The Best Apple Pie

I know I have unfinished business with my filled cupcakes, but it's been so long since I posted that it will take me quite awhile to figure out everything I did with the cupcakes.  In the meantime, it's apple picking time, and I wanted to re-post my recipe for apple pie, which I worked on last Fall.

This is a re-post from last Fall when we went to Boston to visit our daughter.
One of the trips she had planned was to a nearby apple orchard for an afternoon of apple picking. The farm had many different varieties of apples, and we came away with more than a bushel of Cortlands, Macintosh, Empire and Macoun apples. With so many apples, the logical thing to make was apple pie, so that’s what we did the next day. Expecting great things, we were disappointed when we tasted the pie, that evening. Why wasn’t this the best apple pie?

Let’s start with the apples. For an 8-inch pie, I usually use 10 cups of apples consisting of about 5 Granny Smith apples, 1 golden delicious and 2 Macintosh apples. It’s a blend that I’ve come up with over the years that satisfies my requirement for texture, moisture and taste.  Using the apples from the orchard instead of my usual mix, produced a pie that wasn’t sweet enough or juicy enough.  I decided to go back to the kitchen and write down what happens to each apple when it is cooked. For my experiment I used 2 ounces of each apple (about 1/2 apple, but I did it by weight for accuracy), 1 tablespoon of brown sugar and 1/6th tablespoon of butter. Each was covered with foil and baked in a 400 degree F. oven.



When I uncovered the apples there was a striking difference between the amount of liquid in each cup. The Macouns were gushers, giving off 6 teaspoons of juice, the Macintosh gave off 4 teaspoons (but the Macs I bought in the supermarket only gave off 1), the Empires 3 teaspoons (same for the store-bought Empires) and the Cortland only 1 teaspoon of juice. Since the pie we made in Boston was mostly Cortlands, I now knew why our pie was not as juicy as we would have liked. I also tested the apples that I normally use: Granny Smiths and Golden Delicious. The Granny Smiths gave off 3 teaspoons while the Goldens gave off 5. This would account for my pies almost always flooding into the plate when the first piece is removed.



Here's a chart showing my results:

Apple                   Texture        Juiciness               Sweetness

Macintosh------- Very soft-----Least------------Sweet/tart

Rome ----------- Very soft-----Least------------Sweet/tart

Cortland--------- Medium------Least------------Sweet/tart

Empire-----------Medium------Moderate--------Sweet/tart

Golden Delicious-Medium------Most------------Sweet

Macoun----------Medium------Most-------------Sweet/tart

Granny Smith----Med-firm----Moderate--------Tart

Fuji--------------Extra Firm---Moderate--------Sweet/tart

Gala-------------Extra Firm--- Moderate--------Sweet/tart

So to start making YOUR perfect pie, you would decide whether you like your pie very moist, medium-moist or on the dryer side, and then you could choose the appropriate apples. If you wanted a very sweet pie, it wouldn’t be a good idea to use only Golden Delicious, though, because you’d have so much liquid, you’d never get it thick enough. Instead, you could add a little more sugar to the tarter apples and mix in only one or two of the very juicy, sweet apples. Because we wanted to use only the apples we picked (tarter , drier varieties) we should have added a little extra sugar, and could have added some fresh apple cider to make up for the lack of moisture. There’s also a question of tenderness with the filling and you’d want to combine apples that get pretty soft when cooked with those that are firmer. Some apples take forever to cook, and might not be a good choice for a pie in which the crust will be done in about 50-60 minutes. Romes and Macs tend to get very mushy – which I think gives a nice taste and texture when used in combination with firmer apples. Empires, Cortlands, Macouns, Goldens, etc. are medium-firm and Fujis and Galas tend to take longer than 60 minutes to get soft, unless sliced very thinly. Lastly, the amount and kind of thickener needs to be chosen. My mother always used tapioca to thicken her pies. But tapioca (cracked or pearls) leaves little gelatinous globules in the pie that I’m not fond of. Flour is really not a favorite of mine either because if it doesn’t get mixed well, it can be very unpleasant, and if the apples don’t heat up enough or for a long enough time, the flour will taste gritty or pasty. I usually use cornstarch, even though it doesn’t do that well with acidy foods like apple pie – another reason that my usual pie is on the runny side (maybe I should mix in some Cortlands next time). For a pie made with mostly Cortlands, I would cut way down on the amount of cornstarch used – maybe half as much. Yesterday, I tried tapioca starch, which actually gave me the absolute perfect thickness! I bought it in Earthfare, my local organic market. It looks exactly like cornstarch, and the box directions said to use the same quantity as cornstarch. I used the recipe you’ll find below, and have never been as happy with the results.

