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mille-feuille — France
Photo: Georges Seguin ( Okki ) — CC BY-SA 3.0

Version from France

mille-feuille — France

This mille-feuille layers crisp puff pastry with vanilla pastry cream, finished with a glossy icing sugar glaze and fine chocolate lines.

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60 min
Prep
40 min
Cook
8
Servings
Hard
Difficulty
A mille-feuille is a French pastry built from thin, crisp layers of puff pastry alternating with smooth pastry cream, topped with a glaze. Its name, meaning a thousand leaves, refers to the many fine layers the puff pastry forms as it bakes. It is found across French pâtisseries as a standard item alongside other layered and creamed pastries, sold by the slice or as a whole cake for special occasions. Its glazed top, sometimes marked with fine lines, has become one of its most recognizable features. The pastry is rolled thin, baked between sheets so it stays flat and crisp, then cut into equal rectangles once cooled. A vanilla pastry cream is made by cooking egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch with hot milk until thick, then cooled completely before it is spread between two layers of pastry, topped with a third. What distinguishes this version is its finish: a smooth icing sugar glaze poured over the top layer, over which thin lines of melted chocolate are piped and lightly feathered before the glaze sets. The result is chilled before slicing, since a firm, cold pastry cream cuts far more cleanly than a warm one.

Preparation

  1. Roll out the puff pastry thinly and prick it all over with a fork.

  2. Bake between two sheets of parchment paper until crisp and golden, then let cool.

  3. Split the vanilla pod and infuse it in the warmed milk.

  4. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and cornstarch until pale.

  5. Pour the hot milk over the egg mixture, whisking constantly, then return everything to the heat.

  6. Cook, stirring, until the cream thickens, then cool it completely under plastic film.

  7. Cut the baked pastry into three equal rectangles.

  8. Spread pastry cream over two rectangles and stack them, topping with the third.

  9. Mix the icing sugar with water to a smooth glaze and spread it over the top layer.

  10. Melt the chocolate and pipe fine lines over the glaze before it sets, then chill before slicing.

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