Puff Pastry Almond Tea

One of our favorite things to order at dim sum is this steaming hot almond tea, served in a tall bowl with baked puff pastry stretched across the top. You use your spoon to break open the puff, submerging bits of the crispy, buttery dough into the sweet almond tea before piling everything onto the spoon in one bite. Most dim sum restaurants run about $5-$6 per single order so you can imagine how expensive it can get, especially when everyone seems to want their own (yes, it's that good!). 

I am happy to report that while this recipe isn't exactly like the ones served in the restaurant, it comes pretty close, for a fraction of the price. I picked up puff pastry dough at Trader Joes and the rest of the ingredients at the local 99 Ranch market. I encourage you to be liberal with this recipe - it really should be tweaked for your own tastes. We prefer a less sweet tea so we gradually added the honey in to taste, starting with 1 teaspoon. I would also recommend a splash of heavy cream or half and half if you want a richer tea. The original recipe called for plain water and I definitely don't think it tasted anything remotely close to the restaurant version. I had to add in alot of milk and some heavy cream to get it to the desired texture and consistency. It was yummy and we will be making lots of these for our families for Christmas tomorrow. Happy Holidays!

Puff Pastry Almond Tea
Adapted from Rasa Malaysia

Ingredients
5 tablespoons sweetened almond powder
3 teaspoon honey
2 slices of fresh ginger
10 ginkgo nuts (canned)
1 cup whole milk
1 puff pastry sheet (thawed and cut into two 4.5 in. x 4.5 in. squares)
1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degree Fahrenheit. Bring one cup of milk to boil and add in the almond powder, ginkgo nuts, ginger and honey. Stir well and set aside for 20 minutes, allowing the ginger to steep in the liquid. Remove the ginger slices. Transfer equal portions of the boiled almond tea into two regular soufflé dishes. 

Top the soufflé dishes with the puff pastry squares. Stretch the puff pastry square to cover the dish opening tight. Btush the top with the beaten egg. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the puff pastry turns golden brown. Serve hot. Serves 2 people.