Directions

• Step 1 In a large bowl, put your water, sugar and yeast and stir together
• Step 2 Add your flour, salt and 100g of vegan butter and knead until it all comes together (mix it in the bowl first before tipping out and kneading). If you have an electric whisk with a dough hook, you can use this
• Step 3 Cover the dough with cling film, place in the fridge, and leave for 8 hours or overnight
• Step 4 Once you’ve placed your dough in the fridge, take the remaining 260g of vegan butter and place between two pieces of parchment paper or into a sandwich bag
• Step 5 With a rolling pin, flatten the butter until it becomes a square shape that is roughly 7×7 inch (ideally, measure it with a tape measure to be sure). Wrap in cling film and place back in the fridge and leave until your dough is ready (you need to be working with the butter cold but not rock solid, so ensure it stays in the fridge until needed, and then work quickly)
• Step 6 Once your dough has been left for at least 8 hours, remove from the fridge and place on a lightly floured worktop
• Step 7 With a rolling pin, roll into a rectangle that is 14×7 inches in size
• Step 8 Take your slab of butter and place it in the middle of your dough
• Step 9 Fold the two ends of the dough to meet in the middle over the butter slab, and make sure the butter is sealed by pushing the dough together all around the edges
• Step 10 Turn the dough so that the join is now straight in front of you, not lengthways. Starting from the middle, roll your pastry out into a long rectangle, till it’s roughly 22×7 inches in size (do not roll back on yourself, always come back to the middle and roll out towards the edges)
• Step 11 Now it’s time for your first fold. Take one end of your dough and fold about two thirds of the way down, then take the other end, and fold it on top, so that you’ve folded the dough into thirds and you’re left with a rough square shape
• Step 12 Wrap your dough into cling film (make sure it’s well wrapped as this stops it from drying out) and put in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour
• Step 13 Remove from the fridge and place it so that the folded end of your dough (the part like the binding of a book) is on your left
• Step 14 Roll your dough again until it’s 22×7 inches (step 10), then repeat step 11 (the fold), wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. Repeat this again (make sure fold is on left, roll and fold), wrap in cling film, but this time place in the fridge for 60 minutes
• Step 15 After your dough has been in the fridge for its third and final time, remove from the fridge and on a lightly floured surface, roll out to about 24×9 inches
• Step 16 Cut your dough in half lengthways with a knife, then cut along to make 4 rows. You should be left with 8 pieces of dough
• Step 17 Very carefully stretch and roll each piece of dough into a square shape
• Step 18 Take a piece of dough, and carefully fold each corner into the middle, so that each corner is now touching the middle of the dough
• Step 19 With your thumb, gently press down in the middle to make a small dent. Repeat for all pieces
• Step 20 Place the pieces back on a baking sheet, lightly cover with some parchment paper and leave to rise for 2 hours
• Step 21 Whilst the dough is rising, you can now make your custard. First you need to make cashew cream. In a blender, add your raw cashews and water, and blend until smooth
• Step 22 Next, in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, place in all of your custard ingredients (including your cashew cream) except the cornflour paste, and heat over a medium heat
• Step 23 Bring to boil, stirring constantly to make sure there are no lumps
• Step 24 Once boiling, turn off the heat, continuing to stir, add in your cornflour paste and whisk until smooth
• Step 25 Once everything has mixed together, pour into a jug and set aside
• Step 26 Once your dough has been rising for 2 hours, pre-heat your oven to 190 degrees fan
• Step 27 Remove the parchment paper and grab a glass. Carefully make a small dent in the middle of each pastry with the glass, which will act as a hole for the custard
• Step 28 Carefully pour your custard into each ‘hole’, being careful to not overfill. Repeat for all pastries
• Step 29 Next, scatter your flaked almonds onto each pastry
• Step 30 Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden
• Step 31 Remove from the oven and leave to cool
• Step 32 Make your icing mix by placing your icing sugar in a bowl, and added a tablespoon at a time of warm water, mixing until you have a runny paste
• Step 33 Once cooled, drizzle your icing sugar over the top of each pastry
• Step 34 Serve!