Mini Vanilla Custard Slices

As- Salamu Alaikum / Greetings Reader,

My sincere apologises to any of my instagram followers who saw my pic of these mini vanilla custard slices many days ago now and have been waiting to hear more about them, well let me tell you they didn't take all this time to eat, they were gone within 24 hours = proof you need to make these delicious treats sometime soon, yes preferably when the sun isn't on show like it is here today here in the north of England, mashaAllah / As Allah Willed.

I don't think anything can beat dreamy, creamy vanilla infused custard, sandwiched between delicate, flaky layers of puff pastry and topped with sweet orange blossom perfumed icing.

Also, the good news is they are 'mini' so you can eat 2 in one sitting without any guilt / shame!

Mini Vanilla Custard Slices

Makes 12

Ingredients

Puff Pastry

500 grams block of frozen puff pastry, thawed in the fridge overnight

Plain flour, for work surfaces and rolling pin

Filling

batch of Crème Patissiere / Pastry Cream = Thick Custard

Icing

200 grams icing/powdered sugar

5 teaspoons water OR 4 3/4 teaspoons water and 1/4 teaspoon orange blossom or rose water

Method

Pre-Heat Fan Oven to 200C

On a lightly floured surface roll out your puff pastry block until it's about 50 x 35cm 1/4cm thick.

Divide in half (a ruler and sharp knife come in handy for this) and place each half on it's own lined baking sheet and bake for on the 2 middle racks of your oven for 15-20minutes or until light golden in colour (you may wish to rotate the baking sheets half way through so you get even cooking and colouring)

Remove puff pastry halves from oven, prick each, all over with a fork and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Make up a batch of crème patissiere and cool/chill in the fridge until your ready to assemble.

To divide up your puff pastry equally, place one puff pastry half on top of the other, trim any curvy edges and divide up (ruler and serrated knife) into 12 pairs each puff pastry pair being about 3-4 cm wide and 7-8cm in length.

To fill, I find it easiest to pipe my crème patissiere onto the puff pastry bases, I do one row of piping and then another on top, quickly place the puff pastry lid on top then smooth / spread out the pastry cream around the sides using an angled palette knife. Repeat this step until you have filled all your 12 mini vanilla custard slices.

Next make up your icing, I personally love anything flavoured with the hint of orange blossom water and it helps slightly cut through the sweetness of all the sugar, you could use rose water or lemon/orange juice too.

I find it's best to put a generous teaspoon of icing onto the pastry lid and then being very careful not to rough up the puff! using a butter knife spread the icing until it covers the lid. Note: Please only use 5teaspoons of water, don't think as I did that it's too thick and add another teaspoon of water it will make your icing run slightly down the sides which makes for a nice photo and sticky fingers!