manámaná

I thought up this recipe thanks to a dinner with some friends a midsummer night. It was an informal dinner, a very spanish one, with gazpacho, tortillas and salads in a relaxed and happy ambience, so I wanted to give it a special touch. The dessert was ice cream and I was asking myself how to turn its presentation into something remarkable when I looked into the freezer. There were puff pastry sheets and the image popped up in my mind. I could bake edible bowls! This recipe is as easy as open to extras and variations for those with a sweet tooth, or even to change its purpose and fill it with ganache, whipped cream or fruit instead of ice-cream. And now that I think about it... I wonder how this would taste baked with salt and herbs to serve salads... 

ingredients

1 sheet of puff pastry, pie crust, tart pastry or other of your preference (4 bowls)
8 spoons of sugar (I always use brown)

preparation

Think before hand that you will need four moulds of muffins, jelly or similar for baking, the deeper the better because the bowls will have the size and height of the moulds. Cover their outer side with aluminum paper and moisture them with a bit of butter or olive oil (if you are not sure about how to proceed just have a look at "How to unmold your cake: the simple and definitive method"). Now in a fat, clean surface, sprinkle half of the sugar, put the puff pastry over it and sprinkle the other half of the sugar over it. Now pass a rolling pin over to stick the sugar to the pastry (you can do this also with your hands). Now cut the sheet into four parts, as squared and equal as possible. If they are too rectangular you can stretch them a bit with the rolling pin. You can also cut the corners to turn them into circles. Put the moulds upside down on a baking tray, and the pastry pieces over them. If you press a little the top the bowls, when baked, will stand for themselves in the plate without falling to one side or the other. Bake them at 180 ºC until golden and then left to cool.

extras

You can cover them in chocolate, specially in their inner side, or just the edge, and you can stick almonds, pecans or hazelnuts to the chocolate. Other option is to serve the melted chocolate, nuts and syrups apart to let people customize their bowls.

alternatives

If you crush the sugar for a couple of seconds with a mixer (with blades, of course) it will stick better to the pastry. Other option is to sweeten the pastry with warm honey mixed with a couple of spoons of water (two spoons of honey for each of water, aprox.).