Sacristains Pastries

Have you heard of sacristains?

These French pastries are made with shop bought puff pastry and take just a few minutes to prepare and only 10 minutes to bake.

They have an easy filling of egg, sugar and almonds, so you can make them at any time without any fuss.

Perfect with breakfast or a morning coffee snack, these French delicacies make great gifts too.

Bon appétit!   

Jump to:

• ❤️ Why you will love this dish
• 🥘 Ingredients
• 🍽 Equipment
• 🔪 Instructions
• ⏲️ Baking Time
• 🥗 Side Dishes
• 🥙 Substitutions
• 📖 Variations
• 🍣 Storage
• 🍱 Prepare in Advance
• 📋 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

🤔 FAQs

❤️ Why you will love this dish

• Ready to eat from scratch in 15 minutes,
• Great idea for using up leftover pastry.
• Delicious for breakfast, as a snack or as a gift.
• Made from store cupboard ingredients.

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🥘 Ingredients

• Pastry - ideally an all butter puff pastry sheet, which is ready rolled out. Defrosted if frozen. If you are using frozen puff pastry, and have some left over, it can be safely frozen again once. In this recipe, I had half a sheet leftover.
• Egg - egg yolk from a free range egg.
• Sugar - caster sugar or fine sugar.
• Almonds - blanched flaked or slivered almonds.

💭 Top Tip

• I prefer to use golden caster sugar for this recipe. It has a slightly more caramel flavour. To make it into vanilla sugar, I always put a vanilla pod in the jar when I have finished scraping the seeds.
• I normally store my eggs at room temperature, but if you put your eggs in the fridge for an hour or so before you are ready to bake, then they will be easier to separate.
• Separate each egg putting the yolk and whites in separate bowls, then add to another bowl as you go. This makes it easier in case you come across a bad egg without wasting the rest.
• Eggs whites are often used in cakes. Try  Nutella Chocolate Meringues, Gluten Free Friands , Almond Financiers, or how about Macarons to use up the egg white?
• If you don't need the egg whites for another recipe straightaway you can freeze them. The easiest way is to pour them into a small container or ice cube tray, then transfer into another container when frozen. They will keep for up to 12 months.

The printable recipe card with full ingredient quantities and instructions can be found at the bottom of the article.

🍽 Equipment

• oven tray - with baking parchment if not non stick
• pastry brush
• knife
• small sieve

🔪 Instructions

Lay out the puff pastry and keep it on the parchment it is wrapped in.

It should be cold or it will be difficult to work with. Take it out of the fridge 10 minutes before you start.

Use a pastry brush to brush half of the yolk over the pastry.

Sprinkle over the caster sugar and about two thirds of the almonds.

Cut into strips around 2 centimetres or just less than an inch.

Take each piece and twist about 5 times, then place on a baking sheet.

This can be a bit fiddly and a few almonds will fall off. These can be added just before baking.

Brush on the remaining egg yolk.

Sprinkle on the remaining flaked almonds.

⏲️ Baking Time

Preheat the oven to 200 C / 400 F / 180 FAN / Gas 6.

Bake for about 10 minutes until puffed and golden.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Use a small sieve to dust with icing sugar to serve.

🥗 Side Dishes

Sacristains are an ideal mid morning snack with coffee or hot chocolate, or try some of these French idea.

• Sable Biscuits
• Almond Financiers
• Gluten Free Friands
• Cardamom and Lime Madeleines
• Nutella Macarons
• Croissants

🥙 Substitutions

• Flaked almonds - use ground almonds.

📖 Variations

Try these nuts instead.

• Chopped pecans
• Chopped walnuts
• Chopped mixed nuts.

🍣 Storage

• Container - best eaten the same day nut can be stored in an airtight container for a few days
• Freezer  - freeze baked or unbaked, (see below) for up to 3 months.
• To reheat - crisp them up in the oven at 200 C / 400 F / 180 FAN / Gas 6 for a few minutes.

🍱 Prepare in Advance

• Prepare these in advance up to the point of baking. Open freeze, then transfer to sealed containers. Place on a baking sheet and bake from frozen for around 15 minutes.

Let me know what you think in the comments or you can post a picture and tag me on Twitter @chezlereve, Instagram @chezlerevefrancais, or Facebook @chezlerevefrancais

More dishes using puff pastry

• Onion Tarte Tatin
• Chicken en Croûte
• Turkey Pithivier
• Mushroom Tartlets
• Ham and Cheese Palmiers
• Salted Caramel Mille Feuille

📋 Recipe

More French desserts to try

Food Safety

• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat.
• Wash hands after touching raw meat.
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods.
• Never leave cooking food unattended.
• Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds.
• Always have good ventilation when using gas.

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