This rainbow puff balls are really pretty little pastry desserts to make at home! It will be a great gift or afternoon tea for all ages.

The shape and technique is inspired by traditional Chinese puff pastry. In the traditional version the oil dough should be made with lard, and the filling is normally red bean paste. However I used butter and a more western version coconut filling and it turns out amazing.

This tutorial will yield 16 rainbow puff balls -- everything is at the exact amount and absolutely no waste with this recipe. I do recommend using a scale than measuring cup for this project as a more accurate measuring will give you a much better result.

This recipe contains 3 parts: water dough, oil dough, and coconut filling. I've added very detailed photos to each step, so now enjoy your rainbow trip!

Supplies

Spatula, rolling pin, mixing bowl, oven, knife, scale,

Step 1: Making Water Dough

Water Dough Recipe:

Plain flour 150g

Icing Sugar 25g

Butter 53g

Water 60g

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Water dough making instruction:

1. Put plain flour & icing sugar together

2. Add water to it and mix to a rough dough

3. Soften butter (you can leave in room temperature for 30 min or microwave for 30 seconds), and mix it to the rough dough

4. Knead till there's no butter lumps

5. Keep kneading and you will have a really smooth dough

6. Wrap it in cling wrap and put aside.

Step 2: Making Oil Dough

Oil dough recipe:

Cake flour or plain flour 120g

Softened butter 60g

Food colouring to your own liking

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Oil dough instruction:

1. Soften butter using the same method with water dough

2. Mix butter with flour using a small spatula

3. Start to knead with hand, until you get a dough - this dough is not as smooth as the water dough as this one doesn't contain any water

4. Separate the dough into 7 parts - they don't have to be equal sizes, you can have some with bigger ball for colours you'd like to put more in your pastry

5. Put food colouring into each dough, and knead till colours are even

6. Wrap all doughs with cling wrap and put aside

Step 3: Prepare Coconut Filling

Coconut filling recipe:

Desiccated coconut 130g

Icing sugar 80g

Milk powder 40g

Butter 65g

Egg 55g (1 ea)

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Coconut filling instruction:

1. Mix desiccated coconut, icing sugar, and milk powder in one bowl

2. Soften butter, and put in the same bowl and mix roughly with a spatula

3. Mix the egg, and put into the dry ingredients

4. Using a spatula to keep mixing till it forms a dough

5. Cover the filling and put into fridge to chill for about 30 min

Step 4: Water Dough Dividing

Now after making the oil dough and the filling dough, the water dough is rested, and you can start to divide it.

1. Divide the dough into 8 pieces (36g each).

NOTE: Here in the photo I have 16 pieces because I was making double recipe. However for the recipe I gave you in the beginning, you will only need to divide into 8 pieces.

2. Roll the ball with the palm of your hand till it's smooth and round.

3. Put the balls on a tray and cover again with cling wrap.

Step 5: Oil Dough Dividing

Now let's start on dividing our oil dough.

1. Take out one of the colour balls of your puff pastry, and roll it into a long log.

2. Divide it into 8 even pieces

(again, here in the photo I divided into 16 pieces because of the double recipe. You will only need to divide into 8)

3. Roll each piece into a small log shape again and put aside.

4. Repeat this step for all colours.

5. Now you can assemble your rainbow! Put all 7 colours in order, and use a spatula or ruler or scraper to push the sides together, to make them into a rectangular shaped rainbow.

6. Repeat this process for all 8 doughs.

7. Cover with cling wrap for use later

Step 6: Coconut Filling Dividing

Now your coconut filling should be nice and chilled in the fridge.

1. Take the coconut dough out of the fridge, and divide the filling into 16 even pieces (about 23g each)

2. Roll the filling with the palm of your hand till it's round and forms a ball.

3. Put all balls back to fridge for use later. Keep it in the fridge so it will be nice and firm when you wrap it.

Step 7: Make the Puff - 1st Folding

All the mise en place is ready! Now we can move to our actual puff making (which is the fun part).

1. Take out one of the water dough balls, roll it to a small square/rectangle shape.

2. Use a scraper and put the rectangular rainbow oil dough into the middle of the water dough.

3. Fold two ends to cover left and right.

4. Then fold again to cover the top and bottom.

5. Pinch the joint together firmly and make sure there's no gap.

6. Repeat this for all 8 doughs.

Step 8: Make the Puff - 2nd Folding

1. Flip the dough you just pinched, so the joint is on the bottom, and roll it out from the middle.

2. Start with the direction of my finger in this photo, roll out to the top, and then roll back to the bottom.

3. Now you will have a thin rectangle dough with all colours inside (start to see the rainbow!).

4. Flip this dough again so the joint is facing upwards.

5. Roll it from the top till the bottom.

6. You will now have a long log with a joint.

7. Again put the joint on the bottom and put it aside, remember to cover with cling wrap again.

8. Repeat this process for all 8 doughs.

Step 9: Make the Puff - 3rd Folding

1. Now move back to the first dough you rolled, and push it down with your hand.

2. Roll it out from the middle as directed with my finger.

3. You will have a long, thin dough with colours arranging horizontally.

4. Flip the dough to put the joint upwards, and start to roll from one end.

NOTE: The colour you rolled inside will be on the top. For example here I started to roll with pink inside and blue and purple outside, so my finished product will have pink on top. Vice versa.

5. Now you will have 8 small and fat rolls, cover with cling wrap to rest it.

Step 10: Cutting and Wrapping

1. Take out one of the rolls, and use a sharp knife to cut from the middle.

2. Put the cut side on top and now you can see the rainbow pattern- isn't it beautiful!

3. Gently press it down with your hand, and flip the dough, roll it out on the back (this way you won't ruin the pattern).

4. Now put a coconut ball into the dough, using the thumb and index finger to pinch the joint. And your puff pastry is ready!

5. Repeat this step for all 16 doughs.

Step 11: Baking & Finishing

Now it's time to bake!

1. Put your puff pastries on a tray, and heat your oven at 170°C (340°F).

2. Bake your rainbow pastries for 30 min.

3. You can rotate your tray in the middle for a more even baking result.

4. And viola! Your little rainbow puff balls are ready to eat!

Step 12: Tips and Notes

It's actually not hard at all when you started to make it. A few repeating steps but the result is rewarding. Below are some tips and notes for you to help you succeed!

Notes:

1. Please give enough time for your dough to rest between each step. This way you won't have a broken pastry and the layers will be much prettier.

2. If you room temperature is too hot, you can chill the dough when resting them. However don't make the dough too hard otherwise it will break when you roll it out.

3. If you're vegan, you can also use coconut oil, but the layer won't be as nice as with butter or lard.

4. The food colouring I used was AmeriColor. I used a combination of blue and purple to created the indigo colour. If you use a different brand or different type, please start with one tiny drop to test it, as each food colouring is a bit different from the other. You can always add more if you want to. I do prefer a more pastel rainbow colour in my food rather than a vibrant neon colour.

Tips:

1. You can also use single colour or 2 colours for the puff pastry for variation.

2. You can also arrange the colours any other way you like, or roll them in the opposite direction to have different colour patterns.

2. You can also use any other filling you like for this pastry, just make sure it's chilled when wrapping it.

Hope you'll like this Instructable, I wish you healthy, safe, and have fun baking at home :)