Hey hey it’s my birthday! And did someone ask for a little slice of heaven for dessert? Because I brought you some! Smooth, thick, creamy vanilla deliciousness between layers of delicate puff pastry and a simple fruit glaze on top. Readily available in Australia, this is my father’s favorite dessert. I kid you not when I say it has taken me 2 years to perfect the recipe and make it the way they make it at A Touch of Europe Bake House in Manly, Australia. I’m still not sure it’s QUITE there… but probably about as close as I’ll come. It’s kind of hard to know when I only get to re-sample one of theirs every 3 or 4 years for comparison… Either way, it tastes amazing. No worries about that fact!
I miss Australia so much. If I weren’t so pale, I’d quite like to up and move there. Skin cancer aside, you can’t bring livestock into the country, either. Cupcake counts 🙁 But it’s such a special treat to visit my family every few years… And while here in NC we have the splendid little cardinal, over in Sydney they have the Rainbow Lorikeet:
Kind of puts my little cardinal friends to shame, eh? Anyway, for a nice reminder of Australia at (almost) any time, I can make these!
Vanilla Slice
Ingredients:
- 32 oz. Half & Half
- 16 oz. Heavy Cream
- 1/2 Cup White Sugar
- 1 Vanilla Bean
- 2 Tbsp. All Purpose Flour
- 2 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter
- 1/2 tsp. Sea Salt
- 5 Egg Yolks
- 2 Sheets Frozen Puff Pastry
For Glaze:
- 2 Tbsp. Passion Fruit Pulp*
- 2 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter
- 1/4-1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
Preheat oven to 400°. In a large saucepan over medium heat, slowly melt butter.
Whisk together Half & Half and Flour. Flour is better to add through a sifter so that it will not clump as it is being added. Slowly pour mixture into saucepan as butter is melting and stir continuously. Add Heavy Cream.
It would be wise to begin the next 2 processes now before the mixture really heats up, or to even prepare them before you start anything:
Separate the egg yolks. Put them in a bowl and give them a gentle whisking, set aside.
Slice open one Vanilla Bean lengthwise and scrape out the little seeds. Add seeds and bean to the creamy mixture. Keep stirring! This recipe requires a lot of stirring, otherwise it will become lumpy. As mixture heats up, slowly add sugar and salt.
Place 2 Thawed Puff Pastry Sheets in oven and bake according to package directions: Most likely 15 minutes at 400. Continue to stir your mixture! When Puff Pastry is done baking, set aside to cool. Turn off oven 😉
About 30 minutes into cooking your creamy filling, you will want to do this next step. Turn the heat down a little so stirring is a little less mandatory for a minute. Scoop out a ladle’s worth of creamy filling and very slowly pour into the bowl with the egg yolks, whisking the yolks the entire time. Whisk whisk whisk!
Then, also very slowly, pour the egg/cream mixture back into the saucepan, stirring continuously. This process prevents the egg from cooking before it blends with the cream, which would cause it to have chunky bits of yolk in it 🙁
Turn the heat back up to medium. Don’t those vanilla bean flecks look delightful?
Continue to stir as mixture thickens and reduces. Total cooking time for the cream filling will be somewhere between an hour and an hour 15. To test whether or not the mixture is ready, I like to take a teaspoon full and stick it in the fridge for a couple of minutes. If it’s thick and a bit bouncy, it’s ready! If not, cook it a little longer 😉 When desired consistency is reached, remove the vanilla bean pod, remove from heat, and continue to stir as it cools.
To prepare the puff pastry: In an 8×8 Brownie Pan, place 1 of the Puff Pastry sheets at the bottom. The other sheet needs to be separated into 2 pieces:
I do this by using a serrated knife and gently “sawing” it apart. I hope the photo demonstrates this clearly, you do not cut the sheet in half, but rather through the center to create a top and bottom. As you’re preparing this, make sure you stir the custard a little occasionally along the way.
When the custard has cooled for about 10-15 minutes, pour 1/2 of mixture into the Brownie Pan. Place 1/2 sheet of Puff Pastry on top, then pour the rest of the custard on top of that, and finally top with the remaining half of Puff Pastry. Leave uncovered to cool at room temperature for 30 minutes.
