Puff Pastry (ready to use from Pick 'n Pay, Checkers, etc)
Cold water for sealing the dough
1 large egg mixed with 2 tsp water for egg wash (optional)
Extra flour for rolling out the dough
Bring your dough to working temperature. Working temperature is cool but not rock hard. It should be fairly easy to roll out, but not so warm that it sticks to the rolling surface.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Sprinkle your working surface with flour. Gently but firmly roll out your puff pastry dough until it is in a rectangle or square that is 1/4 inch thick.
With your larger cookie cutter, cut out as many disks as you can. Be sure to push your cutter straight down into the dough and out–and don’t twist. Any crimping you do on the sides of the dough will squish the layers together and limit the amount of rise you get in baking. Cut out an equal amount of disks.
On half of the disks, use your smaller cutter, cut a smaller circle in the middle of the disk. You will now have equal amounts of dough disks and dough circles.
Using your finger, brush on a ring of cold water around the top outer edge of your disks (not the circles).
Now place a circle, top side down, on top of each disk. You now have several pastry stacks with a disk on the bottom and a circle on the top.
To make the notched design around the edge of the pastry stack, press the back edge of a knife all around the outer edges of the pastry while simultaneously pressing down lightly with your finger. This will seal the circle and the disk together.
Using a fork, punch three holes in the pastry at the bottom of the middle of the circle. This will limit the amount of rise you get from the bottom of the vol-au-vent and increase the amount of space you have for fillings in the middle.
Place your prepared pastry shells and smaller disks onto a baking sheet and freeze for 10 minutes. Sprinkle another baking sheet with cold water. After 10 minutes, remove your pastry shells from the freezer and place on the new sheet that has been sprinkled with water. If using an egg wash, brush it on now. Be careful not to let it drip down the sides of the shells–this will seal the layers together and limit the puffing action.
Bake at 425 degrees for 20-20 minutes (or until the shells are light golden brown). The smaller disks will probably bake faster and you may need to quickly remove them from the oven before the pastry shells are done.
Remove from the oven and carefully place on a rack to cool completely. When ready, use filling of your choice. Top each one with the small disk (or rest it on the side of the filling) for a decorative effect.
