Fruit Filled Shells with Vanilla Sauce


Shells:

• 4 sheets phyllo dough, thawed
• 4 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 3 Tablespoons sugar

Vanilla Sauce:

• 2 cups Half & Half
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Berries:

• 2 cups Strawberries, quartered
• 1 cup Blueberries, fresh (fresh works best, frozen can be mushy!)
• 1 cup Raspberries, fresh (fresh works best, frozen can be mushy!)
• Powdered Sugar &/or Dark Chocolate, grated (optional)

Instructions:
Shells:
Preheat oven to 350F. Brush 12 (3inch) muffin-pan cups lightly with butter. Unfold dough. Remove 1 sheet, leaving remaining dough covered with plastic wrap as you work. Using a pastry brush, brush 1 sheet lightly with butter & sprinkle with 2 teaspoons sugar. Repeat procedure using remaining sheets, butter & sugar. Cut into 12 (4 inch) squares. Gently press squares into muffin cups. Brush edges with remaining butter. Bake 10 minutes or until golden. Remove shells from pan as soon as you take them out of the oven or they will stick & break into pieces once cooled. Cool on a wire rack.

Vanilla Sauce:
Put Half & Half in top of double broiler, place directly over medium high heat & bring edges of milk to a boil, (when bubbles start appearing around the sides of the pan, not in the center of the Half & Half). Stir often to prevent sticking to the bottom. While this is cooking, mix beaten egg yolks & sugar together. When the Half & Half is done, remove it from the heat.
Temper the egg yolks & sugar by removing 1 cup of warm Half & Half & mixing it in with the egg yolks & sugar mixture; when mixed, add 1 more cup of warm Half & Half & mix. (This prevents the eggs from cooking too quickly when added to the pan of Half & Half mixture.)
Once eggs, sugar, & Half & Half are combined, add mixture to the Half & Half pan. Cook over medium high heat in double boiler, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens & coats a wooden spoon. DO NOT OVER COOK! Add vanilla & remove from heat; chill until ready to use. This will set nicely after about 2 - 3 hours in the refrigerator, but can be used warm.

Berries:
Add sugar to berries 5 minutes before serving if desired. Go easy on the sugar, you just want to take away the tartness!

Assembly:
Ladle 1/4 cup vanilla sauce directly on serving plate. Place a phyllo cup in the center of vanilla sauce & add an additional 1 - 2 Tablespoons of vanilla sauce in the bottom of the cup. Place berries in cup & scatter a few in the sauce. (You may add more vanilla sauce over berries if you want. A dollop in the center is pretty!) Sprinkle grated dark chocolate or lightly dust with powdered sugar all over, if you desire; serve.

NOTE: You can double the vanilla sauce and use it on pancakes, waffes, brownies, etc.....