Mille-Feuille

Mille-Feuille which means a thousand leaves. The traditional mille-feuille is a classic pastry with three layers of puff pastry and two of crème pâtissière (pastry cream). Having said that, there are different flavors that can be used to make this pastry. We made mille-feuille chocolate praline, mille-feuille with raspberries and pistachio mille-feuille.

Before I begin with the details of the above pastries, I would love to share the full-proof way to make pastry cream at home that is creamy, smooth and luscious, full of flavor.

The recipe we use in class is given below. It makes about 1.5 litres of pastry cream.

Milk 1000 g
Eggs 100 g (2-3)
Egg yolks 60 g (2)
Sugar 250 g
All purpose flour 50g
Corn Starch/Custard Powder 50g
Vanilla Bean 1
Butter 100g, softened (optional)

1. Boil the milk with half the sugar and the scraped vanilla bean. Keep whisking continuously so that it does not burn.
2. In a bowl whisk the eggs, yolks and the remaining sugar. Add the custard powder and flour, whisk together.
3. As soon as the milk boils, pour one-third of the milk over the eggs mixture and whisk quickly.
4.Put it back into the milk and heat until it comes to a boil. It is important to keep whisking continuously and quickly the cream so that it does not burn.
5. Once the cream comes to a boil, cook for 1 minute ONLYand remove immediately from heat.
6. If using butter, make sure it is softened, then add gradually to the cream and whisk continuously until smooth.
6. Remove in a bowl, wrap with plastic onto the surface of the cream and chill.

For making different flavors, the flavoring can be added once the cream has been cooked or along with the milk when it is being boiled.

Mille-Feuille Traditionel :

MilleFeuille Traditional

Makes 6 portions :

Puff Pastry dough 400g
Pastry cream 600g
Rum 20g
Icing sugar, for decorating

Bake the Puff Pastry dough in one thin layer. Cover  with icing sugar and caramelize in oven at 250C.

Flavor the pastry cream with rum before using.

Assembling:
Cut the puff pastry in 3 rectangles. Reserve one rectangle with the caramelized side for the top.
Place one layer of puff pastry on a cake board. Cover with a layer of pastry cream, spread it evenly. Place a layer of puff pastry over it. Cover with another layer of pastry cream and spread evenly. Place the caramelized layer on top and decorate with icing sugar. Cut into 6 portions.

Mille-Feuille aux framboises et l’anis (raspberries and anis) :

Raspberry Mille-Feuille

6 portions :

Puff Pastry dough 400g
Pastry cream 400g
Heavy cream 100g
Anise liquor 25 g, optional
Gelatin sheet 2g
Raspberry 250g
Icing sugar, for decorating

Bake the Puff Pastry dough in one thin layer. Cover with icing sugar and caramelize in oven at 250C.

Meuille-Feuille Cream:
Soak the gelatin in cold water for 10 minutes and drain. Beat the whipped cream to stiff peak.
Remove the chilled pastry cream in a mixing bowl and add the gelatin and the anise liquor to it and beat at high speed. Fold in the whipped cream.

Assembling:
Cut the puff pastry in 3 rectangles. Reserve one rectangle with the caramelized side for the top.
Place one layer of puff pastry on a cake board. Cover with a layer of mille-feuille cream, spread it evenly. Arrange raspberries at the edge on all sides. Place a layer of puff pastry over it. Cover with another layer of cream and spread evenly. Repeat with raspberries. Place the caramelized layer on top and decorate with icing sugar and raspberries.

Mille-Feuille Chocolate Praline :

The Meuille-Feuille Chocolate Praline has a lot of elements but it is totally worth the effort.

Makes 1 band 35cm long:

Ingredients:

Chocolate Puff Pastry Dough 450g
Feuilletine praline
Milk chocolate 75g
Hazelnut Paste 47g
Praline 47g
Feuilletine 57g

Chocolate Parfait
Sugar 30g
Water 30g
Egg yolks 30g
Dark chocolate 64% 100g
Whipped cream 200g

Mousseline Praline Cream:
Pastry Cream 250g
Butter 100g
Praline 100g

Instructions:

Bake the Puff Pastry dough in one thin layer.

Feuilletine praline:
Melt the chocolate at 45C. Add the rest of the ingredients and keep aside.

Chocolate Parfait:
Mix the sugar, water and yolks to 85C. Whisk with a beater till the bowl feels cool to the touch.
Melt chocolate at 55C.
Whisk the cream to soft peaks.
Add the chocolate to the yolk mixture.
Add a little whipped cream to the chocolate mixture and mix with a whisk.
Pour it into the remaining cream and mix well. Pour into a piping bag.

Mousseline Praline Cream:
Beat the chilled pastry cream till it reaches the ribbon stage.
If the praline is too thick, beat with the softened butter until smooth.
Add the pastry cream to the praline butter mixture and mix until smooth.
Pour into a piping bag.

Assembling:
Cut the puff pastry in 3 rectangles.
Place one layer of puff pastry on a cake board. Cover with a layer of Feuilletine praline, spread it evenly.
Pipe small rounds of Mousseline Praline Cream in a straight line to cover the pastry.
Place a layer of puff pastry over it. Cover with another layer of Feuilletine praline and spread evenly.
Pipe small rounds of Chocolate Parfait in a straight line to cover the puff pastry.
Place the third layer on top and decorate.

Bon Apetit!

I am taking these over to Angie’s fun Fiesta Friday for the weekend celebrations! 🙂