095 – Mille Feuille – Valentine’s Day Special

Ingredients :

1-½ cups of milk
6 tablespoons of sugar
¼ cup of flour
2 egg yolks
1 egg
2 tablespoons of butter
1-½ teaspoons of vanilla extract
Other ingredients
Powdered sugar
Strawberries
Puff pastry

Directions :

Step 1: Making the pastry cream
1. Heat the milk to just below boiling point.
2. Whisk the eggs with the sugar then add the flour little by little.
3. Add ½ cup of the milk to the mixture to temper the eggs.
4. Return the mixture to the rest of the milk.
5. Heat the mixture until it reaches boiling point, whisking constantly.
6. Keep cooking until the cream is very thick.
7. Remove the cream from the heat and whisk in the butter and the vanilla extract.
8. Put the cream in the bowl and place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the cream to avoid the creation of a crust.
9. Place the cream in the fridge to completely cool down before using it.

Step 2: Preparing the puffed pastry
1. You can use frozen puffed pastry for this rather than making it from scratch.
2. Puffed pastry is made of butter so it can be really sticky if it is not cold enough. If it becomes sticky while working with it, throw it in the fridge for a few minutes until it cools down.
3. Roll the puffed pastry.
4. Pierce the puffed pastry all over with a fork.
5. Use a cookie cutter to shape the puffed pastry. For this Valentines’ Recipe, I am using a heart.
6. Place the pastries on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
7. If you have extra dough, roll it in a ball, cover it with plastic wrap and put it in the freezer for future use.
8. Cover the pastry with another parchment paper, baking sheet and add some beans for more weight so it doesn’t puff up while baking.
9. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
10. Bake for 20 minutes.

Step 3: Assembling the Mille Feuille
1. Cut the strawberries into thin slices.
2. Using three puffs, layer them with the cream and strawberries.
3. Traditional Mille Feuille is usually covered with whit fondant but you can use powdered sugar.
4. Sprinkle the powdered sugar on top of the Mille Feuille.
5. Heat up a metal skewer over a flame and place the metal skewer on the powdered sugar briefly to make diagonal lines.
6. Place the Mille Feuille in the fridge for one hour before serving.