Mennonite Girls Can Cook is a collection of recipes which were posted daily for a period of ten years from 2008 to 2018. We have over 3,000 delicious recipes that we invite you to try. The recipes can be accessed in our recipe file by category or you can use the search engine.

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Strawberry Napoleon


I found this treasure in the dessert section (page 116 - no name attached) of the Mennonite Treasury of Recipes, easily missed among all of the cakes, puffs and puddings.The reason it caught my eye was because I had recently seen individual strawberry napoleons done up beautifully for a photo in a magazine.  As I compared recipes I noticed the biggest difference being that this one calls for a pie pastry instead of a phyllo pastry. With a few small tweaks in the method I will give you a visual and hopefully inspire you to try this for someone special very soon.

Ingredients:

Pastry
  • 1 3/4 cups flour (original was 2 cups sifted)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/3 cold cup butter
  • 1/3 cup shortening
  • 5 Tbsp cold water
Filling and topping
  • 2 cups milk, divided
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 5 Tbsp flour
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp vanilla powder (optional)
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 2 Tbsp butter
  • 1/2 cup whipping cream
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract 
  • 1 lb strawberries
  • icing sugar for dusting
  • toasted almonds
Method:
  1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
  2. In medium bowl, cut butter and shortening into flour, using pastry blender. Add salt, sprinkle with cold water and stir with fork just until mixture comes together, then shape into a ball. Do not try to knead, the less handling the flakier the crust. Cut into four equal parts.
  3. Shape each part into a small rectangle on floured surface and roll into a 4 x 10 - 12" length . . . check your serving platter to be sure it will fit. Use a bread pan (upside down) as a template to cut sides. Prick with fork.
  4. Bake 2 lengths at a time on prepared cookie sheet for about 15 - 18 minutes, until crisp and golden. Set aside to cool.
  5. In a small pot or saucepan, heat 1 1/2 cups milk to almost boiling. ( skin forms and tiny bubbles appear on the edges) 
  6. In the meantime, in a small bowl, mix sugar, flour, vanilla powder with 1/4 cup milk and egg yolks until smooth. Add the last 1/4 cup milk and whisk into hot milk in pot, stirring until it bubbles.
  7. Remove from heat, stir in butter, then cool in ice water bath and/or place saran wrap directly on pudding and refrigerate to cool completely.
  8. Slice 2 cups strawberries, leaving some whole to decorate the top.
  9. Beat 1/2 cup whipping cream until soft peaks form and add cooled pudding to blend. Stir in strawberries and almond extract.
  10. Dividing filling in three parts, layer pastry with filling, ending with pastry on top. Dust with icing sugar and sprinkle with toasted almonds. Decorate with a row of strawberries, sliced in half. 
  11. Refrigerate and allow to set for 6 - 8 hours.  It's still good the next day, so you can prepare it the night before. I covered it with a big bowl. Serves 8.





7 comments:

  1. Hard to cut into I bet! Looks yummy

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    Replies
    1. I was wondering the same thing. When you cut into it, does it squish apart and make a mess all over the plate?

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    2. It would . . . if you cut it as soon as you fill it. but after allowing it to set for half the day or overnight, it slices up nicely. Some oozes out, but it's all good. Maybe I'll add a photo of a slice.

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  2. That looks beautiful Anneliese. I think our Mennonite Treasury needs an update with photos. Who would of known that we could find this jewel in those pages?

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  3. Really Beautiful Anneliese. Such a gorgeous dessert and I bet it is tasty too.

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  4. this looks so delicious! and i bet it tastes good too!

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