globetrotting adventures - finland ii - christmas star pastries

one of the most traditional foods during the christmas holidays in finland is the "tähti torttu", or star pastry. the husband and i have always called them christmas stars. it is basically what an american would call a danish, with jam (plum) in the center of a puff pastry. with ready made ingredients, this is a very simple and delicious treat that finns enjoy during coffee time between christmas eve and boxing day.

to make these tasty treats, all you need is ready made puff pastry from your freezer section and some plum jam (and an egg for an egg wash). plum jam is something i have never come across in the u.s., but many other jams would make an appropriate filling, such as apricot, blackberry or raspberry. in finland, this pastry is so common that you can buy the puff pastry in pre-cut sheets with instructions on how to make the pastry on the box.

since you probably don't have these special pre-cut puff pastry sheet, cut your sheets into about 3" X 3" squares.

after you've cut all the squares, you'll need to make four more cuts into the square. make your cuts diagnally into the square, a little to the right of each corner, as you see below. make your cuts about 2/3rds of the way into the pastry.

drop about 1.5 teaspoons of jam into the center of each square. make sure you don't put too much jam...


take each of the sharper corners (4) and pull them toward the center, pressing down, overlapping each point in the center. you may want to sprinkle the top of each point with some water to get the pastry to stick together.

you should have a bunch of nice little stars or pinwheel looking pastries.

if you want, brush all the stars over with an eggwash, to give it a nice warm glow when it's out of the oven.

bake for 10-15 minutes at 440F/225C or, just follow the directions on your puff pastry box.

from the oven to the christmas eve coffee table... yum.