Mille-feuille with Diplomat Cream and Pistachios

Try my classic Mille-feuille with a velvety Diplomat cream or some variations with Strawberry, Cherry or Bergamot filling. All are delicious!

WHAT DOES MILLE-FEUILLE MEAN?

Mille-feuille also written as Millefeuille (in French meaning 'thousand sheets'), pronounced as MIL-feuy, where the vowel 'y" is pronounced as in the word "yes" or the Greek "γ", is a French dessert similar to Napoleon.

It is a two or three layer sandwich of puff pastry, alternating with a sweet filling, typically pastry cream, but sometimes whipped cream, or jam.

It is usually glazed with icing or fondant in alternating white and brown (chocolate) strips and combed.

The millefeuilles I make is not glazed but is an easy recipe topped with whipping cream, crumbled sfogliatine and sprinkled with icing sugar and cinnamon. 

This is a very simple recipe, which I have been making (literally) for decades as I used to make this dessert since the time I was a teenager and this is the way I learned to make it. 

I remember back in Cyprus I used to make mille-feuilles with cream crackers which were very flaky biscuits, almost similar to puff pastry, but unfortunately I cannot find them any more here in Greece, so now I either make it with baked puff pastry and for the easy version I use sfogliatine biscuits.

How many layers has a Mille-feuille?

Mille-feuille is usually constructed of three layers of puff pastry, with a pastry cream between the layers and topped with chocolate and vanilla icing.

I make mine a bit different. I add two layers of puff pastry, two layers of pastry cream, topped with whipped cream and decorated with crushed puff pastry, icing sugar and cinnamon.

In the recipe with the pistachios, I did not add any cinnamon on top.

Before going to the classic recipes, which you will find at the end, let me show you some of the Mille-feuilles I have made over the years.

STRAWBERRY MILLE-FEUILLE

During Strawberry season, I like making a Strawberry Mille-feuille. Between the layers of puff pastry I add a pastry cream in which I add some Strawberry Sauce. On top I decorate it with raw strawberries.

In this recipes the strawberry sauce was made with 300 grams strawberries and ¼ cup sugar. After making the sauce, I let it cool and I puree it with a hand blender. I then mix it in the pastry cream.

MILLE-FEUILLE WITH CHERRY CREAM

In this Mille-feuille apart from the pastry cream, I also made a second cream using my cherry compote with heavy cream. I thickened the cream with gelatin.

BERGAMOT MILLE-FEUILLE:

This year when I made some Bergamot preserve a few days ago, I had some leftover syrup, which I used to make the pastry cream.  I added some fruit in the cream and on top.

You will need:

• 1 cup bergamot spoon sweet syrup
• 5 Bergamot fruit preserves.

In onder to make the pastry cream, replace 1 cup milk with 1 cup bergamot syrup and do not add any sugar.  Taste and adjust if you need it sweeter.

Cut the fruit preserves into small pieces and place half on top of the pastry cream and other half on top of the whipped cream.

MILLE-FEUILLE WITH MULBERRY JAM

Here I made the classic Mille-feuille but on top of the pastry cream I added spoonfuls of mulberry jam on top. Alternatively, if you like you can mix the jam in the pastry cream as I did with the Strawberry Mille-feuille.

How to make mille-feuille

1. Prepare the pastry cream, cover with cling film and set aside until it cools.
2. Meantime, prepare the whipped cream. Whip cream using a hand mixer with icing sugar and vanilla until peaks form. Refrigerate before using.
3. If you are making the puff layers yourself, bake the puff pastry until golden, otherwise use puff pastry biscuits.
4. Layer the puff pastry biscuits in a Pyrex. Add the pastry cream on top and spread it over the biscuits. I like to lighten the pastry cream with whipped cream (it is called Diplomat Cream) but you can skip this step if desired. So, when pastry cream has cooled, I add ⅓rd of the whipped cream to the pastry cream and with a hand mixer, I mix them together.
5. I continue with a second layer of biscuits and a second layer of cream.
6. Reserve 2 - 3 biscuits, preferably any which have crumbled and place one layer of biscuits in a rectangle bowl 22 x 32 cm.   Pour a layer of cream over it. Add a second layer of biscuits and remaining cream.
7. Top with whipped cream and crumble the reserved biscuits on top.
8. Sprinkle some icing sugar and cinnamon on top.
9. Refrigerate at least one hour before serving.

Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,