Strawberry Napoleon

This delightfully light dessert is easy and fun to make. It also looks gorgeous once assembled.

• Ready In: 35 mins
• Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1  sheet puff pastry, thawed if frozen (half of a 1.1LB package)
• 1 (3 1/2ounce) package vanilla instant pudding mix
• 1  cup milk, cold
• 1 1⁄2 cups  sweetened whipped cream
• 1 1⁄2 cups  sliced fresh strawberries

Directions

1. Thaw the frozen puff pastry by placing it in room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
3. Once thawed, unfold the pastry on a lightly floured surface and cut it into 3 strips along the fold mark.
4. Cut each of the 3 strips into 4 rectangles; you will have a total of 12 same sized rectangles.
5. Place the pastry rectangles on a baking sheet about an inch apart and bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden brown.
6. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the pastry cool.
7. In the meantime, make the vanilla pudding according to the package directions using the cold milk.
8. Fold in the whipped cream into the set vanilla pudding.
9. Now break apart each pastry rectangle into 2 layers - top and bottom; you now have 24 rectangles.
10. Keep aside 8 top layers.
11. Line up 8 bottom parts and spoon ½ of the vanilla mixture on them, dividing equally between the 8 pastries.
12. Top with strawberry slices and another piece of pastry.
13. Repeat with the remaining vanilla mixture and strawberry slices.
14. Top with the reserved pastry tops.
15. Garnish with a few slices of strawberry and a dusting of powdered sugar.
16. Either serve immediately or the patries can be refrigerated for upto 3 hours.
17. Note that the preparation time does not include time to thaw the pastry.