But back to Boston… Could more have gone wrong with my pie in Boston? You bet. The crust was really just mediocre. I knew from the get-go that I probably hadn’t used enough water in the dough. I was worried about the crust being tough – a problem I had had the last time I made flaky crust- and water is usually the culprit when crust gets tough. I thought it might be a little dry (it was), but was surprised that the crust was so tender that it barely had any texture in the mouth. As a bottom crust it was fine, but the top crust really didn’t work. So, of course, my challenge when I got home was to figure out exactly how to tell when you’ve added enough water. Here’s the answer: The dough should feel supple, but not sticky, and it should hold together. You should be able to pick up the dough ball and hold it above the counter without it falling apart.

When you roll it, you should be able to fold it without it cracking.

If any of these problems arise, add a little more ice water to the dough. If the dough is too sticky, it could be because it’s not cold enough, or it might need more flour. If it needs to be toughened a little, you can also fold it and then re-roll it. This works especially well for the top, because it makes it flakier. And so, here is MY Perfect Apple Pie


Serves 6 - 8
MAKE DOUGH 1 DAY AHEAD

Flaky Pie Crust
2-1/2 cups (325 grams) unbleached all- purpose flour, fluffed, scooped and leveled into measuring cups
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
10 tablespoons (5 ounces) shortening, frozen and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
5 tablespoons (2.5 ounces) unsalted butter, cold and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/4 cup (or more) ice water, divided

Filling
3-5 medium Granny Smith apples
1 medium golden Delicious apple
2 medium McIntosh apples
1 lemon or 1 tablespoon of Fruitfresh mixed 2 quarts with water
3/4- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup tapioca starch (or cornstarch)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes

Glaze
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon sugar

Place the flour, salt and sugar in a food processor bowl. Pulse-process to mix everything together. Place the shortening and butter on top of the dry ingredients. Pulse-process until the fats are cut into pea-size bits, about 5, three-second bursts. Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Sprinkle on 3 tablespoons ice water. Mix with a fork and then, using your hands, press the mixture into a solid mass. If necessary, add more water to bring the dough together. The dough should feel supple, but not sticky, and it should hold together. You should be able to pick up the dough ball and hold it above the counter without it falling apart. Divide the dough in half. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. with a rack in the middle of the oven. Grease and flour an 8-inch glass pie plate . (Flouring the plate is controversial, as there is a risk that the dough could shrink off of the pie plate rim. However, it’s so much easier to get the slices out of the pan when the plate is floured, that I do it anyway. )

For the filling, peel, core and cut the apples into 1/4-inch slices, using as many as necessary to have 10 cups of apples. Squeeze the lemon into a large bowl of water, or use the Fruitfresh. Place the apples into the bowl of water, drain, and then return the apples to the bowl along with the brown sugar, cinnamon and tapioca starch.

Transfer the dough to the pie plate using one of these techniques: Flip the dough over the rolling pin. Pick the whole dough piece off of the plastic and lay it into the pan.



OR
Flour the dough, fold it in half or quarters, and then transfer it to the pan and unfold it .


There should be several inches of overhang. Trim the dough to 1/2-inch beyond the rim ( I use my thumbnail as a guide).

Transfer the filling to the crust-lined pie plate, mounding it high in the pan. Dot with the butter.

Brush the rim of the crust with water so that the top crust will adhere well.

Roll out the remaining dough, making it larger than the bottom crust, so that it will fit over the mounded apples.

Trim the top crust so it is the same size as the bottom crust. Squeeze the two edges together and then roll the edge up to make a nice border on the pan rim.

Here you can see that I’ve rolled the right edge of the pie crust, but not the left side, yet. I also experimented with cutting out a diamond shape in the middle of the crust as a steam vent. It also gives me a good place to stick a knife into the apples to see if they are cooked. But I think I liked the round vent hole better (see opening photo). It was easier to get it in the center and it didn’t tend to rip the way the diamond did.
Flute the edge using one of the techniques from this post on Pies and Tarts: http://amazingdessertrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/03/pie-and-tart-crust-shaping.html

Make 4 or 5 slits in the pie with a sharp knife. Mix the sugar with the milk and brush this over the crust ( or brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar – your choice).

