Fruit Napoleons

Another favorite, for a decadent dessert, is this recipe for fruit Napoleons. These are just delicious. Use a mixture of your favorite berries, or just one kind, or with a fruit of your choice, such as 3 thinly sliced bananas.

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed according to package directions
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/3 cups orange juice
• 1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 4 egg yolks, lightly beaten
• 2 Tbsp. butter, melted
• 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
• 2 cups mixed, fresh berries
• 1 Tbsp. frozen orange juice, thawed, but not diluted
• 2 cups whipped cream

Directions:

In a medium pan, bring the sugar, 1 cup orange juice, cornstarch, and salt to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring, until just thick, 3 - 4 minutes.

Stir part of the filling into the egg yolks quickly. This tempers the yolks so that they don't become lumpy instead of smooth and silky. Then stir the egg yolks into the pan. Cook, stirring constantly, for 4 minutes. Stir in the butter until well mixed. Remove from heat and pile into a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap right on the surface of the filling and chill thoroughly.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with wax paper. On a floured surface, roll the pastry into an 18x12 inch rectangle. Cut it into 18 4x3 inch rectangles (3 rows of 6, cutting 6 into the the 18 inch side, and 3 into the 12 inch side). Place on the prepared baking sheet. Cover with more wax paper, then put another baking sheet on top of the pastry, to keep them from puffing too much. Bake until golden, 15 - 20 minutes. Remove the top baking sheet and wax paper, and transfer them to wire racks to cool.

Dust the pastry rectangles with a little confectioners sugar when they have cooled. Mix the berries with the undiluted orange juice. Remove the plastic wrap from the juice mixture, and fold the whipped cream into it.

Take 6 pastries and cover them with half of the berries. Using a pastry bag, if you have one, or a spoon, if you don't, pipe some of the filling over the berries to cover them. Top with 6 more pastries, the rest of the berries, and all but about 1/2 cup of the filling. Top with the remaining pastries. On top of each one, pipe rosettes of the filling, dividing it among them. Top with a few berries, and a sprinkling of the confectioners sugar.

Chill, but not for long - the puff pastry will absorb juices and lose it's lovely crisp.