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Recipes

malted vanilla ice cream with kit kat

This ice cream was a challenge. Not because making ice cream from scratch is a difficult thing—I’ve made it many times before with success. But because sometimes I loose my head at the grocery store, throw reason out the window and buy something as a ‘substitute’ that should never, never be used as a substitute.

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It was a Tuesday night and I was making ice cream for our supper club later in the week. We were responsible for dessert and I’d brainstormed a glorious candy-filled concoction. I figured I’d make the custard quickly before Jordan got home from work and we sat down to dinner. I was already feeling a bit on edge before I began this culinary project, but like I’ve mentioned before, there is nothing like cooking to help me find my center. Except when a crucial error in judgment sends the whole thing into a sticky, custardy, teary tailspin. You can probably guess which ensued that fateful Tuesday.

Dear readers, Ovaltine, though technically a malted milk beverage, is NOT malted milk powder. Don’t let any discussion forum or milk wiki on the internet convince you otherwise. And don’t try and talk yourself into it after you’ve already been to four grocery stores and not one of them sold true malted milk powder. Let me just say it again: Ovaltine is not a viable substitute for malted milk, in any cooking context.

Thankfully, Jordan got home just as I was warming the milk and cream to add to my eggy-Ovaltine blend of poor decision making and pulled the emergency break on this disaster. This is how it went down.

J: Why are those eggs so brown? I thought malted milk was white? How much did you use?

E: I … I … I went to four grocery stores. I couldn’t find malted milk powder ANYWHERE. I even went up to the market all way up the hill. I was there forever trying to find it.  So looked it up online to see if I could substitute something. Some internet people say you can substitute Ovaltine. It’s probably fine ……………(panic)……………… It’s probably horrible. I’m such an idiot. I just ruined five eggs. Five beautiful eggs. They were from our CSA, you know. And now we’re out of eggs. And the city of San Francisco still won’t offer up any malted milk powder. (Collapse in heap on kitchen floor).

J: Well, before you add the milk, did you even taste it?

E: No. (Shame face).

J: Sutter Fine Foods has malted milk powder. Let me show you.

E: (Grumble, sniff, grab purse).

And so we walked down to the corner store on our block, Jordan led me to the baking section, grabbed a container of Carnation Malted Milk Powder from the top shelf and beamed. I may have muttered something about how this was the most damn annoying ice cream that I’ll ever make, paid the cashier, and scampered up the stairs to correct my mistakes of earlier in the evening.

With actual Carnation malted milk powder instead of Ovaltine, my custard was a beautiful pale yellow, and the final ice cream was delicious. There is nothing like the combination of malted milk, vanilla and kit kat to make a person forget the trials that led them to that delicious end. And, if you heed my advice and don’t get lured to the Ovaline dark side, you too can enjoy a perfect ice cream without the drama.

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Malted Vanilla Ice Cream with Kit Kat, adapted from Bi-Rite Market’s Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones
5 egg yolks
1/2 cup malted milk powder (we used Carnation)
1 3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup 1% or 2% milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 Kit Kat bars, chopped

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Add the malted milk powder and whisk together.

In a saucepan over medium heat, warm the cream, milk, sugar and salt together. Bring just to a simmer. Whisk about 1/2 cup of the milk mixture into the egg yolks, pouring the hot milk slowly into the eggs to temper them. Add another 1/2 cup of milk into the eggs. Then pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk.

Put a mesh strainer over a medium sized bowl or tupperware. Fill a large bowl with ice and water.

Over medium heat, stir the milk and egg mixture until it begins to thicken. When the ice cream base could coat a spoon, pour it through a mesh strainer into a bowl or tupperware. Cool the base in the ice water bath, stirring occasionally. Refrigerate the base overnight.

The next day, add the vanilla to the ice cream base. Pour it into your ice cream maker and freeze according to your maker’s instructions. Meanwhile, chop up the kit kats.

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When the custard is just about frozen, add the kit kat pieces. Serve right away or put into a tupperware and freeze for another few hours to harden completely.

