Vanilla Cream Pie – Romanian Cremsnit

Instructions

Separate the eggs. Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. Slowly add the sugar and continue beating until the egg whites are stiff and glossy.

Add the egg yolks one at a time, incorporating each yolk carefully and slowly. Add the corn starch, vanilla extract and finely grated lemon zest and incorporate with the help of a plastic spatula.

In the meantime heat the milk well. Do that in a jug, it will be easier for you to pour the milk over the egg mixture. Or transfer the milk to a jug after heating it.

Very slowly pour the milk over the egg mixture. Keep the jug in the left hand if you are right-handed and the electrical mixer in the right hand. Pour in a thin stream while mixing.

Transfer the egg-milk mixture back to the jug/pan where you heated the milk. Place on a low-heat and bring it to a simmer while whisking continuously. It will be like making a pudding, this is also the consistency you will have to reach. So keep whisking (I do that with a regular whisk this time) until you get a thick pudding, it will not take long. Make sure to reach the bottom and the walls of your pan with the whisk regularly to avoid the pudding catching at the bottom.

Take off the heat and add the cubed butter, 1 or 2 small pieces at a time, while whisking continuously to help them melt and incorporate in the pudding.

Leave to cool for a while, the cream should be lukewarm when you spread it on the pastry.

In the meantime preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius/ 430 degrees Fahrenheit and bake the puff pastry sheets one after another according to the packet’s instructions or until golden brown. It took me about 12 minutes but keep and eye on them and read the instructions. Leave to cool completely.

Place one pastry sheet on a rectangular serving plate and spread the vanilla cream evenly on top. Place the second pastry sheet on top and press gently. Refrigerate for one or two hours and sprinkle with icing sugar before serving. Cut the pieces with an electric knife. If you don’t have an electric knife I recommend cutting the upper puff pastry sheet before placing it on the cream or even before baking it. You can cut one of the unbaked pastry sheets into small squares and bake the squares, which you will then place on top of the filling.

The cremsnit is best served on the day it is made, this way the pastry will still be crunchy. It is still delicious the next day (the children and I fought over the leftovers), but the pastry will become rather soggy.