Valentine Napoleons Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Place puff pastry on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and poke holes all over surface using the tines of a fork; top with a second piece of parchment paper. Place 2 baking sheets on top of parchment paper to weigh down; transfer to oven. Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Remove puff pastry from oven and uncover; let cool completely. Using a 3 1/4-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut six hearts from puff pastry, reserving scraps.
• Fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain round tip with pastry cream. Place 1 heart-shaped piece of puff on each of two dessert plates. Pipe pastry cream over the surface of each heart, almost to the edge. Place raspberries around the perimeter of the pastry cream. Top each with a second puff pastry heart and repeat process. Top each with a third puff pastry heart.
• Crumble a little of the reserved puff pastry scraps and top Napoleons with crumbs. Dust tops with confectioners' sugar and pipe a little pastry cream in the center of each. Top with a raspberry and serve immediately.

Steps:

• 1. Heat oven to 400 Degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Wash and dry the orange half, then coarsely chop it.
• 2. In a bowl of food processor, pulse orange and cranberries until finely chopped but not pureed. Transfer to bowl; stir in granulated sugar, pecans, and ginger. Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.
• 3. Beat mascarpone on medium speed of mixer until soft. Add 1 cup of cream, 6 tablespoons powdered sugar and vanilla; beat until fluffy. Refrigerate until needed.
• 4. Thaw pastry sheet as directed on package. Unfold thawed pastry on lightly floured surface and lightly flour the top surface. Roll out to an 11x11-inch square.
• 5. Using cookie cutters, cut out five large (4-inch), five medium (3-inch) and five small (1 1/2-inch) hearts. Cut out extra small hearts with any remaining dough to use as garnish.
• 6. Place all the hearts on the prepared baking sheet; bake for about 12 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire rack for at least 10 minutes.
• 7. Heat remaining 3 tablespoons cream in microwave for 30 seconds; add chocolate and stir to melt. Microwave for 10 seconds at a time if needed to fully melt chocolate.
• 8. To assemble pastries, split the large and medium hearts in half with a serrated knife. Pipe (or spoon) filling into bottoms of hearts, add a spoonful of cranberry relish and finish with the top hearts. Add a layer of filling and relish to top of the large heart; set the filled medium heart on top. Then add cream and relish to the top of the medium heart and finish with the small heart.
• 9. Drizzle chocolate sauce over the pastry. Repeat with remaining hearts. Extra small hearts can be dusted with powdered sugar and used as a garnish.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400°F. Lightly spray 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray. On lightly floured surface, unfold pastry sheets. Cut each sheet into 3 strips along fold marks. Place on cookie sheet; prick lightly with fork all over strips. Repeat with remaining pastry sheet and second cookie sheet.
• Bake about 5 minutes. Prick surfaces of pastries with fork to prevent pastries from rising too much during baking. Bake 10 minutes longer or until golden brown. Remove pastries from cookie sheets; cool 10 to 15 minutes.
• In large bowl, beat pudding mix, 2 cups milk, vanilla and sour cream with electric mixer on medium speed until soft pudding forms. Cover; refrigerate 10 to 15 minutes.
• In small bowl, stir powdered sugar and 3 teaspoons milk. If icing is too thick, stir in another teaspoon milk until spreadable consistency.
• On 1 pastry layer, spread about 3/4 cup pudding. Repeat with another pastry layer and 3/4 cup pudding. Top with third pastry layer. Spread icing over top. Set aside. Repeat to make second dessert with remaining pastries, pudding and icing.
• In microwavable small bowl, microwave chocolate chips uncovered on High about 30 seconds or until chocolate can be stirred smooth. Drizzle chocolate back and forth across top of each dessert. Drag toothpick through chocolate and icing to create marbled appearance.
• Cut desserts into 2-inch slices. Cover; refrigerate until ready to serve.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Roll out three sheets of puff pastry, each to the same size and a thickness of 1/8 inch. Prick with a fork, and place on baking sheets.
• Bake in preheated oven until golden, about 10 minutes.
• In a medium bowl, combine cornstarch and 1/2 cup milk with fingers until smooth. Stir in cake flour and half the sugar. Beat in egg yolks. Set aside.
• In a saucepan over medium heat, bring remaining milk and remaining sugar to a rolling boil. Stir in egg yolk mixture; continue stirring and bring to a boil again. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Let cool.
• In a small saucepan or in the microwave, heat the jam until runny.
• Place one sheet of pastry on a board. Spread with cooled pastry cream to a thickness of 1/2 inch. Place a second pastry sheet over the cream. Brush with fruit glaze. Spread remaining pastry cream over glaze. Top with final pastry sheet and gently compress layers, using a baking sheet to press.
• To make icing, beat together confectioners' sugar and lemon juice with enough of the egg whites to make a creamy consistency like that of a cream soup. Working quickly, color a small portion of the frosting with red food coloring. Frost the top and sides of the assembled pastry with white icing. Pipe parallel lines of red icing on top of dessert, then draw a pick or knife crosswise through icing to make the traditional design. Let icing set before cutting into bars.