-Emily

Categories
Recipes

apple galette

A  weekends or two ago, we had our friend David over for dinner. David is usually in far off places like Thailand, Tajikistan or the Democratic Republic of Congo doing amazing, amazing work, and so it not often that he comes over for dinner. There really is nothing like dinner with old friends to make you feel like yourself again. Eating a meal with David is one of the best things for the soul, for my soul at least. Fortunately, for the next year or so he is stuck in Palo Alto learning lots, which means many more meals with David are in our future. I couldn’t be happier about it.

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Onto the food. Fall is undeniably here even in temperate San Francisco, and so we roasted a chicken and vegetables to celebrate. In the spirit of fall, I thought it only fitting to make an apple galette for dessert. I’m not sure why it took me so long to discover the galette. As it turns out, galettes are everything that is wonderful about pie, but with an increased crust to filling ratio—a major pro in my book—and a far less fussy preparation. Because you simply fold a sheet of pastry around the filling, they are so easy to make. This particular apple galette turned out beautifully—rustic and delicious. I’m certain there will be many more galettes in our future, ideally eaten with David.

Apple Galette
For the Pie Crust 

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
about 5 tablespoons ice water

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In a food processor, combine flour and salt. Remove the butter from the fridge and cut into 1 inch cubes. Add them to the flour mixture. Process until the butter chunks are about the size of peas. Add the water and pulse a few times to combine. Divide into two equal balls, flatten into 1″ thick discs, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight.

For the filling (for one galette, to serve 3 or 4 people)
3 large apples, peeled and cut into slices about 1/2″ thick
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
a pinch of nutmeg
a pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon milk or cream
sugar for dusting

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Preheat your oven to 375° F. Line a baking pan or cookie sheet with tin foil. In a large bowl, combine the apples, lemon juice, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Roll out the crust until it is about 1/4 inch thick. In the center of the crust, mound the apple filling. Fold the dough up around the filling, take care to make sure that there aren’t any holes in the crust where the filling could leak out.

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Place the galette back in the fridge for about 15 minutes for the butter in the dough to firm up. Meanwhile, whisk together the egg yolk with the cream or milk. Remove the galette from the fridge and brush with the egg mixture. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until the crust is golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

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-Emily

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Recipes

sucré chocolate bar giveaway! {closed}

Congratulations David “Panda” L! You’ve won our giveaway! Thanks to everyone who participated! 

Hurray! Today is the day that you can win a suite of tasty chocolate bars!

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These beautiful chocolate bars are from Sucré, an artisanal sweet boutique in New Orleans specializing in macaronschocolates and baked goods, like the infamous mardi gras king cake.

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Isn’t that rose and pistachio bar just gorgeous! It’s as tasty as it is pretty, I’ll have you know. Jordan’s favorite bar was the Nibs and Brittle. But, you don’t have to take our word for it, you could have the opportunity to taste for yourself!

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Enter to win this Milk Chocolate Bar Collection from Sucré by commenting below! Giveaway is limited to the contiguous USA only and closes Friday, October 4th at 11:59 PST. We’ll choose one winner randomly. Comment away!

Congratulations David “Panda” L! You’ve won our giveaway! Thanks to everyone who participated! 

-Emily

Categories
Recipes

chocolate chip zucchini bread

It’s late summer which means that you probably have zucchini the size of toddlers growing in your backyard or left on your doorstep in the night by a neighbor or delivered in your CSA box. This recipe is here to help you out. We made several variations, tweaking the recipe each time to maximize the amount of zucchini used, minimize refined sugar and retain deliciousness. I won’t claim this bread is healthy, but I also don’t think you should feel guilty eating it for breakfast. You are using up those zucchini after all.

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Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3 eggs
2/3 cup coconut oil (or vegetable oil)
1 cup crushed pineapple
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups zucchini, shredded
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup flaked coconut, toasted (optional – we did it once, but didn’t repeat for the next few batches)

Preheat your oven to 325° F. Grease two loaf pans with butter and dust with flour.

