Strawberries & Cream in Puff Pastry Cups: An Added Treat To Celebrate Clarise's Accomplishments

It seems like only yesterday when Clarise first set foot into her new school! Time flies so fast indeed! Another school year has gone by in the blink of an eye. This means that not only do I have a Fourth Grader by August...but also a Kindergartener! My baby Cherlin will be in Kindergarten next fall!!! But before I get too excited with all that, I want to take a moment to give my unending thanks & praise to God for another awesome school year for Clarise. Despite the difficult period of adjustment she had to undergo as a new student at Robertson Elementary, her academic and social performance showed how good she really is. She was consistently on the A Honor Roll throughout the whole school year. She has been voted Student Council class representative, and received a commendation for her outstanding performance and conduct while participating in Student Council activities. She also made it to Frisco ISD’s Gifted and Talented (GT) Program and has consistently performed above expectations in her GT class. She was also given the Reading Award for her high reading level. In addition to all these, she got commended for getting PERFECT scores in the TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) Tests for both Math and Reading. I'm truly so proud of her! To God be all the glory!

Clarise really did such a great job and that calls for a celebration! We let her decide how she wants to celebrate...and she just chose to go to Gatti Town last night. I'm not a big fan of this place but it's Clarise's choice, so Gatti Town it is! With an all-you-can-eat buffet that offers pizza, pasta, desserts, salad and icee drinks, as well as a sports bar with big screen tv's and a giant room with interactive games and rides, it would probably be a 5 star place from a kid's point of view. But from an adult's point of view who takes into consideration everything like the look & taste of the food, cleanliness, security of the kids, etc. I'd give this place a two star.

One of the things I don't like about Gatti Town is that it has no security system which means that you should really keep an eye on your kids. Other similar places employs security measures where parents and kids get matching stamps upon entering the facility and they are checked when they leave. Gatti Town doesn't have that.

Regarding the food...I can say it's ok. Gatti Town is a kids' place and at the same time, an all-you-can-eat buffet, so you can't expect the food to be a 5-star gourmet. They have a wide variety of pizza which mostly has the quality of frozen ones, but their BBQ Chicken and Deluxe Pizza are good! The pasta and salad bar weren't that bad too. But I was really disgusted with their wet plates and cups. In buffet places, it's always nice to find plates, cups and utensils that are well washed and dried...but at Gatti Town, you can never expect that.

With Clarise's smile, I know that all those didn't matter. She came to Gatti Town to eat some pizza...

...and to play and simply have fun in its 9,000 square foot midway complete with kid-friendly bumper cars, bowling alley, a carousel ride and a game room stocked with fun games for all ages.

She and Cherlin had a great time, and it's all that matters! As for me and Ryan, we're glad to see the smiles on the girls' faces and we're excited to go home because there's this yummy treats waiting for us...

I made this just before I went to Clarise's school yesterday afternoon, and just put them in the ref so we could have a good dessert when we get back. This was inspired by my dear friend, Manu of Manu's Menu. Two weeks ago, she featured this STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM IN PUFF PASTRY CASES on her blog. Seeing her photos of it really made my mouth water and I told myself I will definitely try it when I get the chance! Since Clarise loves strawberries and cream, I decided to make it yesterday as an added treat for her good performance in school.

I didn't do it the exact same way as Manu's. I didn't have much time so I took some shortcuts. Her Pastry Puff cases are more elaborate than mine. I have lots of Cool Whip because it has been on sale at Walmart for weeks now, so I used it instead. Since I didn't have mint leaves to decorate it with, I didn't remove the leaves of the strawberries for topping and I used Belgian Chocolate thins for added decoration. :) 

For Manu's original recipe, click here. Mine are as follows:

I'm sharing this on Savory Sunday, Sweets for Saturday,  Sweet Indulgences Sunday, These Chicks Cook, What's Cooking Wednesday and Yummy Sunday.

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 16 pcs strawberries for filling and 4 pcs strawberries for topping
• 4 Belgian chocolate chips, cut into 2
• 4 oz. Cool Whip
• 4 Tbsp sugar
• 4 tsp sugar to sprinkle on top of the cases
• Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp milk)

Procedure:
1. Clean and cut 16 pcs of strawberries into 8 pieces each. Put them in a small bowl with 4Tbsp of sugar and mix well. Cut 4 pcs strawberries in half. Set aside.

2. Unfold one pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Cut 12 (2 ½ -inch) squares. Press the pastry squares into 12 mini muffin-pan cups. In my case, I used 12 mini-puto aluminum molds. Make small holes with the tines of a fork in the center of each case, so they won't puff up in the oven.

 

3. Brush each cup with egg wash then sprinkle with ½ tsp sugar.

4. Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastry cups are golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool down.

5. Meanwhile, gently fold cool whip in the strawberry and sugar mixture.

6.Fill each puff pastry cup with cool whip-strawberry mixture. Top each with half strawberry & chocolate chip. Refrigerate until ready to serve.