Gabe’s Puff Pastry Dessert (Cremshnit)

Ingredients:

• 1 package Presidents Choice Butter Puff Pastry (contains 2 sheets of puff pastry)


• 2 135g packages Jello Vanilla cooked pudding & pie filling


• 2 pieces of Bakers white chocolate chopped


• 6 cups of 2% Milk


• 3 cups sliced fresh strawberries (you can add more or decrease the fruit depending on personal preference but make sure it is fresh. Do not use frozen berries as it will make things watery)


• 2 tbsp. icing sugar

Directions:

• Thaw Puff Pastry according to package directions. Cook both sheets on a flat cookie sheet at 350F for approximately 20 minutes or until they start to have a pale golden colour. Cool for several hours or overnight at room temperature. (do not refrigerate)
  
  Notes: I have found that cooling overnight gives me the best results. (the puff pastry stays crunchier) If I try to make this recipe all in one day, the pastry becomes soggy. My suggestion is that if you must make it the same day, make the pastry in the morning and don’t put it together until late in the day.



• Follow the directions on the Jello Vanilla package. While the pudding is cooling, drop the chopped white chocolate into the mixture and stir until melted and mixed in. Let the pie filling cool to room temperature. This will take about 3 hours.



• Once you have waited for Puff Pastry and Vanilla Pie filling to be cooled as per above, you are ready to put this together.





• Decide which puff piece looks the nicest so you know which one to use as your top 2 layers.


• Carefully (use a large sharp knife) to slice both puff pastry pieces in half (horizontally). Follow the seam on the side if you can.


• Decide now which plate you are going to serve this on as it will be difficult to move this once it is done. Place the bottom piece of a pastry on the plate and drop spoonfuls of the pudding on this layer. (keep in mind that you have 3 layers to fill so divide your pudding accordingly) Gently spread your pudding.


• Place a layer of sliced strawberries throughout this layer. (you don’t just have to use strawberries – I’ve done it with a mix of strawberries, blueberries and blackberries and it is quite nice).


• Place your top layer to that piece of puff pastry and repeat the pudding and strawberry step again. Continue to repeat until you have placed the top layer on your dessert.





• The finishing touches – using a sifter, shake the icing sugar over the top layer. It looks nice just like this but if you want more, melt some chocolate and drip it onto this layer to form an abstract design. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.
  

**Try something different: One other slight twist to the above:

Don’t add the white chocolate chunks when the pudding is cooling. Just let it cool to room temperature. Once it is at room temperature, add about 4 big spoons of cool whip or more if you like and stir well. (I never really measure the cool whip amount.) Then you can continue making the dessert as above. This gives it a slightly different taste. I haven’t had complaints on either version…

Enjoy your dessert!!