Puff Pastry Round with Mascarpone whipped cream, chocolate & fresh berries

I’ve been playing around with variations of this dessert for a couple years now. I made the original back about 2 years ago. The presentation and flavors are getting there. Try this one for now and see what you think.

Ingredients

1 package of thawed puff pastry sheets. You could use the pastry rounds also but I like to cut my own pieces

confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Mascarpone Cream
3/4 cup of mascarpone cream
1/3 - 1/2 cup of confectioner’s sugar
3/4 cup of half & half or heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
small pinch of sea salt

1 pint of blackberries
1 pint of raspberries
10 oz. of a good dark chocolate. I like using 85% cocao

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven following the pastry sheet instructions.
2. Lightly dust a cutting board and pastry sheet. Use a roller and roll out the sheet until you get a uniform thickness of about 1/4 inch thickness. Use a pastry round to cut out the rounds. I used a 2″ pastry round and got 15 pieces out of 1 sheet. Enough for 5 desserts.
3. Line the rounds on a non-stick baking sheet. Using a fork, poke several holes into each round. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and bake in oven. You’ll follow the pastry sheet instructions for back time
4. During the baking, you’ll want to flatten the round with a spatula to keep them a flatter shape.
5. For the chocolate sauce, bring 2 cups of water to boil in a small saucepan. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer.
6. Place a glass bowl that can sit atop the saucepan without its bottom touching the water. Break the chocolate into small pieces. Place the chocolate into the bowl and and melt. Use a non-stick spatula to mix the chocolate.
7. Place the mascarpone cream into a food mixer bowl, and whisk til smooth. Add the vanilla extract. Slowly add the confection sugar. This is really to taste so add til you love it.
8. For the half & half, I’ve done this recipe with varying amounts. It depends on what I plan on doing with the cream. For this recipe, you want a consistency of “Cool Whip.” So add enough of the half & half to get to that consistency. Add the small pinch of salt.