Showing posts with label Napoleons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Napoleons. Show all posts

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Banana Cream Napoleons

Napoleons are cream “sandwiches” made with crispy puff pastry and filled with custard and whipped cream. Banana Cream Napoleans include, of course, sweet bananas.

Food Lust People Love: Napoleons are cream “sandwiches” made with crispy puff pastry and filled with custard and whipped cream. Banana Cream Napoleans include, of course, sweet bananas.

This week’s Sunday Supper theme is, of course, Valentines’ Day, so when I was contemplating what might be a good treat for my sweetie, it had to be something banana cream related.  Everyone knows how much he loves banana cream pie, but I thought I would pretty it up and create a banana cream Napoleon.

Napoleons are cream “sandwiches” made with crispy puff pastry and filled with custard and whipped cream. You find them in all the windows of fancy pastry shops, where, sadly, you do not find banana cream pie. More's the pity. This rendition would rectify that.

The banana cream Napoleons came out lovely, and my husband enjoyed them but, in the spirit of full disclosure, I have to tell you that he did ask why I was trying to improve on perfection and said, in future, he’d still rather have his ideal, the banana cream pie. All right. All right. Duly noted!

They were fun to make and I was pleased.  (I am thinking my next Napoleon might be completely untraditional.  Savory with whipped cream cheese and vegetable fillings, perhaps.  Wouldn't that be nice for a ladies' lunch?)

Ingredients for two large Napoleons
Vanilla custard – made from this recipe here, or your own, and chilled till set
About 17.5 oz or 500g puff pastry (A little more or less won’t matter.)
Flour for rolling out pastry
3 1/2 oz or 100g powdered or icing sugar (A little more than 3/4 cup)
3 1/2 teaspoons milk (You may not use it all.  Add gradually!)
1 large banana
1 cup whipping cream

Method
Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and line your baking sheet with parchment paper.

Sprinkle on a little flour and roll out your puff pastry dough till it’s about this thin as in my photo and pretty much covers your baking sheet.  I stick a piece of cling film to the countertop first because it makes lifting the puff pastry easier once it's rolled out.




Roll the pastry over your rolling pin and transfer it to the lined baking sheet.



Use a fork to dock the pastry (poke holes in it) so it doesn’t puff up too much while baking.


Cover it with another piece of parchment paper and top it with another baking sheet.



Bake for about 15 minutes, in your preheated oven.  Remove the top baking sheet and piece of parchment and bake for a further 15-20 or until the pastry is a nice golden color.

Just after the top baking sheet and parchment were removed. 

While your pastry is baking, whip your cream into firm peaks.  Pop it in the refrigerator until you need it.

Remove the pastry from the oven and transfer it to a large cutting board.  Trim off the sides so you have a nice straight rectangle.


Use a measuring tape to figure out how to cut your pastry into eight even rectangles.  The size of each doesn’t really matter, as long as they are equal.  Pick the two flattest and possibly least attractive of your rectangles and set aside to be the tops.  You are going to cover these with glaze any way.

I think traditional Napoleons have only three layers of puff pastry.  But then I've always been an over-achiever. 

In a small bowl, mix your powdered or icing sugar and the first teaspoon of milk.  Stir well.


Add another teaspoon of milk and stir well again.


You are looking for a consistency that will pour but then stay put without running completely off of the puff pastry.  Add just a little more milk until you reach that.  I ended up adding 3 1/2 teaspoons altogether, the last 1/2 teaspoon a 1/4 teaspoon at a time.


Place the two puff pastry rectangles you chose as your tops on a low wire rack with a piece of parchment paper underneath it to catch the glaze run off.  (I reused the one that baked on top of the pastry.)  Spoon the glaze over the two pieces of pastry, using the spoon to gently push the glaze over the sides.



Using a small decorating tip, pipe small lines of custard across the glaze.  Run a toothpick back and forth to create the traditional Napoleon zebra design.


Since I used custard instead of chocolate, the zebra stripe wasn’t exactly traditional or as pretty, but chocolate just wouldn’t fly in banana cream pie. One can only take so many liberties with a beloved recipe. Set the tops aside.


Start your “sandwich” building with one puff pastry rectangle as the base and pipe or spread on vanilla custard first.   I decided piping was much easier since spreading seemed to lift bits of the puff pastry.


Peel one side of your banana and slice it into thin slices with a sharp knife.


Line up about eight (or however many comfortably fit on your rectangle) slices on top of the custard.

Pipe or spread on the whipped cream.  Once again, I opted for piping, using one of the flattish tips meant for leaf-making.


Top with another crispy piece of puff pastry and continue the process – custard, banana, cream, puff pastry - until you are ready to add the top.  Hold the top piece by the edges, so you don’t mess up the zebra pattern and press gently onto the layer of whipped cream.


Repeat with the second Napoleon so you will have two, one for you and one for your sweetie. Eat the balance of the vanilla custard, if any, with a spoon. Same for the whipped cream. Pretend it all came out even. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Food Lust People Love: Napoleons are cream “sandwiches” made with crispy puff pastry and filled with custard and whipped cream. Banana Cream Napoleans include, of course, sweet bananas.

Enjoy!

If you are looking for Valentines’ Day inspiration, you have come to the right place!  Have a look at all the fabulous dishes and sweet treats the #SundaySupper bloggers are featuring this week!

#SundaySupper Valentine’s Day Breakfasts, Apps & Main Dishes:

#SundaySupper Valentine’s Day Sweet Eats:


#SundaySupper Valentine’s Day Drinks:

Pin these Banana Cream Napoleans!


Food Lust People Love: Napoleons are cream “sandwiches” made with crispy puff pastry and filled with custard and whipped cream. Banana Cream Napoleans include, of course, sweet bananas.