Napoleon Pastry Dessert

Puff Pastry
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper, set aside.
Unfold puff pastry sheet and trim edges to a 9-inch square. Cut pastry into nine rectangles.  Transfer pastry dough to the prepared baking sheets; prick pastry. Bake in a preheated oven for 18-23 minutes, or until golden. (Or bake according to package directions.) Carefully remove pastries from baking sheet. Cool on a rack.


 Custard Filling:
6 egg yolks beaten

2 cups milk
2 tablespoon of butter melted
1 full piece of orange peel (optional)
3/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons of flour
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Melt butter in pan add flour stir till smooth no, lumps add milk, beaten egg yolks, sugar, butter, peel if using, vanilla...stir constantly until thick and creamy, if it gets too thick add a little more milk. Remove immediately from pot as it will continue to cook and then pour into a bowl. Cool with a piece of wax paper over the top and a teaspoon of sugar this will keep the skin from forming on top.... cool completely.

Assembly:
Spread about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the pastry cream on the bottom layer and precede as follows:

Top with middle pastry layers. Spread another 1 1/2 tablespoons of the pastry cream on each middle layer. Finally, top with remaining pastry layers. You can stack as many as you like I used six for each pastry.  Spread glaze over top of napoleons, then drizzle with melted chocolate. Chill up to 1 hour before serving.

Topping:
1/2 cup chocolate chips melted (I used a microwave safe dish in the microwave)

2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon butter
2 to 3 tablespoons of hot water
Mix sugar, butter and water till a smooth consistency, frosting should be loose not thick.

After the pastry is layered, slather white thick frosting over the top, drizzle with melted chocolate and swirl with a knife to get the marbled effect.
+claudia lamascolo  Author