Easy Napoleones Recipe

My home town, Bacolod City, is known for its sumptuous treats. Having lived in Manila for about six years, I have to say that one of the things I miss most about Bacolod is the food, it definitely brings me to culinary heaven (okay, I maybe a bit biased on this but a lot of people still agree with me). It also boasts a lot established restaurants and great bakeries. One of its popular delicacies is napoleones. In fact, my friends would usually tell me to bring them some napoleones for pasalubong whenever I would spend the holidays with my family in Bacolod. That and a cake from Calea are always common requests.

I have thoroughly searched the internet for the napoleones recipe but I really could not find a lot of information  until I came across with this original recipe which was from the late Tita Cuenca, one of the well-known bakers in Bacolod. We used to buy some pastries from her shop close to our school back in college.

Being an amateur, I'm not sure if I can pull off making the pastry as well as the custard on the first try so I made a shortcut recipe for napoleones. I used rolled puff pastry and canned Devon custard, which was on sale in Poundland. I was about to make the custard but changed my mind after I got the canned custard. Icing sugar is also called confectioner's sugar (term used in the US) in case you find it in other recipes. You can also try stacking the puff pastries instead of cutting them in half to insert the custard but I have yet to master this recipe as stacks fell off when I tried putting one on top of the other.

Ingredients:


1 roll puff pastry (thawed)
1/2 can Devon custard (see update below on making custard)
1 cup sifted icing sugar
2 tbsp boiling water
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 170C for 10 minutes. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a rectangle. Cut pastry lengthwise into 6 long strips. Mark each strip crosswise until there are about 4 parts. Transfer into a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes or until well risen and golden brown. Cut along the knife marks. Sometimes the parts would automatically fall off. Place pastries into a wire rack and cool completely.

While the baked pastry cools, prepare the icing sugar. In a small bowl, place the sugar and add the water little by little and stir using a spoon. Continue stirring and add vanilla. When the glaze covers the back of the spoon, you have just the right consistency. You can also follow the instructions on the icing sugar package.

Once the pastry has cooled, cut it in half to insert the custard filling. Pour the sugar glaze on top. Once icing has dried, your napoleones is ready to serve.

!UPDATE!
I have now devised a recipe for the napoleones custard filling as I noticed that this recipe has the most views in my blog. This is sort of a mix of the recipes I also got from internet (same from the links I posted above) and I think I just reduced the ingredients. On the recent recipes I made, I also tried to stack two baked puff pastries instead of cutting one in half.

NAPOLEONES CUSTARD FILLING

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter
1 cup milk (I used skimmed, trying to be on the healthy side but you can use evaporated milk)
2-3 egg yolks (if you use large eggs, 2 egg yolks will do)
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
1/8 cup (or 2 tbsp) plus 1 1/2 tsp flour

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and stir constantly to prevent scorching. Cook in low fire. When mixture thickens, remove from heat.