Tompouce: Holland #168

 Tompouce: Holland #168

Deliciously sweet Dutch treat, filled with custard between 2 crispy layers of pastry and topped with sweet icing. YUM!                                                                                                                                                                      

Pastry Cream:

• 2 c. milk
• 1 vanilla bean
• 3/4 c. Sugar, divided
• 4 egg yolks (save 1 egg white for the icing)
• 2 T. Flour
• 1 envelope gelatin

Puff Pastry:

• 2 square sheets of puff pastry (purchase)

Icing:

• 1 egg white
• 1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 2 c. Confectioners’ sugar
• Sprinkles for decorating 

1. Pastry Cream: In a sauce pan add the milk.
2. Slice the vanilla bean open lengthwise with a knife and scrape the seeds.  Add the seeds to the milk and stir well.
3. Add half of the sugar to the milk and bring to a boil.
4. Whisk the other half of the sugar with the egg yolks in a bowl.
5. Sift in the flour.
6. Pour a dash of warm milk to the egg yolk mixture, mix well and put it all in the soft boiling milk.
7. Bring back to a boil and let it softly boil for 3 minutes.
8. Turn off the the burner and stir the gelatin into the milk mixture.
9. Pour the creamy mixture in a square dish, cover with plastic and let it cool off in the fridge for 2-3 hours.
10. Puff pastry: let it thaw on the counter for about 30 minutes.
11. Unfold sheets and prick them all over with a fork.
12. Preheat oven 350F. Bake pastry for 20 minutes while you press down the dough every 5 minutes with a clean towel. This prevents the dough to puff too much.
13. After 20 minutes bring down the temperature to 300F and bake another 10 minutes.  You don’t have to press down the pastry dough anymore.
14. Take the pastry out of the oven, cut each sheet into 16 squares (32 in total) while they are still hot and let them cool on a rack.
15. Icing: In a large bowl beat the egg white with the vanilla extract until frothy.
16. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar and mix on low speed until the sugar is incorporated and the mixture is shiny.  Turn the speed up to high and beat until the mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks.  This takes about 5-7 minutes.
17. Pair the puff pastry squares with top and bottom layers and decorate the top squares with the icing.
18. Using a pastry bag, squirt the pastry cream on the bottom layers of the pastry.
19. Put iced layers on top.
20. Best when refrigerated overnight.

Results: I had difficulty with the gelatin. It clumped in the pastry cream, which made for some tough pieces. Dissolve the gelatin in the milk first. They were good if you didn’t bite into a tough piece.

Bottom Line: I feel like I’ve made a similar version of this before. Folks were not impressed. However, I thought they were good.

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