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Combine flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, pineapple and sugar.  Add grated zucchini into to the other wet ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined.

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Stir in walnuts, chocolate chips and coconut if using. Divide batter into two loaf pans. Bake 30 – 40 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out dry.

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Enjoy! For breakfast, lunch and dessert!

Categories
Recipes

chipwiches!

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It’s the first ever Popsicle Week here on the old bloggity. We’ll be featuring a few recipes by yours truly and some other gems from rest of the participating food blogiverse. 26 bloggers, 26+ popsicles. It’s a popsicle party and you’re invited.

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First, just to buck non-existent tradition, we’re starting off with chipwiches! While not at all a popsicle, chipwiches are a novelty ice cream treat that can be procured in the same section of the grocery store as popsicles. Also, they are very delicious. Based on these facts alone, I’ve deemed it acceptable to submit a non-popsicle as my first entry into these great popsicle olympics.

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Vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two chocolate chip cookies, chipwiches are as delicious as they are decadent. They show none of the healthy restraint of a fruit pop, nor are they a particularly revolutionary dessert. But, they are dang good and every time I visit the corner store, I consider grabbing one, and that really is enough for me.

Chipwiches!
For the cookies
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (Guittard is king)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. In the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the sugars and beat a few minutes more. Beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add the flour mixture and stir to combine. Add the chocolate chips.

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Spoon well-rounded tablespoons onto a cookie sheet. Take care to make your spoonfuls as even as possible. Sandwiching does require a certain degree of precision. Bake 8 – 10 minutes, until just starting to brown on the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool.

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To assemble
1 quart vanilla ice cream (We’ve done a lot of testing and Trader Joe’s Vanilla Ice Cream is our current favorite. If you’re feeling feisty, you could make your own, but that’s bonus points.)
a large-ish spoon
a cup of warm water
a parchment paper lined cookie sheet
room in your freezer

Once your cookies have cooled, remove the ice cream from the freezer. Put the cookies (two for each sandwich you want to make—we made 8) on the parchment lined sheet and let them sit in the freezer for 15 minutes. Let the ice cream soften for 15 minutes to make it easier to scoop and shape.

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Using a large spoon, spoon a few decent scoops of ice cream onto your base cookie. You can rinse the spoon in warm water between scoops if your ice cream is sticking too much to your spoon and giving you trouble. Top the ice cream mound with another cookie and smooth the edges to make sure you’ve got a firm adherence between ice cream and cookie. Return the chipwich the cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the cookies. Return the chipwiches to the freezer and freeze for another hour to two. After a few hours in the freezer, the chipwiches will meld, transitioning from separate ice cream and cookie entities to a chipwich sum greater than its parts (depending on who you ask around here).

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We recommend you eat chipwiches for dessert after a large meal of burgers and fries.  You want the true American summer experience, after all.

-Emily

Categories
Recipes

how to make perfect french macarons

I’m the type who likes projects. While I enjoy cooking dinner each night for my little family and our friends, what really gets me excited is a new project. I like the research phase at the start of a project and the challenge of stepping up my game and out of my comfort zone. And I love the satisfaction of making something I’ve never made before, especially if it turns out right. I also love losing myself in a project, letting my worries slip away for a few hours and focusing in on the task at hand. It’s why I started cooking in the first place and probably why I’ll never stop. These projects are freeing for an overactive worrier like myself. My mind gets a break, and in the end, I usually have something delicious to show for it.

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I decided to try my hand at french macarons last weekend. I had a free day, no plans at all. After a pep talk from Jordan the day before, it was settled and the research commenced. I read lots of recipes, read horror stories of macarons gone awry, read encouraging posts assuring me that it wasn’t nearly as hard as everyone claimed.

I’m happy to say, this will be one of those encouraging posts. It really is not as hard as you’d expect. Yes, precision is necessary and some understanding of a few key techniques is helpful, but if you’re mindful, you can make perfect a french marcaron the first go round.