Place the pie on a baking sheet. Bake the pie for 25 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 375 degrees F. and bake for another 30 - 40 minutes more until both the top and bottom crusts are golden. Shield the pie rim with aluminum foil if it is getting too brown. To make a simple shield, take 3 pieces of aluminum foil slightly large than the pie. Crimp the edges up to make it less square and to hold the pieces together. Cut a cross in the middle of the foil and bend back the foil, from the center outward, to reveal the pie below. Set the shield on top of the pie – it should leave the center open to brown but will shield the rim crust, which always cooks faster.

Cool at least 30 minutes before eating.

For best results, the pie should not be made more than 8 hours in advance (leave uncovered at room temperature). Rewarm it at 350 degrees F. for 15 minutes. Leftover pie should be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated. Heat at 350 degrees F. to re-crisp the top crust.

Blackberry Shortcake

Earlier this week I made strawberry shortcake, using genoise for the base instead of a biscuit.  I've never been that crazy about biscuits, and you can't really make them ahead.  I usually use poundcake as the base, but I thought it might be nice to have something lighter.  While the strawberries were delicious, the cake was too light, and didn't have enough texture once the dessert was assembled.  So I was going to make strawberry shortcake again this weekend, until I came across the most beautiful local blackberries at my local Earthfare store.  Some of them were as large as my thumb, and sweet sweet sweet...

Instead of going back to the genoise, I decided to try biscuits again.  I think I'm always trying to lower the fat in them, and that's probably why they aren't at the top of my list for dessert.  This time around, I decided to go for it.  I tried two recipes: 1 with buttermilk and the other with half & half, and I used 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter - that's not the most butter I've ever seen in a biscuit recipe, but it is up near the top.  I like my biscuits sweet, too, so I chose the higher end for the sugar ingredient.  Both the buttermilk and the cream biscuits came out great.  They were toothly enough to stand up to the juicy fruit topping, and they had a delicious crunchy exterior. Yay for butter!

Shortbread biscuits are just about one of the easiest pastries you'll ever make.  There's very little prep, very little worktime, and very quick cleanup.  When paired with simple sugared fruit, it comes together in way less than 1 hour. I prefer  blackberries to be quite well macerated so that they aren't as tough in the middle and so that the sweetness permiates the berry.  If you like them like this too, and you want to serve the shortbreads within 1 hour of making them, you might want to start the berries first, otherwise you can start the berries while the shortbreads are cooling.  If serving them for company, you might want to make and refrigerate the dough, and then shape and bake them just before sitting down to dinner.  More details follow.

Serves 4-5
Shortbread Biscuits
2 cups (260 grams) bleached all-purpose flour, fluffed scooped and levelled into measuring cups
3- 4 tablespoons sugar (to taste)
1 tablespoon baking powder if using cream, (2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder +1/2 ts.baking soda, if using buttermilk)
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cup buttermilk or half & half (have 1 TB extra just in case)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Blackberry Topping
5 cups blackberries
2/3 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. with a rack in the middle of the oven.  Lightly grease a baking sheet.

Place the flour, sugar, baking powder (and baking soda if you are using it) and salt in a medium-not too deep bowl.  Sift, or stir it well to distribute the ingredients. 

You need to get the butter "cut" into the flour mixture.  You can do this with 2 knives, with a pastry blender, in a processor, or my favorite method, by rubbing the bar of butter against the coarse holes of a box grater.
(I hope you have one - the only reason I do, is that I have a friend who has given me several graters.  Thanks, Ann!)

For this method:

Unwrap the stick of butter so that the bar is exposed, except for the last 2 tablespoons of the stick. Rub the stick of butter against the grater until you are right down to the covered part.

 You now have 6 tablespoons of grated butter that you want to gently toss into the flour mixture.

Make a well in the center of this flour/butter mixture, and pour in the buttermilk or cream and the vanilla. Using a wooden spoon or a spatula push the flour from the outside of the bowl towards the center, gently combining the liquid and dry ingredients until you have a rough mass.

To finish, use your hands to gently push the dough together.  Add a tiny bit of reserved liquid if you can't get the dough to completely pick up all of the flour.  The dough will be very rough looking, but all of the flour should stick to it.  Use a tiny bit of flour to prevent sticking on your work board, and turn the dough onto it.

