Name: Vanilla slice
Prep time: 6 h 30 min
Cook time: 35 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Australian
Ingredients: 2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed; 250 ml milk; 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped (or 2 tsp vanilla extract); 105 g cornflour; 70 g custard powder; 220 g caster sugar; 750 ml thickened cream; 50 g unsalted butter; 3 egg yolks; Icing sugar, to dust

Method

Heat oven to 210°C (190°C fan). Bake each pastry sheet between two trays 8–10 minutes until deep golden and flat. Cool. Trim to fit a 23 cm square tin.
Warm milk with vanilla. Whisk cornflour, custard powder and sugar in a saucepan, then whisk in cream. Add warm milk.
Cook, stirring, until very thick. Take off the heat, beat in butter then yolks.
Line the tin with one pastry sheet. Spread custard. Top with second pastry. Refrigerate overnight until firm.
Dust with icing sugar. Cut with a serrated knife (wipe between cuts).

Tip: Overnight chill is what lets you cut clean squares. Bake pastry well so it stays crisp against the custard. Full-fat cream only.