Fresh Fruit Napoleon

As I mentioned in my vanilla pudding post, I originally meant to make a Fruit Napoleon. Well, here it is. This recipe is a fun one. It is light, tasty, and can be changed based on fruit preferences and what is in season.

The Napoleon is the American name for the French pastry Mille-feuille. A traditional Napoleon is made up of three layers of puff pastry with two layers of crème pâtissière. Toppings can range from icing, chocolate or sugar.

My version is slightly different than the traditional dessert. Here I have a single layer of crème filled with blueberries and garnished with a strawberry.

Process

Making a good puff pastry can be a challenging process. It involves keeping the dough at a specific temperature, rolling butter over and butter in and letting the pastry rest. So far, I have not taken the time to make my own so I cheat and use commercially available puff pastry. One of these days I will get around to it, but now these work great.

Remove the puff pastry out of the freezer and let soften up a bit, about 10 minutes or so. Afterwards cut the pastry into squares of equal size. Take the squares and put onto a baking sheet. Cover with some plastic wrap and place into the fridge to soften up them for about 15 minutes.

Once the pastries are ready, remove from the fridge and brush the beaten egg onto the top and sprinkle with the sugar. I used some packets of Sugar in the Raw. The larger crystals really bake well onto the tops and add some good texture.

Bake the pastries for 12-15 minutes. As you can see, I over did mine a bit, but they still turned out fine. Let the pastries cool for about 15 minutes and then cut in half. Set aside while you work on making the crème filling.

With an electric mixer, whip the cream on a slow setting until frothy. This will take about 1-2 minutes. Then increase the speed to high and whip until smooth and thick. The cream should double in volume and take about 3 minutes to get a nice texture. Add in the pudding and vanilla and whip until stiff.

Cover the bottom half of the pastry with the crème filling, put in some fruit of your choice. Here I used blueberries but you can use anything you want. Seasonal fruit, favorites, mixed berries, chocolate shavings, almonds, whatever. Top with more filling and place the upper half of the pastry on top. 

To finish off this light and tasty dessert, I dusted with confectioners' sugar, added a strawberry and garnished with a mint leaf.

Fresh Fruit Napoleon

Ingredients

1 sheet puff pastry
1 large egg
1/4 cup sugar, granulated
3/4 cup whipping cream
1 1/2 cup Vanilla Pudding
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 quart fresh fruit of your choice (or some other filling)
some confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 425°F. Cut the puff pastry into squares and transfer to a baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let soften in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.
2. After softening, brush the rectangles with the beaten egg. Sprinkle with the sugar (larger crystals work better) and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden. Remove and let cool. Cut the puff pastries in half and set aside.
3. Whip the cream with an electric mixer. Start out slow for about two minutes, then increase the speed until the cream doubles in volume. Add in the pudding and vanilla and whip until thick.
4. Take the bottom half of the pastry squares and cover with the fresh crème. Top with the fruit or filling of your choice and spread with more crème.
5. Top off with the tops and dust with confectioners' sugar. Garnish as desired.