This classic French dessert combines crispy, buttery pastry with rich pastry cream. Mille-feuille, which translates as “thousand sheets” in French, designates the three layers of flaky puff pastry that are the hallmark of a mille-feuille. They’re layered with a pastry cream lightened with whipped cream for textural contrast and irresistible flavor. These delicate pastries traditionally take hours to make, so we came up with a version that produces the same showstopping dessert in about half the time. Plus, we jazzed up the flavor profile by bringing in the popular lemon-raspberry duo to boot.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 30 min |
| Active: | 45 min |
| Yield: | 10 pastries |
Ingredients
- One 17.3-ounce box frozen puff pastry (2 sheets), thawed
- 4 cups heavy cream
- One 3.4-ounce box lemon pudding mix
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup raspberry jam
- 1/4 cup freeze-dried raspberries, crushed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
- Roll each sheet of puff pastry into a 12-by-15-inch rectangle. Transfer the rectangles to the prepared baking sheets and top each with another sheet of parchment. Place another baking sheet on top of the parchment so the puff pastry stays flat while baking.
- Bake until the puff pastry is golden brown, about 25 minutes. Remove the top baking sheets and the top pieces of parchment and continue to bake until the puff pastry is a deep golden brown, another 5 to 7 minutes. Let cool completely on the baking sheets, about 15 minutes.
- Cut each sheet of pastry into 15 equal rectangles. You will have 30 rectangles total. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, to make the pastry cream, combine the heavy cream, lemon pudding mix, granulated sugar, vanilla paste and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the filling to a large pastry bag fitted with a large star tip.
- To assemble the pastries, pipe 6 dots of pastry cream over 1 puff pastry rectangle, then top with another puff pastry rectangle. Spread with 1 heaping teaspoon of raspberry jam, then pipe 6 more dots on top of the jam and top with 1 more puff pastry rectangle; set aside (you should have 10 pastry stacks). Divide the remaining pastry cream on top of each stack and spread until smooth. Sprinkle some freeze-dried raspberries over top of each stack. Serve immediately.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 10 servings |
| Calories | 435 |
| Total Fat | 36 g |
| Saturated Fat | 22 g |
| Carbohydrates | 25 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Sugar | 21 g |
| Protein | 3 g |
| Cholesterol | 108 mg |
| Sodium | 297 mg |
Reviews
This looks so good and I want to try to make it.
One crazy question, how do you eat this? Looks as if you try to cut into it, it would spread all over.
One crazy question, how do you eat this? Looks as if you try to cut into it, it would spread all over.