This is the #1 dessert that you will find in European pastry shops. Cremeschnitte is a vanilla-flavoured cream pie with two layers of puff pastry filled with heavenly creamy Chiboust cream. The sweetness and delicacy of the taste, that feeling of utter satisfaction you get when eating this Cremeschnitte is unbelievable.

Cremeschnitte is very popular in all of Europe. It is also known as cream slice, cream pie, KREMPITA,vanilla slice, custard slice, krémes, kremówka, napoleonka, cremșnit, cremeș, crempita, kremšnita, krémeš, kremna rezina, and so on. It consists of crisp puff pastry sandwiched around a thick Chiboust cream, which is vanilla pastry cream mixed with Italian meringue. 

Many different recipes are all around. I tried many but I always return to this one because this Chiboust cream is a top of the top creams ever.

Ingredients: 

250 g puff pastry

Pastry cream:

500 g milk

2 g vanilla 

30 g sugar

6 egg yolks

30 g sugar

60 gr cornstarch

12 g gelatin 

60 ml water

Italian meringue 

400 g sugar

120 g water

6 eggwhites 

Icing sugar for dusting the top

Instructions

1. Bake Puff Pastry: Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C. Roll out the puff pastry sheet to 13×18 inches. Put puff pastry on a upsidedown baking sheet overlapping the edges for at least one inch. Prick the top of the puff pastry sheet with the tines of a fork. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until golden-dark brown and crisp. Cool down, cut the edges that are overlapping the pan edges, cut in half and with a serrated knife to cut the other puff pastry sheet into 12 squares. Leave on the side.

Use a rectangle pan that is the same size or slightly larger than your baked puff pastry, or use an extensible cake mold for the Cremeschnitte.

2. Make a pastry cream: bloom gelatine in the bowl and add cold water.

Mix and set aside until you make pastry cream

In a saucepan, mix sugar and milk and bring to a boil. Beat egg yolks, whole eggs, cornstarch, and sugar until light and smooth. (The starch is mixed with the eggs and half the sugar to make a smooth paste.)  

Temper the egg mixture by slowly beating in the hot milk in a thin stream. ( tempering procedure gives better protection against lumping)

Return mixture to the heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. ( must be brought to a boil or the starch will not cook completely and the cream will have a raw starchy taste)

When the mixture comes to a boil and thickens, remove it from the heat. Stir in the vanilla and gelatine. Mix until is completely blended in. Cover with a plastic wrap and set aside. Do not cool the pastry cream; use it hot-warm. 

3. Make an Italian Meringue: Heat the sugar and water in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture boils. Boil until a candy thermometer placed in the syrup shows 243 F (117C).

While the syrup is cooking, beat the egg whites in a mixing machine until they form soft peaks.

With the machine running at high speed, very slowly add the hot syrup. Continue mixing for 3 minutes or until the meringue is smooth and shiny.

4. Chiboust Cream: Place the pastry cream in a bigger bowl and in a couple of additions, fold the meringue into the hot pastry cream until no streaks remain.
5. Assembling Cremeschnitte: Pour the Chiboust Cream over the baked puff pastry set in the pan and smooth out the top. Arrange the cut pieces of baked puff pastry over the top. Chill the assembled Cremeschnitte in the refrigerator for at least 2 to 3 hours to fully set.
6. Serving: Run a knife around the inside edge of the pan to release the mold. Using the pre-cut top layer of pastry as a guide, use a serrated knife to cut through the layers until the entire pan has been sliced into pieces. Carefully wipe off the blade between cuts for super-clean slices. Dust the top generously with icing sugar and serve.
7. Storing Cremeschnitte: It is best served the day it is made or at the most within 1 day of assembly. On 2 and 3 days the pastry will begin to soften. Store leftover slices covered with foil in the refrigerator. Putting it in a plastic container will soften the pastry more rapidly.

Tips and tricks for baking puff pastry:

1. Completely thaw before you use it. Take the package of puff pastry out of the freezer and let it thaw in the fridge overnight.
2. Lightly roll out the puff pastry. Dust the top of the puff with just a little flour, then use a rolling pin roll across to make the size.
3. For this recipe we don’t want the pastry to puff so dramatically, so prick the dough all over with a fork (just like docking a pie crust). After baking, the pastry will be cracker-thin and shatteringly crisp.
4. A higher oven temperature (400°F is ideal) results in puff pastry with a higher rise. The higher temperature produces steam, which is the crucial component that makes the puff pastry, well, puff. 
5. Puff pastry loses its lovely crispiness after a day or two if it is baked throughout.

Tips and tricks for making Pastry cream:

1. Once your yolks are separated, mix in your sugar and cornstarch. Make sure to fully incorporate everything leaving no sugar or starch on the side walls of your bowl. 
2. When tempering your egg yolks, put a wet towel under your bowl, so while you’re mixing the bowl won’t move. 

3. Continuously stir it while on heat. Make sure to scrape the bottom, and get the side walls from time to time.
4. If the pastry cream gets some curdle in, you can pass the pastry cream through a fine mesh strainer into another bowl.
5. When putting plastic wrap on the pastry cream make sure to push the plastic wrap right onto the pastry cream. If you don’t do this, it’ll condense and drip right into the final product making it watery and loose. Also, while it cools down the top will have a weird film on it that you’ll have to skim off and throw away.

Tips and tricks for making Italian Meringue:

1. Make sure all equipment is free of every trace of fat or grease and the egg whites don’t have any trace of yolks in them.

2. Egg whites foam better if they are at room temperature for at least one hour.
3. Do not over-boil sugar, use a candy thermometer.

4. Do not overbeat. Should look moist and shiny.
5. Very slowly add hot syrup

6. A small amount of lemon juice or a pinch of salt gives more volume and stability.

Enjoy.  Bon Appetit. 

NOTES 

Watch the Video: To better understand the recipe, I recommend watching the video recipe, which includes a step-by-step guide to help you succeed. 

Did you make this recipe? Please leave a comment and follow for more videos and recipes.

Bon Appetit!