Mille-Feuille Recipe: Tips for Making the French Pastry
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Apr 1, 2024 • 4 min read
A quick vanilla custard, crisp pastry sheets, and a dusting of powdered sugar are all it takes to put together a quick and classic mille-feuille recipe. Bake the pastry sheets in a weighted-down pan to ensure they stay flat while keeping their “thousand leaves.”
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What Is Mille-Feuille?
Mille-feuille, French for “a thousand leaves,” is a simple dessert made by layering pieces of puff pastry with a cream filling. Sometimes called a Napoleon, this easy French pastry looks stunning but only requires a short list of easy-to-find ingredients: flour, eggs, heavy cream, puff pastry sheets, vanilla extract, sugar, and cornstarch.
4 Variations on Mille-Feuille
The mille-feuille is a French pâtisserie staple, lending itself readily to creative add-ins and flavorings, such as:
- 1. Caramel: For a burst of salty-sweetness, drizzle caramel sauce over the mille-feuille. Finish the dessert with a light sprinkling of flaky sea salt.
- 2. Citrus: For a bright citrus mille-feuille, add the zest from two lemons to the custard. For garnish, cut an orange into supremes and arrange the wedges on top of the pastry.
- 3. Seasonal fruit: Fresh strawberries, raspberries, and peach slices are among the most popular mille-feuille fillings. To add fresh fruit to your mille-feuille, place small pieces of fruit on top of the custard in an even layer.
- 4. Tiramisu: To blend two classic desserts into one, add a tablespoon of instant espresso powder to the custard and dust the top layer with equal parts powdered sugar and cocoa powder.
4 Tips for Making Mille-Feuille
Here’s how to make a mille-feuille that’s both crisp and creamy.
- 1. Make the pastry cream first. The filling should be completely cool before you assemble the dessert. Make the pastry cream and chill it while baking the puff pastry and preparing any optional toppings.
- 2. Use frozen puff pastry. Making puff pastry from scratch can take hours. To save time, use high-quality store-bought puff pastry the first time you make mille-feuilles.
- 3. Weigh down the pastry. Weighing down the pastry dough as it bakes will keep the pieces flat and make it easier to build multiple layers when you assemble. Baking puff pastry without the extra weight will make the rectangles tall and brittle.
- 4. Finish with whipped cream. Folding a few cups of whipped cream into the pastry cream adds lightness to this dessert while still ensuring the pastry stays crisp.
Classic Mille-Feuille Recipe
makes
8prep time
5 mintotal time
30 mincook time
25 minIngredients
For the filling:
For the pastry:
For the topping:
Note: Total time does not include up to two hours of inactive time.
- 1
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 2
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the milk and a ¼ cup of the sugar to a light simmer.
- 3
In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the remaining sugar and the cornstarch, then whisk in the egg yolks.
- 4
Temper the egg-yolk mixture by whisking in ⅔ cup of the warmed milk.
- 5
Slowly whisk the tempered egg mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk mixture.
- 6
Reduce the heat to medium-low. Stirring continuously with a rubber spatula, cook the mixture until it comes to a boil and begins to thicken, about 3–4 minutes.
- 7
Stir in the vanilla and salt.
- 8
Transfer the pastry cream to a mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Press the plastic wrap directly onto the surface, so it doesn’t form a skin.
- 9
Refrigerate the pastry cream until it’s completely chilled, about 1–2 hours.
- 10
Lightly flour a clean surface and roll the puff pastry sheets into ¼-inch-thick rectangles. Cut each sheet into 12 evenly sized rectangles.
- 11
Dock the rectangles by piercing the surface evenly with a fork.
- 12
Transfer the pastry rectangles to two parchment paper–lined baking sheets.
- 13
Place another sheet of parchment paper over the prepared pastry, then set another baking sheet on top to weigh down the pastry.
- 14
Bake the puff pastry for 12 minutes, then remove the top baking sheet and parchment layers.
- 15
Continue baking the puff pastry until deep golden brown and crispy, about 5–6 minutes longer. Remove the pan from the oven and let the pastry cool at room temperature.
- 16
Pour the whipping cream into the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form.
- 17
Carefully fold the whipped cream into the chilled pastry cream until evenly combined.
- 18
Transfer the pastry cream mixture to a piping bag.
- 19
To assemble the mille-feuilles, place 8 rectangles of baked puff pastry onto a serving platter or sheet tray.
- 20
Pipe connected dots or a line of pastry cream onto the puff pastry rectangle.
- 21
Place another pastry rectangle on top of the piped cream, and repeat this process.
- 22
After piping the last layer of cream, tuck the strawberry halves into the pastry cream (if using).
- 23
Use a fine-mesh strainer to dust powdered sugar over the assembled mille-feuille. Serve immediately, or chill and serve within 4 hours of assembling.
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