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The recipe I used is from a wonderful pastry blog Brave Tart. I’m positive her recipe and tips are the reason my macarons were a success the first time around. Thank you Stella!

French Macaron with Vanilla, Passionfruit or Blackberry Buttercream, adapted from Brave Tart
For the cookies
4 oz | 115 grams almond meal or almond flour (you can also grind blanched almonds in a food processor until powdery)
8 oz | 230 grams powdered sugar
5 oz | 144 grams egg whites
2.5 oz | 72 grams sugar
1/2 teaspoon | 2 grams kosher salt
the scrapings of 1 vanilla bean or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

First, before we get into how to make the recipe, let’s talk about measuring the ingredients. Measurements by volume (cups, teaspoons, etc) are a bad idea for delicate pastry. Really, we all should always bake by weight and never volume because there can be such huge discrepancies between how each person measures one cup. There are also other intervening factors like humidity that can throw volume measurements off. So save yourself some macaron grief, and get a kitchen scale. Measuring ingredients by weight is not only more accurate, but I’m sure you’ll find that it is actually faster and easier.

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. If you have an oven thermometer, put it in the oven to double check the temperature. If your oven is too hot, your cookies will cook unevenly or their shells will crack and crumble as they rise. Move both racks towards the center of your oven to ensure the cookies get the most even heat. See what I mean about precision? Not overwhelmingly difficult, but necessary.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper. I traced 1.5″ circles on my parchment paper so that I would have something to trace when I piped the cookies onto the sheet. It’s important that the cookie shells are all about the same size because you sandwich two together.

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Insert a plain round tip into a pastry bag. This is for piping the macarons onto the baking sheet.  Here are some great tips on how to easily fill a pastry bag if the task seems daunting.

Sift together the almond flour and powdered sugar into a medium bowl. You’ll have a spoonful or two of little almond granules that are larger than the rest and don’t sift through, just discard those. Separate your egg whites from the yolks. Put your yolks in the fridge and save them to make pastry cream for a raspberry napoleon.

In the bowl of your mixer, combine egg whites, sugar, vanilla bean (not the extract if you’re using that) and salt. Mix on medium power (4 on a Kitchen Aid) for three minutes.

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Increase the speed to medium-high (7 on Kitchen Aid) and whip for another three minutes.

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Increase the speed to high (8 on Kitchen Aid) and whip for another three minutes.  Turn the mixer off and add any extracts or colors here. Whip on high for another minute to incorporate. The mixture should look like a very stiff, dry meringue and should clump inside the whisk. If it isn’t very stiff, beat for another minute or two until it is. Aren’t the vanilla bean flecks just the cutest!

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Add the almond flour and powdered sugar to the meringue.  Using a large spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the meringue. It will take quite a while to fully incorporate. The purpose of this step is to deflate the meringue so don’t worry about knocking it around a little bit.

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Stella’s recipe was astoundingly accurate for me. She said it would take about 40 folds to incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet and get a good batter consistency and she was right. You want a batter that is thin enough to pipe, but not so thin it runs all over the baking sheet. She describes the texture as “molten” if that helps you. Mixing the ingredients thoroughly is important so be sure to scrape the sides the bowl several times while mixing. Streaks of unmixed meringue could also cause your cookies to crack in the oven.

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Once your batter is mixed, spoon it into a pastry bag. I’d recommend you only fill the bag about two-thirds full and then tie the top with a rubber band. Make the piping easier on yourself, don’t overstuff the bag! With a 10″ pastry bag, I only had to refill twice. Not bad.

Pipe small circles onto your parchment lined baking sheet. Let the cookies sit for a few minutes on the counter to settle. Rap the trays hard on the counter several times. Don’t be shy about it.  This removes the air bubbles that could also cause your shells to crack in the oven. I didn’t rap my first batch with quite enough vigor and most of my cookies came out with cracked shells. While cracked shells do nothing to harm the flavor, take this easy step to avoid them. For my second batch, I hit the tray hard against the counter about 10 times taking care to rotate it 90 degrees for a few of the raps and the shells came out perfectly.

