Uploaded July 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
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A delicate and beautiful presentation for lovely fresh fruit, excellent pastry cream, or other fillings worthy of a showcase, vol-au-vents are straightforward if somewhat fiddly to make, and quick to get ready for a party. Of course it’s possible to buy bouchee shells ready-to-use but your guests will notice the difference if you make your own from puff pastry or laminated dough. (A laminated bread dough like croissant dough will perhaps make a taller vol-au-vent shell, but it is more troublesome to make, so we use store-bought puff pastry which nearly anyone can obtain.)
If you’re using ring cutters, use two which are at least two sizes apart, to ensure that the wall-rings are wide enough to survive handling. If you don’t have ring cutters, square vol-au-vents may be formed along the same lines as in our savory vol-au-vents video: by making cuts just inside two opposite corners, and then folding the outside parts over each other onto the opposite corners of the remaining inside area.
Once the vol-au-vent shells are baked and cooled, they may be filled with any number of sweet fillings. We choose to use vanilla pastry cream, topped with glazed raspberries.
Makes 10-12 vol-au-vents of 1-2 bites in size.
Equipment:
• lined baking sheet
• cooling rack
• fish spatula or other thin turning spatula.
• ring cutters or a sharp knife
• piping bag with plain or star tip
• fine strainer for apricot glaze
• small glass measuring cup + small bowl for heating and straining glaze
Ingredients:
1 recipe vanilla pastry cream
1 sheet puff pastry
1/4 cup egg wash 1 egg + 2 Tbsp milk, blended well
10-12 ea decorative berries to suit your taste
1⁄4 cup apricot jam strained to remove solids
for dusting AP flour
Procedure:
1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. On a floured surface, roll out the puff pastry just enough to remove creases and stretch it out slightly in order to get a good yield.
3. Using the larger cutter, floured, cut out 20-24 circles.
4. Using the smaller cutter, also floured, cut the centers out of half of the circles (rounding down).
5. Using a fish spatula, move the whole circles onto the lined sheet pan, along with the cut-out centers of the rings.
6. Apply egg wash to everything in the pan.
7. Transfer each ring of pastry with its center cut out onto an egg-washed whole circle on the baking pan.
8. Egg wash the tops of the newly transferred pastry rings.
9. Stipple the bottoms of the pastries, within the rings, in order to encourage them to be flatter and allow for more filling..
10. Bake for 15-20 min, or until risen and golden-brown, at 375F.
11. Remove promptly and allow to cool in their pan atop the rack.
12. While the pastry is cooling, warm up the apricot jam using the microwave or a small saucepan, and then strain it to remove the large solids.
13. Use the reserved apricot glaze to coat the berries, by rolling them around in it and then letting them stand to set on a plate in the fridge.
14. Once the pastry is cool, fill a piping bag with the pastry cream, and pipe a generous but reasonable amount into each vol-au-vent, topped with a pastry center with a glazed berry on it.
15. Serve immediately; these are best fresh.
Music: bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Check our our Patreon!
patreon.com/loveyourfood
A delicate and beautiful presentation for lovely fresh fruit, excellent pastry cream, or other fillings worthy of a showcase, vol-au-vents are straightforward if somewhat fiddly to make, and quick to get ready for a party. Of course it’s possible to buy bouchee shells ready-to-use but your guests will notice the difference if you make your own from puff pastry or laminated dough. (A laminated bread dough like croissant dough will perhaps make a taller vol-au-vent shell, but it is more troublesome to make, so we use store-bought puff pastry which nearly anyone can obtain.)
If you’re using ring cutters, use two which are at least two sizes apart, to ensure that the wall-rings are wide enough to survive handling. If you don’t have ring cutters, square vol-au-vents may be formed along the same lines as in our savory vol-au-vents video: by making cuts just inside two opposite corners, and then folding the outside parts over each other onto the opposite corners of the remaining inside area.
Once the vol-au-vent shells are baked and cooled, they may be filled with any number of sweet fillings. We choose to use vanilla pastry cream, topped with glazed raspberries.
Makes 10-12 vol-au-vents of 1-2 bites in size.
Equipment:
• lined baking sheet
• cooling rack
• fish spatula or other thin turning spatula.
• ring cutters or a sharp knife
• piping bag with plain or star tip
• fine strainer for apricot glaze
• small glass measuring cup + small bowl for heating and straining glaze
Ingredients:
1 recipe vanilla pastry cream
1 sheet puff pastry
1/4 cup egg wash 1 egg + 2 Tbsp milk, blended well
10-12 ea decorative berries to suit your taste
1⁄4 cup apricot jam strained to remove solids
for dusting AP flour
Procedure:
1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. On a floured surface, roll out the puff pastry just enough to remove creases and stretch it out slightly in order to get a good yield.
3. Using the larger cutter, floured, cut out 20-24 circles.
4. Using the smaller cutter, also floured, cut the centers out of half of the circles (rounding down).
5. Using a fish spatula, move the whole circles onto the lined sheet pan, along with the cut-out centers of the rings.
6. Apply egg wash to everything in the pan.
7. Transfer each ring of pastry with its center cut out onto an egg-washed whole circle on the baking pan.
8. Egg wash the tops of the newly transferred pastry rings.
9. Stipple the bottoms of the pastries, within the rings, in order to encourage them to be flatter and allow for more filling..
10. Bake for 15-20 min, or until risen and golden-brown, at 375F.
11. Remove promptly and allow to cool in their pan atop the rack.
12. While the pastry is cooling, warm up the apricot jam using the microwave or a small saucepan, and then strain it to remove the large solids.
13. Use the reserved apricot glaze to coat the berries, by rolling them around in it and then letting them stand to set on a plate in the fridge.
14. Once the pastry is cool, fill a piping bag with the pastry cream, and pipe a generous but reasonable amount into each vol-au-vent, topped with a pastry center with a glazed berry on it.
15. Serve immediately; these are best fresh.
Music: bensound.com/royalty-free-music
