Last year, I had the pleasure of attending the baby shower of a Polish mum-to-be. Even though it was her party, she made dinner for all the children there as well as treating us to a platter of Polish delicacies. The one that has been firmly planted in my mind since then was a beautiful Polish version of our vanilla slice - Karpatka. She was full of apologies about how it wasn't as perfect as her mother's and I think was taken aback by its success! Instead of the puff pastry of an English vanilla slice, this has layers of choux pastry sandwiched together with vanilla custard. It is seriously delicious (and I've been dreaming about it ever since!) It reminds me of the choux buns my mum used to buy for me when I was little although they had chocolate drizzled across the top too :)
This recipe is a hybrid of my research into this lovely Polish dessert but all published recipes follow a similar process and it's surprisingly easy to make. The choux pastry is springy to the touch and the custard sets really well in between the two layers so it makes a robust bake that's easy to cut. The choux pastry in the oven browned VERY quickly and I was really worried that it wouldn't make the full 25 minutes, but I also know it's imperative not to open the oven door whilst it's baking so I decided to ride it out - and with a great result. Although it looked crispy when it came out of the oven, it was still really springy to the touch which is exactly what I was looking for.
The vanilla custard is absolutely beautiful in texture. We are huge custard fans in this house so it had a lot to live up to and surpassed all expectations. There were multiple slices of the Karpatka being handed around when the boys had dinner tonight and it was a big hit. I think this is my favourite bake of the journey so far!
Karpatka
Choux Pastry Ingredients
- 1 CUP WATER
- 125G BUTTER
- 1 CUP FLOUR
- 5 MEDIUM EGGS
- 1 TSP BAKING POWDER
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees (fan)
- Line 2 baking trays (around 32 x 23cm) with baking paper
- Put the butter and water into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil
- Add all the flour and mix vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes away from the sides of the saucepan which is very quick (around 30 seconds)
- Then put the mixture into your mixer with a paddle attachment (or food processor if you prefer)
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after addition until each egg is fully mixed in and the mixture is smooth and sticky
- Finally add the baking powder and beat until it's fully mixed
- Divide the mixture between the two baking trays and smooth it out until it forms two rectangles the shape of the baking tray
- Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes until the tops have browned. It's very important not to open the oven door once they're in until they're cooked so don't be tempted to check on them too early!
- When they're ready, put them on a kitchen surface to cool down and you can start preparations for your vanilla custard.
Vanilla Custard Ingredients
- 720ML (3 CUPS SEMI-SKIMMED MILK)
- 170G SUGAR (3/4 CUP)
- 110G BUTTER
- 1 TSP VANILLA PASTE (OR VANILLA EXTRACT IF YOU DON'T HAVE PASTE)
- 30G PLAIN FLOUR (1/4 CUP)
- 5 TBSP CORNFLOUR
- 4 EGGS
- ICING SUGAR (FOR DUSTING)
Method
- Whisk together the eggs and vanilla in a bowl and then add the flour a little at a time - the mixture went a little lumpy with the addition of the flour so you want to add it slowly and mix thoroughly so you can ensure than it's lump-free
- Then add a cup of the milk (240ml) milk and whisk thoroughly until smooth
- Place 2 cups (480ml) of milk, the sugar and butter in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil
- Once this is boiling, pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and whisk well until the custard thickens and starts to boil - this took mine around 90 seconds - but be careful to ensure that you're scraping the bottom of the boil when whisking as it can burn very easily
- Pour this custard onto one rectangle of choux pastry and spread it out leaving a small border around the edge (you're going to trim the rectangles down at the end)
- Sandwich the custard with the top layer and then place in the refrigerator until the custard cools and sets
- When ready to eat, dust the top layer with the icing sugar and cut it into squares - I got 16 squares from mine (and lots of edges to eat when neatening it up!)