Napoleon Pastry Recipes

NAPOLEONS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Roll out three sheets of puff pastry, each to the same size and a thickness of 1/8 inch. Prick with a fork, and place on baking sheets.
• Bake in preheated oven until golden, about 10 minutes.
• In a medium bowl, combine cornstarch and 1/2 cup milk with fingers until smooth. Stir in cake flour and half the sugar. Beat in egg yolks. Set aside.
• In a saucepan over medium heat, bring remaining milk and remaining sugar to a rolling boil. Stir in egg yolk mixture; continue stirring and bring to a boil again. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Let cool.
• In a small saucepan or in the microwave, heat the jam until runny.
• Place one sheet of pastry on a board. Spread with cooled pastry cream to a thickness of 1/2 inch. Place a second pastry sheet over the cream. Brush with fruit glaze. Spread remaining pastry cream over glaze. Top with final pastry sheet and gently compress layers, using a baking sheet to press.
• To make icing, beat together confectioners' sugar and lemon juice with enough of the egg whites to make a creamy consistency like that of a cream soup. Working quickly, color a small portion of the frosting with red food coloring. Frost the top and sides of the assembled pastry with white icing. Pipe parallel lines of red icing on top of dessert, then draw a pick or knife crosswise through icing to make the traditional design. Let icing set before cutting into bars.

MILLE FEUILLE (NAPOLEON PASTRY SHEETS)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a silicone sheet.
• Separate dough at the seams into 4 squares and place on prepared baking sheet. Score the dough all over with the tines of a fork to prevent it from rising too much when baking. Lightly sprinkle dough sheets with white granulated sugar.
• Cover with a sheet of parchment paper and 3 sheets of aluminum foil. Nest another baking sheet on top to apply some pressure to the dough while it bakes.
• Bake in preheated oven 15 minutes; remove top pan and foil and gently peel off the parchment paper. Return pan to oven and bake until pastry is beautifully browned, 10 to 15 minutes. (Optionally, you can bake about 7 minutes after uncovering, then flip sheets over and bake until brown on the other side, another 7 minutes.)
• Transfer to cooling rack and cool completely before cutting.
• Square the sheets by trimming uneven edges off sheets using a sharp serrated knife with light sawing motion to keep the pastry from breaking. Cut each rectangle crosswise into 3 equal smaller rectangles. Use 3 small rectangles per pastry.

NAPOLEON

Steps:

• Make puff pastry strips: Lightly flour a clean work surface. Using a rolling pin, gently roll out dough into a 16-by-18-inch rectangle about 1/8 inch thick, being careful not to press too hard around the edges. Using a pastry wheel or sharp knife, cut rectangle crosswise into thirds, with each strip 6 by 16 inches. Transfer to a baking sheet; dock, or pierce, the dough all over with a fork. Cover with plastic wrap; place in refrigerator 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Transfer to oven; bake until strips are puffed and golden all over, about 14 minutes. Set a baking sheet directly on pastry strips, and continue baking until pastry is cooked through and well browned, about 6 minutes. Remove top baking sheet; bake 4 minutes more. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Using a serrated knife, trim each to 4 1/4 by 12 inches.
• Make the glaze: In a small saucepan, bring heavy cream just to a boil. Place dark chocolate in a bowl, and pour hot cream over chocolate; whisk until chocolate is melted and mixture is combined. Whisk in corn syrup. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl.
• Place white chocolate in a medium heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk until chocolate is melted, and remove from heat. Let cool.
• Using an offset spatula, spread dark chocolate glaze over one side of the flattest puff pastry strip, making sure to coat entire surface. Place white chocolate in a piping cone; pipe thin lines 3/4 inch apart across width of chocolate-coated strip. To create the distinctive flourish, gently drag the tip of a paring knife or a skewer lengthwise through both coatings, in lines perpendicular to the white chocolate lines. Begin at one of the short ends, and make each line 3/4 inch apart. Alternate the direction each time.
• Place one of the unglazed puff pastry strips on a serving tray. Spread half the pastry cream over the top, leaving a 1/2-inch border all around. Top with remaining unglazed pastry strip; press down gently, and repeat with remaining pastry cream. Top with glazed pastry strip. Transfer to refrigerator, and chill 30 minutes uncovered. Using a long serrated knife, cut into six pieces, and serve.

MILLES FEUILLES (NAPOLEON PASTRY)

Steps:

• For the pastry cream: Put 2 1/2 cups milk, sugar, vanilla and almond extracts in a small boil to come to the boil.
• Dissolve the corn flour in the remaining milk and pour into hot milk.
• Whisk the corn flour into the milk and turn off heat.
• Beat the egg yolks in a medium-sized bowl and slowly whisk in some of the hot milk into the yolks, whisking all the while.
• Do this until you have incorporated nearly all the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly, to temper the yolks.
• Add any leftover milk mixture and place a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard.
• Refrigerate and cool completely.
• For whipped cream: Place all ingredients in mixer bowl and whip until snowy peaks form.
• Remove 1/3 of whipped cream and fold into pastry cream.
• For pastry: Preheat oven to 425F.
• Take 1 sheet of puff pastry and lay out flat, with long side facing you.
• Cut in 1/2 lengthwise.
• Repeat with other sheet of puff pastry, so you have 4 equal pieces.
• Butter a cookie sheet or baking pan large enough to contain the puff pastry pieces and place the pastry on the cookie sheet.
• Pierce the pastry all over with a fork.
• Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, then reduce temperature to 300F and bake a further 35-40 minutes (pastry should be baked through and a deep golden-brown).
• To assemble: Place 1 sheet of pastry on a platter, spread with half of pastry cream, ensuring you don't spread all the way out to the edges of the pastry.
• Place another sheet of pastry over and spread with remainder of pastry cream.
• Place third sheet of pastry over and spread top and sides of assembled pastry with whipped cream.
• Crumble up the fourth pastry sheet with your hands and sprinkle broken pieces of pastry on top of whipped cream and press some onto sides.
• Place in refrigerator for 1/2 hour to set.
• Just before serving, place 2 tblsps of icing sugar into a sieve and sieve directly over cake.
• Serve immediately.
• This is a dessert that is quick to make and assemble but has to be eaten close to making, otherwise the puff pastry absorbs moisture and becomes soggy.
• Note: A very nice variation is to thinly spread the first and second puff pastry sheet (the ones that you spread with the custard) with a thin scraping of seedless raspberry jam before you spread with custard.