Press the dough down gently to create a square or rectangular shape.  The size will depend on how you want your finished biscuit.  I like to pat the dough to about 3/4-inch thick.  You could make it thinner if you plan to slice the biscuits in half and then layer fruit and cream between and on top of the biscuit. 

Cut the dough into squares or rounds, whichever you prefer.  The rounds can be 3 to 3-1/2-inches in diameter.  If you want to use the tops, I would go with the smaller size.  You should be able to get 5 -6 biscuits out of the dough, depending on how thick you make them.

Place the biscuits on the baking sheet and bake for 10-14 minutes, until they are golden brown, and a tester stuck into the middle of a biscuit comes out with no crumbs attached.

Slide the biscuits onto a cooling rack and let cool at least 1 hour before eating. 


If you want to make them ahead, make the dough, up until the cutting instruction ( Use buttermilk for the make-ahead dough).  At this point, wrap the dough square in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to bake.  Cut the biscuits as desired, and bake for 12-17 minutes until they are nicely browned and test done.

Serving

I prefer to serve only the bottoms of the biscuits because otherwise it seems like too much cake to fruit, it's harder to eat and the top biscuit doesn't get to soak up the juice the way the bottom one does.  You could slice the biscuits in half, and make double the portions, but it's hard to get them even, and then the biscuit seems skimpy. So,  I usually slice off the top 1/4-inch  of the biscuit, and just serve the bottoms, as in the opening photo.  If you prefer to serve top and bottom , here's what they look like .

Blackberry Topping

5 cups blackberries

2/3 cup sugar

Combine 2 cups of blackberries and 1/3 cup sugar in a medium bowl, and set aside for 5 minutes.  Mash the berries with fork or potato masher.  This will release the juice and give you the sauce you need.  Stir in the remaining blackberries and the remaining sugar, to taste.  Let the berries macerate until  they are the texture and sweetness that you like ( I prefer overnight, but no less than 1 hour).

Serve over biscuits or ice cream.

For shortcakes,  plan on 1 cup of berries per person

Whipped Cream

1/2 pint  heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons powdered sugar, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon vanilla, or to taste

My daughter recently made whipped cream using farm-fresh cream, and she was surprised that the cream whipped up so fast, that she actually had little bits of butter forming in the cream ( not delicious in a dessert).  This is probably because the cream had a higher fat content than the stuff we normally find in the supermarket, or it's even possible that it wasn't pasteurized.  Ultra-pasteurized cream, the product we often buy, whips up slower and is airier than regular or non-pasteurized cream.  The extra butterfat in farm-fresh or "European"-style cream also makes for a denser whipped cream.  It can be quite delicious if it isn't overbeaten.  So take care when you start beating your whipped cream and don't walk away unless you know that your cream is ultra-pasteurized and will take a little longer to whip.

Place all of the ingredients in a small bowl.  Beat on high until the cream thickens, and stands in peaks.  If there is any doubt, finish the cream with a hand-held whisk.  You'll get a much better feel for whether the whipped cream is done, or if it needs a few more whisks.

Refrigerate until ready to use.  Whipped cream will "water-out"  after a few hours.  If making it ahead, you can place it in a filter-lined basket, or you can just skim the whipped cream from the top, leaving the watery residue behind. Or you can use a product called Whip-it, which will prevent the whipped cream from getting watery. Buy it in the  supermarket on the baking aisle, and follow the package directions for use.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Tart

In case you've been wondering what that tart is that adorns the cover of my new CD-rom, here it is. 
This is one of the simplest tarts you can make. It’s got a press-in crust, perfect for those short on time or skittish about rolling dough, and a cream cheese filling that can be whipped up in a flash. Arranging the berries can be time consuming, but the tart is equally impressive if the berries are simply piled on. It tastes great with raspberries, too.

SERVES 8-10

Press-in Sablé Crust
1-1/4 cups (163 grams) all-purpose flour, fluffed, scooped and leveled into measuring cups
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cold
1 large egg yolk, cold
1 teaspoon cold water

1 egg white, whisked

Cream Cheese Cream Filling
4 ounces neufchatel cheese (lite cream cheese), room temperature
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, divided
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup heavy cream

Strawberry Topping
1 pound strawberries, washed and hulled
1/2 cup strained strawberry jam or jelly
1/2 teaspoon unflavored gelatin mixed with 2 teaspoons water, optional

For the crust:
Prepare the tart pan (with removable bottom) by rubbing a piece of slightly softened butter on the bottom and around the rim of the pan.