For glaze: Melt butter in the microwave. Whisk together with passion fruit pulp* (if you can’t find passion fruit or canned pulp, you can alternatively use 1/2 of a pear, pureed, or 1/2 of a peach, pureed). Whisk in powdered sugar until glaze has a medium-thick consistency. Using a basting brush, brush the glaze on top of the entire pastry.
Passion fruit pulp is the best and tastes the most authentic… Plus I love the way the black seeds look! But for my 2nd go-round of photographing these, I was unable to find passion fruit and created a pear glaze instead. Still delicious!
Place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours.
Yum. This will be the easiest to cut when it is straight out of the fridge, but the flavor is much nicer when you let it come closer to room temperature. Cut gently into bars or squares and serve with English Breakfast tea or coffee.
These are very fattening and very addictive. Don’t say I didn’t warn you 😉
And make sure you buy a lovely tea set, eat these while sitting in front of the fireplace, and speak in an Australian or English accent. You will feel so regal 😛
- 32 oz. Half & Half
- 16 oz. Heavy Cream
- ½ Cup White Sugar
- 1 Vanilla Bean
- 2 Tbsp. All Purpose Flour
- 2 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter
- ½ tsp. Sea Salt
- 5 Egg Yolks
- 2 Sheets Frozen Puff Pastry
- 2 Tbsp. Passion Fruit Pulp*
- 2 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter
- ¼-1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, slowly melt butter.
- Whisk together Half & Half and Flour. Flour is better to add through a sifter so that it will not clump as it is being added.
- Slowly pour mixture into saucepan as butter is melting and stir continuously. Add Heavy Cream.
- Separate the egg yolks. Put them in a bowl and give them a gentle whisking, set aside.
- Slice open one Vanilla Bean lengthwise and scrape out the little seeds.
- Add seeds and bean to the creamy mixture. Keep stirring.
- As mixture heats up, slowly add sugar and salt.
- Place 2 Thawed Puff Pastry Sheets in oven and bake according to package directions: Most likely 15 minutes at 400.
- Continue to stir your mixture! When Puff Pastry is done baking, set aside to cool. Turn off oven
- Turn the heat down a little so stirring is a little less mandatory for a minute.
- Scoop out a ladle’s worth of creamy filling and very slowly pour into the bowl with the egg yolks, whisking the yolks the entire time. Whisk whisk whisk!
- Then, also very slowly, pour the egg/cream mixture back into the saucepan, stirring continuously. This process prevents the egg from cooking before it blends with the cream, which would cause it to have chunky bits of yolk in it.
- Turn the heat back up to medium.
- Continue to stir as mixture thickens and reduces. Total cooking time for the cream filling will be somewhere between an hour and an hour 15.
- To test whether or not the mixture is ready, I like to take a teaspoon full and stick it in the fridge for a couple of minutes. If it’s thick and a bit bouncy, it’s ready! If not, cook it a little longer.
- When desired consistency is reached, remove the vanilla bean pod, remove from heat, and continue to stir as it cools.
- In an 8×8 Brownie Pan, place 1 of the Puff Pastry sheets at the bottom. The other sheet needs to be separated into 2 pieces:
- I do this by using a serrated knife and gently “sawing” it apart. You do not cut the sheet in half, but rather through the center to create a top and bottom. As you’re preparing this, make sure you stir the custard a little occasionally along the way.
- When the custard has cooled for about 10-15 minutes, pour ½ of mixture into the Brownie Pan. Place ½ sheet of Puff Pastry on top, then pour the rest of the custard on top of that, and finally top with the remaining half of Puff Pastry. Leave uncovered to cool at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Melt butter in the microwave. Whisk together with passion fruit pulp* (if you can’t find passion fruit or canned pulp, you can alternatively use ½ of a pear, pureed, or ½ of a peach, pureed).
- Whisk in powdered sugar until glaze has a medium-thick consistency.
- Using a basting brush, brush the glaze on top of the entire pastry.
- Place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours.
- This will be the easiest to cut when it is straight out of the fridge, but the flavor is much nicer when you let it come closer to room temperature. Cut gently into bars or squares
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