Vanilla Slice Recipe

"This is from Good Chef Bad Chef and what I liked about the recipe is that it does not have the thick icing on top just a dusting of icing sugar as I always found that the icing made it sickly sweet and often as not removed it. I am hoping to make this soon for the DH but he has requested that I do so without the jam. Cooking time includes cooling down and chilling time and is estimated. Our pastry sheets are about 22cm to 24cm square."

Step by Step Method

Step 1

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Step 2

Halve the pastry lengthwise and roll each piece out to a rectangle 2-3mm (1/8 inch) thick (note Adrian used a sheet of puff pastry which he just halved), trim each piece to a fit a 20cm x 30cm slice tin.

Step 3

Place the pastry on baking trays lined with non-stick baking paper and sprinkle with caster sugar and then top each piece with non-stick baking paper and another baking tray as a weight and bake for 10 minutes or until puffed and golden.

Step 4

Cool on racks.

Step 5

To make the filling, place the milk, cream butter, vanilla and sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat and cook until hot but not boiling (there should just be bubbles around the edge of the pot).

Step 6

Mix the cornflour and water to a smooth paste and whisk into the hot milk mixture and then add the egg yolks and stir, allowing to simmer, for 6 minutes or until the mixture has thickened.

Step 7

Remove from the heat allow to cool to room temperature (he placed in the fridge with cling wrap over it and also suggested you could put the bowl into an ice bath to cool down).

Step 8

Place one of the pastry sheets in a 20c x 30cm slice tin lined with non-stick baking paper and spread over the filling and jam and top with the remaining pastry and then refrigerate for 2 hours or until set.