Life and blogging have been busy lately. That, along with a bit of inherent laziness has kept me from completing the last few Daring Bakers' Challenges. When I logged on this month though and saw Mille Feuille, AKA Napoleons, I knew it was time to get back on the horse. Traditionally, a Mille Feuille is three layers of puff pastry which are weighed down during baking, keeping the 'puff' to a bare minimum, sandwiched with layers of pastry cream, topped with a thin layer of royal icing marbled with a bit of chocolate.
The recipes Suz provided us with for both the puff pastry and the pastry cream were awesome. I've made pastry cream before, but enjoyed this recipe better. As far as the puff pastry goes, I did NOT need to know that it was this easy. I expected a day of labour, like when we made croissants last September, but it was ready to use or freeze within about 2 hours, about 15 minutes of that actual hands on time.
Sadly, I didn't get any step by step photos of the pastry cream or the puff pastry and these recipes are so great I have to share them with you, so I'm going to give them separate posts over the coming month... having homemade, butter puff pastry ready in the freezer is going to be fantastic over the holidays.
Luckily we had a family dinner to attend last night, so the Mille Feuille had a good home and it didn't sit in the fridge tempting me... it was simply decadent.
I've said it before, if you enjoy baking you should become a Daring Baker, you don't even have to have a blog to do so, just a love for trying something new and daring.
Normally I end my posts with 'Enjoy' but since I haven't actually left any recipes, that would be a bit cruel. Instead, I'll leave you with a...
Have a great weekend!
Looks absolutely gorgeous! The chocolate pattern is so perfect, looks professional!
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the challenge and beautiful mille feuille.
ReplyDeleteGAH! DYING for the recipes! This is probably my Man's favourite treat and I've never made it! ~ Rana
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy you enjoyed the recipe, Heather. :) Your mille feuille looks beautiful and - more importantly - delicious!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you - it's so dangerous to know that puff pastry is so easy to make! :) Your mille feuille is beautiful and I bet it was absolutely delicious. Great work!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful mille feuille, and yes, it's better not to have any leftovers, those are very tempting ;)
ReplyDeleteGorgeous job on your Napoleons and glad you were able to fit in this challenge! :)
ReplyDeleteSomehow having homemade puff pastry in the freezer makes me feel better...
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pastry!!
So I went and found a recipe for this online and let me tell you, yours is GORGEOUS! I hope mine's yummy 'cuz it sure ain't pretty (in typical Rana fashion). Maybe I'll post a picture, maybe not, it's really pretty scary. My word, the pastry cream is nice though, YUM! How did you cut yours to serve it? I'm contemplating using scissors...
ReplyDeleteMine did squish when I cut it... I've read that cutting when frozen works well... apparently this pastry cream recipe will hold up to it :) Also I've seen where the top piece was cut and frosted and then put on in pieces...
DeleteSquished was still good :)
Oh dear god, that reminds me I never did get my recipes posted... GAH! Soon, LOL.
DeleteAh, I can still cut the top piece before I assemble, I'm in between layers making the royal icing now for the top. Sweet! I'm sure it was still good, the components are awesome. Thanks for getting back to me so quickly!
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