A rich vanilla pastry cream sandwiched between crisp puff pastry, a favorite with Saint John Paul II
Recipe by Polish Housewife on May 1, 2018
Rating
4.7 stars ( reviews)
Ingredients
1 sheet frozen puff pastry
2 cups milk
1 vanilla bean or 3 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup corn starch
1 cup butter
powdered sugar for decorating
Steps
Preheat oven to 425 F, divide frozen puff pastry into two equal pieces, poke at 1 inch intervals with a fork, place on a parchment lined baking sheet, top with parchment, and an upside down cooling rack, bake for 15 minutes, remove top parchment and cooling rack, bake at least 2 minutes more or until golden brown, cool
Pour milk into saucepan, slice vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out seeds and add to milk (or vanilla extract) heat almost to boil
In a bowl beat egg yolks and sugar until light yellow and fluffy, add corn starch and mix until well combined, very slowly (a spoonful at a time in the beginning) add hot milk, stirring constantly
Return mixture to saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring until very thick, some say it should coat the back of a spoon and running your finger through it should leave a clear path, cool to room temp covered with plastic wrap, pushed down on top of the custard to prevent a skin from forming
When completely cool, whisk in softened butter
Depending on the height of the puff pastry, either use one piece as the bottom crust or spilt one and use the bottom half, spread with pastry cream, cover with the second, top half and press gently, use a spatula to smooth out the sides, refrigerate overnight
The next day cut into rectangles with a light sawing motion, not with pressure
Before serving, generously dust with powdered sugar.
Reviews
Penny S. Sumner on 2018-12-30 (3 stars): It is the frozen dessert section of your grocery store, I use Pepperidge Farm brand.
Ann on 2021-11-10 (5 stars): I used the puff pastry cups and filled them with the custard. Topped it with a drizzle of chocolate. Beautiful and delicious.
tammy on 2018-12-14 (5 stars): wow...how many does it feed and how big did you cut the pieces, thanks
Laura Ratliff on 2021-04-03 (5 stars): I just made it and it is in my fridge I will finish it tomorrow morning
Danna R O'Donnell on 2020-08-07 (5 stars): I made this for this evening dessert. It was increadable! A new favorite for us. We severd with fresh summer fruit comport the richness for the cream against the sweet and tang of the fruit was unreal.OUr family of 9 inhaled this. I barely managed to hide a couple pieces for morning coffee.
Paula L Niksa on 2021-04-01 (5 stars): This is awesome....exactly what I experienced in Wadowice when we visited. I had tried several recipes for this previously, but this one nails it! There are 2 things I would comment on - first, once the cream is made, you do need to refrigerate for an hour or so to really let it set....letting it cool is not enough. (Can you tell my first one failed!! :-) ) Second, you can do with a lot less butter....I googled how to make a pastry cream because my first one came out a bit lumpy - I had neglected to keep an aye on it and stir from the start) and most only use 2-4 tablespoons of butter.....I tried it that way the second time and it was indeed enough. This is a delicious recipe -thanks for chasing it down!!!
Linda on 2022-01-31 (5 stars): Lois
I made this for my parish priest who is from Poland.
When he took his first bite…. A tear ran down his cheek…. I said …I guess I got the right recipe…he finished his first piece without saying a word. Then said
“ it’s just like I was eating it in Poland”
Thanks Lois.
