Krempitte or Napoleons (Cream Pastry)   by Joe Psotka, 11 Dec 2011

Comment: This makes a very nutritious and tasty dessert.  I remember eating a whole cookie sheet of them (maybe 24 or so) at a sitting!  How did I ever do that without bursting?  It is amazing being an adolescent boy.  I haven't made the recipe in years because I can't resist it and it is obviously much too fattening for me.  The ingredient list may be way off, because I took it from my mother who only used her hands and a kitchen spoon to measure things.

Sheet Dough

• 2 cups flour

• ½ lb butter

• 2 egg yolks

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• 2 tablespoons vinegar

• 1 pinch salt

• 2 tablespoons lukewarm water

Preparing the Sheet Dough

Sift flour onto a pastry board and divide into three equal parts.

Put the egg yolk, sugar, vinegar, salt and one part of the flour in a bowl.  Add water (but not all at once, because the goal is to make the dough not too tough and not too soft)

Mix the ingredients by hand—long enough that the mixture forms bubbles (about 10-15 minutes).

Set the dough aside.

Now mix the butter with the remaining flour and then roll it out and put the dough you set aside on top of it.

Now roll out the entire dough, fold it in half three times, roll it back out and then fold it in half four times.

Cover the dough with parchment paper and let it rest one hour in the refrigerator.

Repeat the process 2 or 3 times: that is to say: roll out the dough, fold it three times , roll it out again and fold it four times and put in the fridge covered with parchment paper.

When the process has been repeated two or three times, roll out the dough into two thin rectangle sheets the size of your cookie sheets, and bake on two buttered cookie sheets at 400° for 12-14 minutes.  After a few minutes of baking, pierce the sheets of pastry with a fork all over and put them back in the oven. Let cool.

Filling

• 3 whole eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 3 egg whites
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 vanilla sugars
• ¾ cup flour
• 1 quart milk

Warm the milk to the touch, but not boiling.

Beat the 3 whole eggs and the 3 egg yolks well with half the sugar and the vanilla sugar until they are frothy.

Add the flour into it and mix well.

Bring the milk to a boil while stirring constantly.

Add the egg-sugar-flour mixture to the boiling milk and stir slowly until the mixture thickens.

Beat the 3 egg whites until stiff.  Add the rest of the sugar to the beaten egg whites and stir.  Stir the beaten egg whites into the hot creamy mixture to make a custard filling.

Finally, spread the filling evenly onto the first puff pastry sheet and then place the second puff pastry sheet on top of it.

Sprinkle the resulting cream wafers with icing sugar. After cooling them in the fridge cut them in equal rectangles. 

Helga Kiely, another list member, had this comment: This sounds like a great recipe Joseph, but it is too much work for me.  I just use puff pastry.  It may not be as good, but I am used to it now as I have been using it for years. I will, however, keep this recipe and perhaps I can get someone to make it all from scratch. A Hungarian friend of mine has altered this recipe and before the top layer of crust is placed on the custard, she puts whipped cream on top of the custard. It is so good! I don't do it that way because of the calories.