranate juice well with a wire whisk. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.
Place thawed puff pastry dough on a cutting board and cut into 6 rectangles. Slice each rectangle diagonally to form two triangles. (See video tutorial).

Set triangles on a baking sheet covered in parchment. Sprinkle coarse sugar on six of the triangles. These will be the tops of your dessert. Bake at 400 degrees for 11-14 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool.

While pastries are baking, whip cream cheese for 30 seconds on high speed in a medium mixing bowl. Reduce speed to low and add POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice, orange zest and almond extract. Mix well. Add powdered sugar and beat until fluffy. Set aside.
At this point, if you are making this dessert low-fat, simply fold in 1 Cup Fat Free Cool whip into the cream cheese mixture. Otherwise, In another mixing bowl, beat heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Fold in cream cheese mixture. Put the finished filling in a gallon freezer bag. Refrigerate until ready to useRemove arils from 1 or 2 large POM Wonderful Pomegranates. There are many techniques to doing this. Here’s a video tutorial on my preferred method:

Simply cut the ends off the Pomegranate, make 4 score marks into the flesh, cutting until you reach the white pulp, and submerge the entire fruit in a bowl of cool water. Working under the water, pull apart the fruit into 4 sections and separate the arils from the white pulp. The arils will sink and the pulp will float to the top where you can strain it off. When finished, strain the arils and they’re ready to use!

To assemble, drizzle a small amount of honey glaze on a plate. Set one pastry triangle (one with no sugar sprinkled on it) on the plate. Snip a corner off the gallon freezer bag of filling and pipe about 1/4 cup onto the triangle. Sprinkle 1-2 T. arils onto the filling and top with another pastry triangle. Drizzle with more honey glaze and enjoy! You can garnish with orange twists or other garnish if desired. (video tutorial below):

Note: A huge THANK YOU to my uber-fabulous friend, Annie, and her mad photo skillz for the luscious photo at the top of the post. You are the best!

Holiday Playlist

My grandmother hasn't been doing well...to cheer her up, I rounded up a few of my musical friends and made an album of Holiday songs fo...