French pastry or Bonaparte cookies?

Napoleon — that delicious flakey pastry oozing with rich pastry cream. How did the pastry get it’s name? In attempting to define “Napoleon,” I found many different explanations as to where and how it was discovered and why the name was chosen.

It’s clear the pastry gets its name from the French emperor Napoleon, but try as I might I couldn’t find out how and why. Let me rephrase that, I did find a few possibilities but none with any concrete proof to back them up.

The most popular explanation is that the emperor overindulged himself with the mouth-watering pastries the day before the battle of Waterloo in 1815, and unfortunately developed a bad case of indigestion on the battlefield.

For a time, the English, who were victorious in the battle, dubbed the pastry “napoleon.” The French, on the other hand, had a bad taste (pun intended) toward the traitorous pastry.

Although the results of the Battle of Waterloo are well documented in history, napoleons aren’t mentioned before the 1890s, making this explanation not a feasible one.

Some other explanations I found include one that states the zigzag chocolate design that appears on the top layer of some of the pastries, resemble a bunch of N’s. Another theory is that a Danish chef created the pastry and it was first served on the occasion of a state visit by Napoleon. Lastly, there’s the version of an Italian chef in Naples who named it Napolitano, after his city, and that name was changed to napoleon in English.

The first time I made napoleons was when I was starting out in my business. A client asked if I could make her 200 mini napoleons. She said she was going to incorporate it into a theme for Purim. I figured she was doing a French theme. I stayed up around the clock making the napoleons from scratch. I also had to wrap each one individually in crisp clear cellophane and tied it with gold rope ribbon, as per her instructions. I wanted to make an impression that would last. Let’s just say it was something my client and I will never forget.

I opened the door and led her into the dining room where I had 20 boxes each filled with 20 napoleons. Only problem was her theme was Napoleon Bonaparte. She actually wanted mini Napoleon Bonaparte cookies with Napoleon in uniform and his hand in his jacket breast pocket.

“You actually wanted me to make Napoleon Bonaparte cookies in full uniform? I asked. “ You ordered 200 napoleons wrapped in cellophane. You failed to mention the word Bonaparte, how was I supposed to figure that out??” She responded, “Everyone has themes these days for shaloach mano,. My husband is dressing as Napoleon, I’m going as Josephine and my kids as their kids.” To which I deadpanned “ You still have a few hours before megillah reading, I suggest you find yourself some flakey dough filled with pastry cream costumes.” She didn’t laugh and I never heard from her again.

Whatever the origin to the name, napoleons are a sinfully delicious dessert that looks elegant, especially when plated individually. Being creative, I wanted my napoleons to look original so I came up with a different way to design the top layer. Below, find an easy to prepare a recipe that tastes and looks as if you spent hours in the kitchen. For those more daring and with time on your hands, email me for a recipe including making the pastry layers from scratch.

Napoleons

Ingredients:

24 Mazors frozen mini puff pastry squares for the napoleon layers (they come in a package of 36 in the freezer section)

5 frozen pastry squares for the deco pastry sticks on the top layer

24 ounces non dairy Rich’s whip topping. Whip right before filling napoleons.

2 packets Osem instant vanilla pudding

Sugar and cinnamon to sprinkle on the pastry sticks

Non stick spray

2 half sheet pans

Confectioners sugar for dusting

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Spray the sheet pans with non-stick spray. Place 12 squares on each pan leaving a small space between each one. Place in oven and bake till pastry puffs up and is golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool.

Spray another baking pan with non-stick spray. Place 5 frozen dough squares on the pan, spreading them out, leaving plenty of room between each one.

While frozen, with a small sharp knife, cut 9 strips out of each square and separate so you will have 45 sticks.

Spray all the tops again with spray and dust with sugar and cinnamon. Bake till they are crispy, flip over with a spatula and sprinkle other side with sugar and cinnamon and bake till lightly brown but not burn. Let cool.

Whip the Rich’s whip till stiff and then turn it onto the lowest setting and add the instant pudding powder, making sure it’s all incorporated before turning the setting to high speed for a few seconds. Fit a pastry bag with a tip of your choice or no tip at all. Fill 3/4 of the bag and pipe a layer of cream on 12 of the squares. Place an empty square on each layer of cream.Pipe a generous dollop of cream in the center of the top layer and place three pastry sticks in the center (see photo).

judy.soiree@gmail.com