Mille Feuilles

Mille Feuilles (mil foi) is a lovely creation of the French also sometimes called a Napoleon. They may be screwy on a lot of things, but those Frenchies know how to make some delicious food. Since I mentioned it in last nights post, and since you really only need pastry cream, berries & some powdered sugar to make a lovely mille feuilles I thought I'd oblige you this morning. You can make a savory mille feuilles with cheese & spinach or pesto, but I've got pastry cream on the brain, so that's what you're getting. For the recipe....
Vanilla Pastry Cream makes 3 ish cups (I never really measured, it gets eaten too fast)

2 c milk
1 vanilla bean (or 1T pure vanilla extract)
6 egg yolks, whipped
2/3 c sugar
2/3 c flour (or 1/3 c cornstarch if you prefer)

In medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup milk, egg yolks, 1/3 cup sugar, and flour/cornstarch & set aside. In a saucepan add remaining milk. Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the milk & then add the vanilla pod to the milk as well. Sprinkle remaining 1/3 cup sugar over the milk & let it sink undisturbed to bottom. Set pan over medium heat and bring to simmer without stirring.

Whisk hot milk mixture, & gradually whisk 1/2 cup of the hot milk into egg yolk mixture.(You're tempering your egg yolks here so you don't get scrambled egg cream. Not quite as tempting.) Add the tempered egg mixture to the rest of the milk in the pan & return it to the stove, whisking constantly, until pastry cream simmers and thickens, about 1 minute. Remove from heat, discard vanilla pod, and whisk cream until smooth. Pour into a bowl and press plastic wrap directly onto surface so you don't get a 'skin' on the top of it. Chill until cold, about 4 hours if you have huge amounts of self control or just until it's cool enough not to burn your mouth if you're me because I have to make sure that the quality control tests are done. Pastry cream can be made ahead and refrigerated, wrapped well with plastic wrap on surface, up to 3 days before you plan to use it. Some other ideas:

Instant "Pastry Cream": For desperate moments or when time is short, make a small package of instant vanilla pudding using 1 cup of milk. Whip 1/2 cup heavy cream (36% butterfat) until stiff and fold it into the pudding along with 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract. Or, for even better (although still packaged) flavor, use cooked-style vanilla pudding prepared as directed on the box and chilled; mix with the whipped cream, then add the vanilla or almond extract

Praline Pastry Cream: Fold 1/4 to 1/2 cup powdered nut brittle into the warm, finished pastry cream. (Grind the broken pieces of brittle to a powder in a food processor or blender or put in a plastic bag and pound with a hammer.)

 

Chocolate Pastry Cream: Melt 3 to 4 ounces finest-quality semisweet, bittersweet, or unsweetened chocolate in a double boiler, then stir it into the warm, finished cream. The amount of chocolate depends on how much chocolate flavor you desire; I prefer the maximum & I like it dark.

Almond Pastry Cream: Stir 1 teaspoon almond extract into the pastry cream. You can also add 1/2 cup (2 ounces) ground blanched almonds to make this into Frangipane, great filling for fruit tarts.

Orange/Lemon Pastry Cream: Add 1 tablespoon grated orange/lemon zest to the custard mixture before cooking. Stir 4-5 drops of food-grade orange/lemon oil into the warm, finished cream.

 

		Whipped Cream Pastry Cream: Set the pastry cream aside to cool, then chill while you whip 1/2 cup heavy (36% butterfat) cream until stiff. Fold the cold creams together.

Anyway, for mille feuilles you just layer the cooked puff pastry, pastry cream & the berries of your choice (sliced strawberries or fresh raspberries are great) into little sandwiches & dust with powdered sugar. SO GOOD. It's a little hard to cut & keep it pretty, so if I'm serving it to guests, I bake the puff pastry in triangles & make several finger-sized mille feuilles. Enjoy!