Medaljer is a classic cream cake you will find in most baker's shop. The cake is a shortbread pastry with whipped cream, jam and custard. However simple the ingredients, it is a very tasty. In my young days I worked in a Baker's shop, and I have been decorating a lot of these medaljer to help the Pastry Chef. For the longest time, I wanted to become a pastry chef, but ended up as an engineer. Life takes it twists and turns.

Makes 8-12.

Ingredients:

Pastry:

300 g all-purpose flour
150 g butter, salted and room temperature
100 g confectionary sugar
1 egg

Custard:

3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2½ dl (250 ml) milk (1 cup +1 tablespoon)
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Filling:

raspberry jam
whipped heavy whipping cream
custard

Topping:

whipped heavy cream
fresh berries or fruit, use whatever you like, blueberries, strawberries or a slice of kiwi

Icing:

150 g confectionary sugar
warm water
food coloring

Directions:

Pastry:

Mix the butter in the flour and sugar in a stand mixer. Add the egg and mix just until the dough starts to lump together. Form the dough into a disc and wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it rest for about 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 360℉ (180℃)

On a floured surface roll the dough to about 1/10-inch (3mm) thickness. Cut out round about 2¾-inch (7 cm) in diameter.

Bake the rounds for 8-10 minutes on a parchment paper covered baking sheet, until light golden. Let the cookies cool completely.

Custard:

Beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale in color. Whisk in the cornstarch and vanilla paste.

Heat the milk to a slow boil, set aside.

While whisking vigorously drizzle the warm milk into the egg yolk mixture, just a tiny bit at a time at first. Once you’ve added about ¼ of the milk, you can add the rest in a thin steady stream, whisking constantly.

Pour the mixture back in the saucepan and reheat it over medium heat. Whisk constantly until it thickens. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl. Sprinkle with sugar or press some plastic wrap against the custard so it won't form a pudding skin. Chill the custard completely in the refrigerator.

Assembly:

Make the icing, and put a thin layer on top of half the cookies. This will be the top part.

Whip the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks. Put the whipped cream into a pastry bag fitted with a large star shaped tip. Pipe a ring of whipped cream along the edges of the second half of the cookies, the lower part. You want to have some hight to the whipped cream, so you have a hole in the middle for the jam and custard. Pipe jam and custard into the hole.

Pipe a top of whipped cream on top of the iced cookie, and decorate with berries and nuts.
Place the top part on top of the lower part.

Serve the cakes immediately with a cup of tea or coffee.

Enjoy!