Remove the excess butter by running your finger up the flutes.

Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Pulse, to mix the ingredients together. Cut the butter into 1/4-inch cubes and add to the processor. Pulse on and off, until the mixture looks like coarse meal. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and water. Add to the processor and process for 10 - 20 seconds, until the dough starts to come together. Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap and press it into a ball. To fit the dough into the pan, start with gumball-sized lumps of dough. Squeeze the dough between your fingers until it is about 1/16-inch thick. Place in the pan.

Repeat with the remaining dough, piecing everything together to make a solid crust (you should have a golf ball-size lump of dough left over). To trim the edges, run a rolling pin over the top of the pan.

Press the edges up slightly to thin them out and to make the edges a little higher than the pan. If the bottom crust is very bumpy, you can flatten it by tamping with the bottom of a glass.  Prick the bottom of the dough, about 12 times, with a fork.

Freeze the tart for 15 minutes or until firm to the touch. Press greased aluminum foil snugly on top of the dough. Fill the foil with pie weights or beans. Bake for 15 minutes, remove the foil and beans and bake 8-12 minutes more until lightly browned. Immediately, brush the egg white over the crust. The heat of the tart will set the egg and make it more moisture resistant. Cool completely on a wire rack.

For the filling:
Place the cream cheese in a mixer bowl. Beat on medium speed until creamy. Sift in 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and beat on medium-low until smooth. Beat in the vanilla. In another bowl, place the cream and the remaining 2 tablespoons powdered sugar. Beat on high until the cream forms stiff peaks. Stir about 3/4 cup whipped cream into the cheese mixture, and then fold in the balance of the whipped cream. Spoon the filling into the pie shell.

For the topping:
The strawberries will look prettiest if the tart is served within 3 hours of cutting them, but if this is not possible, they’ll still be fine up to 8 hours after assembling. For a simple presentation, the berries can be brushed with the jam or jelly and put on the cake whole, or sliced and put onto of the tart haphazardly.

This is from Amazing Dairy-free Desserts, but you can see how pretty a haphazard tart can look.




For a more showy presentation, slice the strawberries, tip to stem, into 1/8-inch slices. Brush them with melted jam, or if the tart will stand for more than a few hours, mix the gelatin and water together in a small bowl. Let it stand a few minutes to absorb the water and then microwave until liquidy and hot, about 15 seconds. Place the strawberry jam in a small pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Spoon in the gelatin mixture. Cook, while stirring, until the mixture is smooth and clear. Brush over the strawberries.









Arrange the strawberry slices on the top of the cake in concentric, overlapping circles. Start at the outside of the tart using the largest slices. Try and put the second row between two adjacent berries.

Complete all the rows, and for the center, you can use a whole strawberry, a sixth of a berry with very thin slices of strawberry wrapped around it, or just a few slices sticking up.

Remove the outer rim, just before serving.  Serve the tart within 3 hours for optimal looks or up to 8 hours later. It will look quite sad the second day, but will be fine for leftovers. Do not freeze.

Napoleons

I've been absent from blogging for quite awhile finishing up my new book on CD-rom,  and it's finally off to the printer!  It'll be ready for sale in about a month and I look forward to sharing it with everyone.  I'm headed  to Orlando on Sunday, but thought I'd post one of my favorite pastries before I leave.
Napoleons take a LOT of time to make, even if you start with pre-packaged puff pastry. BUT, they are fantastic to eat and to look at. When you make them at home, you decide how thick and creamy you’d like the filling, how sweet you like the topping and how many layers of pastry there are. You can eat them fresh, rather than having ones that have been sitting in a display case for 8 hours. They’re worth every minute you spend on them. The traditional napoleon has 3 layers of pastry and two layers of cream. The only problem with a napoleon that tall is that the filling tends to squish out when you try and put a fork into it. We prefer the two layer version that you see on the left of the picture. We also prefer to cut them into smaller sizes, as they are very rich and filling.

If you have enough refrigerator space, for the same amount of work, you can double the recipe and use the whole package of puff pastry.  It's hard to say how many this serves, because it depends on if you do a double or triple layer of pastry and how large you cut them (more details follow).

