Vanilla slice

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 2 sheets of puff pastry, frozen, 75 g each
• 1 packet of vanilla pudding powder for cooking
• 80 g sugar
• 500 ml milk
• 100 g powdered sugar
• 1 lemon(s), juice

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Rest time approx. 2 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours 40 minutes

a specialty from Schleswig-Holstein

If you have visitors at short notice, just whip up a quick vanilla slice. It’s quick and everyone has the ingredients at home… Defrost the puff pastry if necessary (these are two sheets from a standard frozen puff pastry package!), prick it several times with a fork to prevent it from rising too much, and bake in an oven preheated to 220°C using conventional top/bottom heat until golden brown. This takes about 8-10 minutes. Remove the finished puff pastry and let it cool. Now make a vanilla pudding with the amounts of milk and sugar specified in the ingredients list. The increased amount of sugar is important for the consistency! Place a piece of cling film directly on the pudding to prevent a skin from forming and let it cool. Once the pudding has cooled, stir well and then pour it onto one of the two puff pastry sheets and smooth it down. The filling will be quite high, but it’s supposed to be that way (see picture). Now place the second sheet on top and press down lightly. Smooth the edges with a knife or palette knife. Make a glaze from the powdered sugar and lemon juice and spread it over the vanilla slices. Then refrigerate everything for at least an hour. Tip: It tastes a little better with homemade vanilla pudding, but double the amount of sugar and add a little more cornstarch if necessary. Variation: You can also make a chocolate slice with chocolate pudding. Then decorate the slice with chocolate coating or simply melted chocolate. Both versions can also be spiced up with fresh fruit. The sky’s the limit.