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Bake the cookies at 300 degrees for 18 minutes. You should be able to peel the parchment away from the macaron without tearing out the center of the cookie. I’d test on a corner cookie before removing the sheet from the oven. Remove the cookies the oven and let them cool on the trays. Use a metal spatula to detach the cookies from the parchment after they are completely cooled.

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Below you can see the difference between a perfect shell and a cracked shell. The top of the cracked shell will sort of crumble and collapse when you fill it with cream, while the good shell will remain intact. Both are delicious though so don’t dispair if your shells crack!

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Once cooled, fill the macarons with the buttercream of your choice. I did vanilla, passionfruit and blackberry. All were divine!

For the filling
1/2 cup sugar
2 large egg whites
12 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
3 tablespoons passionfruit syrup (mine was made from 4 oz of frozen passionfruit pulp and 1/2 cup sugar simmered together for 30 minutes and strained)
3 tablespoons blackberry syrup (mine was made from 4 oz of frozen blackberries and 1/2 cup sugar simmered together for 30 minutes   and strained of the seeds)

In a bowl over a pot of simmering water, combine the sugar and egg whites. Heat the egg and sugar mixture until you cannot feel the sugar granules when you rub the mixture between your fingers.  Transfer mixture into the mixer and whip until it turns white and about doubles in size. Add the vanilla. Finally, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time and whip, whip, whip. It will look like your buttercream is ruined for a few minutes. Don’t dispair! It will come together if you just keep whipping.

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Once the buttercream is has been whipped into submission, put two thirds of it another bowl. To the remaining third, add the 3 tablespoons of blackberry syrup. Whip, whip, whip again until the syrup is incorporated. Remove that from the mixer, wash the bowl and whisk and then add another 1/3 of the frosting. Add 3 tablespoons of passionfruit syrup and whip whip whip!

Put the filling in a disposable pastry bag with a round tip. Pipe about a teaspoon of filling onto the flat side of the macaron cookie. Sandwich the cream between another cookie. Continue with the rest of the cookies, alternating fillings if you’d like.

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The surprisingly truth about macarons? They only get more tasty as they age. While they are delicious the first day, they are insanely good on the second and third days once the cream and cookie have really melded together and become one. Store your cookies in a tupperware in the refrigerator, but let set them out for about an hour before serving to let the buttercream warm up a bit before you eat them. The texture is even more pleasant when you let them warm a bit.

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I am absolutely stoked with how these came out. They were delicious—sweet but not overwhelmingly so. Their texture was incredible—a crunchy exterior that shatters when you bite into it revealing a creamy, chewy interior. The passionfruit filling was positively addicting. Plus they are adorable.  I’ll be making them again very soon.

-Emily

Categories
Giveaway

sucré macarons giveaway {closed}

Today is an exciting day! Today you have the chance to win these delicious cookies!

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Before you think, “Dang, Emily, you’ve gotten so good at making delicate french pastries. And snap, that packing is impressive for a food blog,” I’ll clarify. I have yet to attempt the difficulties of the french macron—though the idea will eternally be bouncing around in my head. These beautiful macrons are from Sucré, an artisanal sweet boutique in New Orleans specializing in macarons and chocolates and glorious baked goods.

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They kindly send Jordan and me a box of their delicious macrons, which we promptly devoured in one sitting. Our plan was just to have one as an after work snack before starting dinner, but these cookies are good—impossible to just have one good. I was a big fan of pistachio and dark chocolate, Jordan was torn between pecan and salted caramel.

