This recipe caters to four people and it’s a dessert dish. Estimating a total preparation time of approximately 2 hours, you will spend 1 hour 30 minutes on cooking and the remaining 20 minutes on prepping.
Here’s what you’ll need:
– A block of store-bought puff pastry of high grade
– 200ml cream
– 1 tablespoon icing sugar
– A vanilla bean (or 1 tablespoon of its alternative – vanilla paste)
– A package of ripe raspberries.
Start off your cooking process by setting your oven’s temperature to 230°C. Gently flatten the puff pastry block until it’s about 1cm thick, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Prepare two trays with a sheet of baking parchment on one. You should then delicately place the flattened puff pastry on the parchment paper. Line the tray’s edges with a fork, adjacent to the pastry. Put the second tray on top so it rests on the forks – there should be a gap of roughly an inch.
Now, it’s time to bake. Initially, bake at 230°C for half an hour. Following that, lower the temperature to 180°C and bake for another 30 minutes. Further reduce the temperature to 130°C and bake once again for 30 minutes. To finish off, switch the oven off but leave the pastry inside until the oven cools down to room temperature.
Once you’ve removed it from the oven, carefully lift off the upper tray. The pastry should have risen evenly and it will have flat top and bottom. Transfer the baked pastry onto a cutting board and cautiously divide it into four equal-sized rectangles.
As for the vanilla cream mixture, combine cream, icing sugar and seeds from a vanilla bean in a bowl. Stir until its consistency thickens and it holds its form.
To put it together, fill a piping bag equipped with a round nozzle with the vanilla cream. Arrange a raspberry on one puff pastry rectangle, followed by a portion of the cream piped on top. Repeat the process until the pastry surface is completely layered. Then, put another piece of pastry on top. Continue this process. The quantity should be enough for four generous servings.