Sopaipillas and Sherried Fruit Compote on Honey Pastry Cream with Vinagres De Yema Gran Reserva Glaze

To prepare pastry cream, place the milk in a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the milk and add the bean as well.

Heat the milk over medium heat and bring to a boil.

While the milk is heating, combine the egg yolks, sugar, and honey in a mixing bowl.

Add the cornstarch and mix until smooth. Once the milk is boiling, remove the vanilla bean and add 1/4 of the milk to the egg mixture, whisking continuously making sure the eggs do not scramble. Once the yolks are tempered, return the egg mixture to the milk in the saucepan and continue whisking over medium heat until the mixture bubbles and thickens. This should take 1 to 2 minutes. Once the cream has thickened, place it in a bowl over an ice bath and cover with plastic wrap. Allow the cream to cool thoroughly.

Sopaipillas: Using a large mixing bowl, blend the flour, salt and baking powder. In another bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water to activate and add to the flour mixture. Incorporate the milk slowly to form a single ball of dough. Knead the dough until smooth, cover and allow to rise until doubled in size.

In a large pot or fryer, heat the oil to 360 to 375 degrees F.

On a floured work surface, roll the dough out to 1/4-inch thickness. Using a cutter or knife cut the dough into desired serving size portions. Drop the sopaipillas, 2 or 3 at a time, into the oil and fry, turning them often until browned.

Remove with a skimmer and place on paper towels to drain.

Sprinkle the warm sopaipillas with cinnamon and powdered sugar.

To make the fruit compote, place the ingredients in a mixing bowl and toss until the fruits are evenly coated. Allow the fruit to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Strain fruit from liquid before serving.

To make the glaze, place the vinegar in a saucepan and over medium heat reduce by half. Dissolve the honey in the warm vinegar and allow to cool. Set aside.

To serve, split the sopaipillas open and pipe in a portion of the pastry cream. Fill the remainder of the sopaipillas with fruit compote.

Place the sopaipillas on each plate, drizzle the glaze around the sopaipillas and dust with powdered sugar and cinnamon. Finish with a dash of vinegar on the fruit compote.