Happy Monday everyone, I hope you all had a truly wonderful weekend and we’re able to spoil your amazing Dad rotten for Fathers Day yesterday! My Dad has a huge soft spot for anything vanilla, vanilla ice cream, cheesecake, cake, fudge you name it it’s always been his go to - I also get the most lovely emails from him most day’s that are either to do with blogging, what’s happening in the world or delicious recipes that he’s stumbled upon and would like me to bake. I got an email from him last week with a link to a delicious vanilla slice recipe with simply “yes please” in the subject line - so I couldn’t think of anything more perfect than trying a wonderful new recipe and of course handing him a plate full of perfectly flakey, silky smooth Vanilla Slice for Fathers Day! I hope everyone had a really lovely day yesterday, if you’re a fan of vanilla slice you simply must try this recipe, it’s so delicious! x
Preheat oven to 180C. Trim both sheets of puff pastry to fit a square slice tin, lightly butter and line the tin - be sure to have the baking paper overlap the edges of the tin so that you can lift the slice out later. Sandwich the pastry between two sheets of baking paper - place onto a baking tray and place another tray on top of the pastry to weigh the pastry down so that it doesn’t rise too much. Bake for around 15-20min or until light and golden. Repeat with the other sheet of pastry and allow to cool on wire racks.
Vanilla Bean Custard Filling
In a medium saucepan, combine the cream, milk, sugar, butter, vanilla essence and paste and gently heat and continue to stir over a medium heat. Cook until the mixture is hot to touch but not boiling - it will start to rise in the pan a little, then remove from heat. Combine the cornflour and water and mix until smooth before whisking into the milk - it will thicken quickly so be sure to keep whisking. Add the beaten egg yolks and continue to whisk - return the pan to a low heat and continue to whisk until the custard thickens. Once thick, pour into a clean bowl and allow to cool to room temperature - you can continue to whisk the custard every now and then to help cool it down and keep it smooth.
Gently place one of the cooked and cooled pastry sheets into the base of your prepared and lined baking tin - if it doesn’t fit you can carefully trim the edges of the pastry with a sharp knife. Pour the cooled vanilla custard over the pastry and top with the other sheet of pastry - again carefully trimming if needed.
Fold the overhanging baking paper over the slice and cover with plastic wrap - refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight until set. To remove from the tin, very gently lift the slice out of the tin using the overhanding baking paper.
To cut the slice without crushing it - score through the top layer of pastry before going back and slicing through the rest of the custard slice with a large sharp knife. Place onto a serving plate, sprinkle with icing sugar. Enjoy. x
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