Vanilla Custard (Crème Pâtissière)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
6 tablespoons sugar
6 large egg yolks
2 cups half and half
3-inch piece of vanilla bean, split lengthwise with one end still attached
1-2 tablespoons softened, unsalted butter
1/2 cup whipping cream, optional

1/2 (17 ounce) package frozen puff pastry

Vanilla Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon boiling water
2 tablespoons corn syrup

Chocolate Cream Piping
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

For the custard:
Place the cornstarch and sugar in a medium saucepan. In a small bowl, briskly whisk together the egg yolks and the half and half. A little at a time, stir the egg mixture into the cornstarch mixture. Scrape the vanilla bean seeds into the pot and then add the vanilla bean into the pot.

Vanilla beans are supposed to be soft, allowing you to cut them in half and scrape out the seeds. If your vanilla bean is old and hard, soak it in a little bit of hot water until it softens, and then scrape out the seeds.  You can use the water for flavoring, as well.

Over medium heat, cook the egg mixture about 7 minutes, stirring constantly, in a figure eight pattern, to make sure that the eggs don’t overcook. Cook until the custard thickens and comes to a boil. Stir vigorously to get the custard mixed and smooth. Strain the custard, through a medium-mesh strainer, into a storage container. Immediately stir in the softened butter, piece by piece. Press a piece of waxed paper directly onto the surface of the custard.

Let the custard stand at room temperature until it cools slightly and then cover it and refrigerate until ready to use. If you like a lighter custard, just before serving, beat the heavy cream to medium-firm peaks. Fold the cream into the custard.

For the pastry:
The pastry needs to defrost at room temperature for 40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. with a rack in the middle of the oven. If the dough has not thawed enough to open the dough up, let it defrost awhile longer. Unfold the pastry onto a lightly floured surface.

Cut the dough into 3 strips, using the fold marks as a guide. Transfer the strips to cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Using a fork, prick the dough all over to help it rise evenly.

Cover the dough with another piece of parchment, and then top this with  a baking sheet of the same size.

Set the pan in the oven and bake for 8 minutes. Remove the baking sheet and parchment covering the pastry. Bake for another 5 minutes, until the pastries are golden brown. Turn off the oven, leaving the door ajar, and let the pastries dry out for 15 minutes. Remove them from the oven and transfer to cooling racks to cool completely. They can be made up to 24 hours in advance if stored at room temperature in an airtight container.

For the vanilla icing:
Sift the powdered sugar into a bowl. Add the vanilla and enough boiling water to make a spreadable glaze (about 3 tablespoons). Cover with plastic wrap.

For the chocolate piping:
Heat the cream in a microwave-safe bowl until starting to bubble, about 20 seconds. Stir in the chocolate. Let the mixture stand for awhile, and then stir until completely melted and mixed. Transfer the mixture to a small plastic-bag pastry bag  but don’t snip the tip yet. Tie the top with a rubber band or tie, and set it in a cup.

Assembly:
You can only make 1 decorative pastry top at a time, as the white icing must be wet when the chocolate icing is piped. Have a skewer and the chocolate icing handy.

Spread 1 pastry strip with the vanilla icing.

Immediately, while the vanilla icing is wet, pipe chocolate lines across the pastry (the distance apart is a matter of taste, but approximately 1/2-inch is about right).

Turn the pastry so the lines are horizontal.





Immediately, start at the top right or left of the pastry, 1/4-inch from the edge. Draw a shallow vertical line with the skewer, through the piped lines of chocolate.

For the next line start at the bottom, 1/2-inch from the 1st pass and draw the skewer tip upward to the top.

Continue alternating directions until the whole pastry has a herringbone pattern.

If making the triple layer napoleons, you will only need the one top. If making the dual layered pastry, cut one pastry strip in half and decorate one half.  Set the pastry aside.

If making the three layer napoleons, split one strip of pastry in half, horizontally.

Set a  whole piece of pastry on a tray that will fit in your refrigerator. Spoon on a thick layer of pastry cream (1/4-1/2-inch). Set one of the split pastries on top and spoon on another layer of cream.

Place the top pastry on the tray and refrigerate everything for 1hour.



If making the two layer pastry, omit the split layer and second layer of cream.

After the pastry has been refrigerated for 1 hour, cut the top pastry to the serving size you desire. Set these pieces on top of the stack, and then slice through the stack with a serrated knife, to make the individual napoleons.

Refrigerate until ready to serve, but serve within 8 hours.

* Note: I always double the recipe, because it doesn’t take much more effort to do a whole pound as a half, however, it does take a lot of refrigerator space.

Napoleons can also be filled with whipped cream or Cream Cheese Filling.