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We know you’ll love them too, which is why we’re happy to say that Sucré has offered to send a box to one of our readers. Comment below to enter to win some of these delightful confections delivered right to your door! Giveaway ends next Tuesday June 18th so get on it!  Giveaway closed. Congratulations Elisabeth Springer! Thanks for playing along everyone!

sucre-macaron-1-Emily

 

Categories
Recipes

granola-coated nuts

I made these nuts as a topping for ice cream, but they would be pretty good topping just about anything. Crunchy, toasty and slightly sweet with just a hint of salt—they incapsulate all of the best parts of granola. Go get yourself some nuts and whip these up. You won’t regret it.

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One year ago: To Cook a Crab
Two years ago: Sage Grilled Cheese

Granola-Coated Walnuts and Pecans, from Smitten Kitchen
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/4 cup pepitas, pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
a few pinches of kosher or sea salt
1 egg white
2 teaspoons water
4 cups walnuts and/or pecans (I did a combo)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line two baking sheets with tinfoil.

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In a food processor, process oats, coconut, pepitas, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt until well chopped. Don’t overprocess though; it shouldn’t be powdery.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg white and water together. Toss the nuts in the egg white mixture. Pour the granola mixture into the bowl of nuts. Use your hands to gently stir to coat all of the nuts.

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Pour onto the baking sheets and spread into a single layer. No need to separate the nuts apart – you can do that after baking. Pour any granola mixture that didn’t adhere to the nuts over the top of them.  Bake for 20 – 30 minutes, tossing once while cooking, until the nuts are nice and toasty. Let cool and then break larger chunks apart.

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Top your ice cream with them, or your yogurt, or your oatmeal or just eat them plain—these are pretty much irresistible, hence the double batch.

-Emily

Categories
Randomness

christmas cookie time!

Last Sunday I had some lovely ladies over to bake Christmas cookies. And boy did we do it up … sugar cookies, chocolate cookies, chocolate and vanilla pinwheels, lemon-ricotta cookies, biscotti, two types of mexican wedding cookies, black and whites, plus peppermint bark and chocolate-pumpkin truffles. It was six hours of baking awesomeness. Here are some photos from the day. Recipes might come if I’m feeling frisky over Christmas.

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Hope you’re enjoying your holidays so far!

-Emily

Categories
Recipes

raspberry napoleon

This was my first napoleon. I made it for a dinner party with friends. It was delicious and even road public transit (though I’d probably recommend serving it at home – wrapped securely in plastic wrap it does travel, but only ok). Easy to prepare once you’ve mastered pastry cream, this napoleon is summery and delightful. Like a pie, but better! You can make it a few hours ahead and just take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving.

Raspberry Napoleon 
1 sheet puff pastry (I used store-bought and it was just fine)
2 T corn syrup
2 cups pastry cream
1 pint raspberries

Preheat an oven to 400 degrees. Cut the puff pastry sheet into thirds. Place on a baking sheet and poke with a fork all over. Cook 15, until just browned. Brush with corn syrup and return to the oven for another 5 minutes. Cook until golden brown.

For the pastry cream
2 cups whole milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split in half and scraped
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 T corn starch
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
4 T butter
In a medium saucepan over low heat, heat the milk, vanilla bean and salt until just under a boil. In a medium bowl, whisk together the corn starch, sugar and eggs. Temper the eggs with the hot milk by slowly ladling the milk into the egg mixture.

Pour the egg and milk mixture back into the saucepan. Heat over low heat until it thickens, whisking constantly. It can over cook very easily so be sure to pay close attention to the custard. When the custard can coat the back of a spoon, remove from the heat and pour through a mesh sieve back into the bowl.

Once the custard has cooled slightly, add the butter one tablespoon at a time making sure to mix completely before adding the next tablespoon. Once all of the butter has been added, let the cream cool and place in the fridge or assemble the napoleon.

To assemble the napoleon

Place a layer puff pastry on a plate and top with a layer of pastry cream. Top with another layer of puff pastry and then another layer of pastry cream.

Place the raspberries in rows in the pastry cream and top with another layer of puff pastry dough. The napoleon can be assembled up to six hours in advance and refrigerated. Bring up to room temperature before serving and cut deliberately with a serrated knife.

-Emily