Lazy Napoleon

Step 1

First, take a sheet of store-bought puff pastry out of the freezer and defrost it at room temperature. Be sure to sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour and cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap to prevent the surface from drying out.

Step 2

Meanwhile, prepare the cream. In a heatproof bowl, mix the sour cream, egg, flour, sugar, vanilla sugar (or vanilla extract) and salt until smooth.

Step 3

Place the container with the mixture in a water bath and stir constantly with a whisk for 5-7 minutes, until the cream is thick enough - the consistency should be like regular custard. Remove from the water bath, cover with plastic wrap and leave in a cold corner until the cream has cooled completely.

Step 4

Now you can move on to the dough: lightly roll it out into a rectangle on a surface sprinkled with flour. Cut the sheet into 6-8 pieces and place on a baking tray lined with a piece of parchment. Prick each piece of dough with a fork to allow the steam to escape into the oven.

Step 5

Bake the puffs for 15-20 minutes at 200 °C until golden, then remove from the oven and cool completely. After that, crumble the puffs into flakes with your hands - they will be used for layering in desserts.

Step 6

I also recommend slicing the crispy tops of the puffs and finely chopping them in a blender: these crumbs are best for decorating Napoleon.

Step 7

To finish the cream, beat the very soft butter until it is airy and almost white.

Step 8

Then mix the butter and custard: gradually add the whipped butter to the cold custard with a tablespoon.

Step 9

Beat with a mixer for a couple of minutes until homogeneous - the specialty Napoleon custard is ready.

Step 10

Now it's time to assemble the Napoleon: use dessert plates or some rock glasses. Start with a tablespoon of cream at the bottom, cover with a layer of shortcake flakes, add some cream again, another layer of flakes and finish with another layer of cream on top.

Step 11

All you need to do is sprinkle the top of the napoleons liberally with the crumbled pastry and leave the desserts in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours to let the pastry soak up the cream properly.

Step 12

Before serving, decorate the Napoleon with powdered sugar, berries or mint and enjoy with your coffee. Bon appetit!