This has been one fun weekend, but HECTIC! The Jane Austen Promenade (and all the preparation) was funtimes, then we went to see Jimmy Eat World (and danced our asses off), and then yesterday and today we have been crafting some Sorbetto and Sorbetto variations for both Lizzie and Rivka.

But, back to real life.

I only have a few weeks left at work now, and as I work over two sites, it was time to say goodbye to some people I have been working with for 7 years (eeeek!), so I made some little things to take in.

I wanted to make these little beauties a couple of weeks ago to go along with my tuiles for the petits fours bake off challenge, but things got a little crazy and I just didn’t get around to it. But, I had the mangoes in the fridge, so I figured I had better use them up!

Coconut and Mango Napoleons Recipe – adapted from Indulgence Petits Fours: a fine selection of sweet treats

Ingredients

Rough Puff Pastry

225g plain flour

good pinch of sea salt flakes, crushed

190g unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes

140ml icy cold water

Alternatively, you can use a sheet of ready rolled puff pastry.

Napoleons

40g icing sugar

1 ripe mango (I needed two in order to get enough slices)

125ml cream

1tsp coconut extract

Method

For the rough puff pastry, sift the flour and salt into a large bowl and add the butter. Move the butter around until coated in the flour. Add the water. Then, using a butter knife, mix in the liquid and chop the butter slightly as you go, turning the bowl round, until the ingredients have combined into a dough.

On a floured work surface, tip the dough out and quickly shape it into a block. Roll out the dough into a rectangle roughly 35cmx20cm/14inx8in in size. With the short side of the pastry rectangle in front of you, fold the bottom third of the pastry to the middle, then fold the top half down to cover it. Roll the pastry out into a rectangle again and repeat the folding process. Turn the pastry a quarter turn and roll out and fold again. Repeat this 4-5 times.

After the last folding, wrap the pastry in cling film and leave to chill in the fridge for a few hours, or preferably overnight.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Line two trays with paper.

Roll out to a couple of mm thick, then cut out shapes and lay them on the prepared trays.

(Prick the hearts on one tray all over with a fork, then cover each tray with another tray to flatten the pastry. Bake for 4-5 minutes, remove the top tray from the shapes that will form the lids, bake both trays for a further 2 minutes remove the other top tray, then cook both for a further 1-2 minutes until crisp and golden) – these are the original instructions, which I followed, but I was disappointed by the lack of rise, so I would just skip this, and instead just:

Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then remove and cool on a cooling rack.

Slice the mango into mm thick slices, then cut out shapes with the same cutter as for the pastry:

(Since they were going to be goodbye goodies, I chose a hand shape!)

Beat the cream, icing sugar, and coconut extract until thick and pipable.

Next, assemble the napoleons, by piping a blob of cream, then placing a slice of mango, then cream, then mango, then another piece of pastry:

I didn’t have enough mango for all of them, so some had two blobs of cream, and only one slice of mango.

Wasn’t a big deal. Still tasty. I was quite disappointed with the lack of puff too, but I think that may have been partly down to the original instructions in the recipe, so I have missed that craziness out in the above written recipe. I packed some in a box ready to take to work, setting aside one for me, and one for Mr M to try…………………… Mr M then wanted to eat all the rest!

Oh, and the leftover scraps of material from cutting out Rivka’s top? Well…umm yeah this happened:

Carnival Marcie! She doesn’t mind really.