Brioche buns filled with vanilla cream, caramelised prunes and roast almonds

A delicious, clever and very good looking dessert to treat your guests!! Make things easier buying ready-to-use mini brioche and the rest is not something complicated. You'll end up with a light but hearty dessert which can be served all year round

Adapted from a recipe of Kostas Tsigas,
from "Cook Book" magazine of "ETHNOS" newspaper

Ingredients (for 4 people - 2 brioche for each person)

For the brioche:
8 brioche buns, store bought or home made
100gr. of blanched almonds (I have also used unsalted pistachios instead)
200gr. dried prunes
1 tbsp of butter
1 tea-cup of sweet red wine
1/4 tea-cup of sugar
1 tsp of fresh ginger, finely chopped (I have also used zest of lime instead)
icing sugar for dusting
ground cinnamon for dusting (optional -my addition)

For the vanilla cream:
1 tea-cup of sugar
3 tbsp of lemon zest
1 tea-cup of lemon juice
6 eggs
7 egg yolks
225gr. of unsalted butter, cut in cubes
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
1 pinch of salt

Method:
Fill a wide enough saucepan with water up to 1/2 and put on low heat.

Put all the ingredients of the cream in a glass bowl and place it on top of the pan ("bain marie" method), making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the simmering water. Stir the mixture vigorously and constantly until it thickens, being careful so the eggs won't curdle. *** If the temperature gets too high remove the bowl and put it back when the heat is down again. Strain the mixture through a sieve into the bowl. Cover with some cling film directly on the cream and put in the fridge.

In a non-stick frying pan melt the butter in medium-low heat and sauté the ginger for 1 minute stirring with a wooden spatula. Add the prunes, the lime zest (if used instead of the ginger), the wine and the sugar and simmer until the sugar is dissolved and most of the liquids are evaporated. The prunes mixture should be rather dark and caramelised in colour and texture. Take off the heat and leave the mixture aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lay the almonds on a baking sheet and roast for about 15 minutes, until they are nicely coloured. When cooled, roughly chop the almonds and keep aside.

Cut each brioche in half and spread plenty of the cream on the one half. Top with 1 tbsp of the prunes mixtures and sprinkle with some almonds. Cover the brioche with its lid and put on a dessert plate.

Sprinkle on top with the icing sugar and the cinnamon (if used) and serve immediately.