Millefeuille

Millefeuille translates as 1000 leaves (sounds more poetic in French) and made up of layers of crisp puff pastry sandwiched together with pastry cream. You can add fruit or flavour the cream if you like to customise your dessert to your heart’s desire. By using ready rolled all butter puff pastry you cut the workload in half.

Makes 4

Prep: 20 minutes

Bake: 15-20 minutes

Oven temp: 220 convection | 200 Fan

mille_feuille_ingredients_edited

Ingredients

  • 1 packet (320g) all butter ready rolled puff pastry
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten, to glaze

Vanilla pastry cream

  • 375ml whole milk
  • 1/2 tbsp vanilla paste
  • 2 large eggs
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 3 tbsp cornflour
  • 30g unsalted butter, cubed

For the glaze

  • 150g icing sugar
  • 1 heaped tsp cocoa powder
  • a little milk, as needed

Make the pastry cream

  1. Whisk together the sugar, cornflour and eggs – either by hand or in a mixer – until smooth.
  2. In a saucepan over medium heat, heat the milk and vanilla paste until small bubbles appear along the edge of the pan.
  3. Slowly pour the some of the hot milk into the egg mixture while whisking to avoid curdling the eggs. Gradually add the rest of the milk while whisking.
  4. Pour the custard back into the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, for about 5 minutes until cream thickens.
  5. Stir in the butter until it is incorporated.
  6. Cover the pastry cream with cling film, placing it directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill for a several hours or overnight.

Pastry_Step_3

Make the millefeuille pastry layers

  1. Preheat the oven and line a heavy baking tray with paper. Have a second tray on standby.
  2. Unroll the pastry and cut it into 12 equal rectangles – best use a ruler for accuracy.
  3. Brush them lightly with a little beaten egg and transfer onto the prepared tray.
  4. Bake on the top shelf of the oven for 7-10 minutes until the pastry is puffed up and a lightly golden.
  5. Remove from the oven and place the second tray on the pastry to flatten. Return to the oven for another 7 minutes until the pastry is flat, crisp and golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.
  6. Mix the icing sugar with a little milk, very gradually, until you have smooth paste.
  7. In separate bowl combine 1 tablespoon of the glaze with the cocoa powder to create the contrasting glaze. Thin with a little milk if necessary.
  8. Spread a thin layer of the glaze on four of the pastry slices. Drizzle thin horizontal lines of the contrasting glaze and drag a skewer through them to create the feathered pattern. You will need to do this before the icing sets. Set the glazed pastry aside to dry.
  9. Transfer the pastry cream into a piping bag fitted with a star tip and pipe the cream over the remaining pieces of pastry.
  10. Carefully stack the slices together to form the millefeuilles and place the glazed pastry on top. Serve immediately.

Thanks to ao life for this great recipe.