Recipe 6: Strawberry Napoleons

This morning I attended a baby shower for a coworker, and I was asked to bring a desert... Which made me rack my brain... It sounded like time for me to step up to the challenge. I found the recipe for these Napoleons which is published in Low Fat and Luscious Desserts. They are a lot healthier than traditional napleons (or mille-feuille). A napoleon is traditionally made of a puff pastry or some other pastry with a 'thousand layers' and a cream filling. This is a spin on that concept.

Materials
~ 1/4 cup sugar
~ 1 tsp ground cinnamon
~ 3 sheets thawed phyllo dough
~ butter flavored vegetable oil spray
~ 1 pint sliced strawberries
~ 2 cups powdered sugar

~ 2 cups thawed whipped topping
~ additional powdered sugar

Methods
1/ Preheat oven to 375. Stir together cinnamon and sugar.

2/ Lay 1 sheet phyllo on a piece of parchment paper. Spray lightly and evenly with oil spray. Sprinkle wit 1tbl of cinnamon mixture. Spray both sides of next sheet of phyllo with oil and stack atop previous piece. Spread 1 tbl. of cinnamon mixture. Repeat with final slice of phyllo.

3/ Cut in half using kitchen shears. Transfer phyllo and parchment paper to a baking sheet.

4/ Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until brown and crispy. Cut each rectangle into 6 pieces. Allow to cool fully.

5/ Combine strawberries and powdered sugar.

6/ Assemble by layering 1 layer of phyllo dough, 1/4 cup whipped topping, 1/4 cup strawberry mixture, and 1 layer of phyllo dough. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serves 6.


Verdict
Awesome! I'm going to say that these went over pretty well at the shower since several people asked for the recipe. I did a double batch... and then i cut each 'batch' into more than 6 napoleons apiece. I loved the texture combination of the sweet and crunchy phyllo dough and with the cool whip. They were a little messy to put together, but definitely a keeper!!!

Next time I might chop the berries smaller and mix the berries and cool whip -- I think that might make it easer to put these together.