Blueberry Napoleon with Crème Fraîche and Raspberry Powder

Blueberry Napoleon with crème fraîche and Raspberry Powder

I didn’t make this to be a Fourth of July dessert, but I realized afterwards that it bears some kind of metaphoric resemblance to an American flag, except that the stars are blue.

I made some rectangles out of a pastry dough, and layered them with Crème fraîche, beautiful blueberries, and a sprinkle of brown sugar. The easiest dough to work with is called pâte sablée. Here is a detailed introduction to it from my friend Fanny. Once you’ve made the dough and chilled it, roll it out to exactly fit a Silpat lined baking sheet, and make a little paper template to divide the dough evenly into rectangles before baking.

The raspberry powder is made from these freeze-dried raspberries that we keep around as a snack, quickly pounded in a mortar and pestle (if Amazon is out, you can often find them at Whole Foods). Keep them in the freezer and they won’t absorb moisture. I’m thinking there are lots of other interesting applications for this stuff. The same brand makes many other freeze dried fruits and vegetables, all with a single ingredient and no preservatives. How about a powdered fruit salad? What would happen if we folded the powder into yogurt or cream?