Photo by Massimo Pessina and Blandine Boyer
Total Time
4 hours
Mille-Feuille means “a thousand leaves.” This French dessert is a delicate tower of crisp puff pasty and luscious pastry cream. Go the extra mile by making your own pastry or streamline the process with store-bought dough.
This recipe was excerpted from ‘Maison Kayser’s French Pastry Workshop' by Eric Kayser. Buy the full book on Amazon.
Ingredients
Serves 6 to 8
For the cream filling
2 large egg yolks
¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp. (75 g) granulated sugar
3 Tbsp. (30 g) cornstarch
1 ⅓ cups whole milk
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped out, pod reserved
4 gelatin sheets, or 1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. (12 g) powdered gelatin
2 Tbsp. very warm water
3 Tbsp. plus ½ tsp. (45 g) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
⅔ cup heavy whipping cream, well chilled
For the puff pastry
14 oz (400 g) all-butter puff pastry dough, homemade or store-bought, fresh or frozen
½ cup (50 g) confectioners’ sugar
For the decorations
¼ cup (25 g) confectioners’ sugar
Preparation
To make the cream filling
Step 1
In a medium bowl, vigorously whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until lightened. Whisk in the cornstarch. In a saucepan, warm the milk and the vanilla seeds and pod. Slowly pour the milk mixture into the egg mixture while whisking constantly. Pour the entire mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until very thick, about 5 minutes. Discard the pod.
Step 2
Soak the gelatin sheets for 10 minutes in a bowl of cold water. (If using powdered gelatin, sprinkle it over ¼ cup plus 2½ Tbsp. cold water and stir to moisten it; let soften for 5 minutes.) Squeeze the water from the gelatin sheets and add them to the warm water; stir to dissolve. Stir the gelatin into the warm custard (or stir in the softened powdered gelatin, if using, until fully melted). Let cool slightly. Add the butter pieces to the custard. Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture until smooth and the butter is incorporated. Cover the surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cooled.
To make the Mille-Feuille
Step 3
Whip the cream, then fold it into the cooled custard mixture using a silicone spatula or whisk. Cover the surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
See AlsoFrench Napoleon Pastry RecipeStep 4
Bake the puff pastry. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out the puff pastry dough ⅛-inch thick into a rectangle that will fit on your baking sheet. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet, then place a piece of parchment paper on top to cover it. Place a second baking sheet on top to prevent puffing during baking. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool completely.
Step 5
Depending on the size of your serving plate, carefully cut the pastry into three squares, rectangles, or circles of equal size (you can cut out a cardboard template as a guide).
Step 6
Sift a layer of confectioners’ sugar on top of one of the layers and bake it for 5 minutes at 450°F, watching it carefully so that it caramelizes but does not burn.
Step 7
Assemble the mille-feuille. Scrape the cream into a pastry bag fitted with an open star pastry tube.
Step 8
Pipe a layer of cream rosettes on top of one of the non-caramelized layers.
Step 9
Cover the rosettes with one of the puff pastry layers and pipe a second layer of cream rosettes.
Step 10
Place the caramelized puff pastry layer on top.
Step 11
Place parallel strips of paper on top at a diagonal and dust with confectioners’ sugar.
Step 12
Carefully lift off the strips to reveal the striped pattern.
Step 13
Pipe one or two rosettes on top for decoration (optional).
Cook’s note:
For individual mille-feuilles, cut out three 1½-inch by 3-inch rectangles per person.
Reprinted with permission from Maison Kayser’s French Pastry Workshop by Eric Kayser. Photos by Massimo Pessina with Blandine Boyer. Copyright © 2017. Published by Black Dog & Levanthal, an imprint of Hachette Books. Buy the full book from Black Dog & Levanthal or Amazon.
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10/18/2022
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