Strawberry millefeuille
If you want a show-stopping dessert to impress your guests, look no further than this stunning strawberry millefeuille
Difficulty and servings
Serves 6
Preparation and cooking times
Prep 1 hr
Cook 45 mins
- Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6 and line a large baking sheet with baking parchment. Heat the caster sugar and 200ml water gently in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and simmer for 3 minutes. Cool. Dust your work surface, rolling pin and puff pastry block with a generous amount of icing sugar. Roll the pastry out gradually, dusting with icing sugar as you go, until it's about the size of a large rectangular placemat, 25cm x 30cm and around 5mm thick. You want to incorporate icing sugar into the pastry so keep sprinkling over regularly as this will caramelise it and give it a lovely sweetness. Trim the edges so that it fits neatly onto the baking sheet. Using a pastry brush, glaze all over with the sugar syrup, then put in the oven. It will start to rise almost immediately so you'll need to keep an eye on it while you start making the chantilly cream. After 15-20 minutes, it should be brown and risen.
- Chantilly cream is just sweetened whipped cream, flavoured with vanilla. Put the cream and 2 tbsp icing sugar into a bowl. Using a sharp knife, split the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the cream. (Hang on to the pod - it will still have lots of flavour so use it to make vanilla sugar or custard another time). Whisk the cream until it forms soft peaks, a handwhisk is fine or for speed, use an electric whisk. Whisk in the mascarpone to help stabilise it, then put it into the fridge until you need it.
- Remove the pastry from the oven and while it's hot use a very sharp knife to score a slightly smaller rectangle inside the pastry, leaving about a 5mm border and not cutting all the way through, then carefully remove this 'lid'. Dust the lid lightly with icing sugar on both sides (this will help caramelise the surface) then put it in the oven on a lined baking sheet. Keep a close eye on it and remove after 5-10 minutes when golden and glossy and cool completely. Remove any sticky heavy bits of pastry from the remaining base then brush all over with the sugar syrup, dust with icing sugar and put it back in the oven for 10-15 minutes until golden. This will make the layers puff up again so it's easier to slice through. Remove the pastry base from the oven and carefully slice it around the edges and split in half so you have two equal sized sheets (you will now have three sheets in total). Don't worry about the middle layer being too perfect, as long as it's crisp it will do the job. Dust both pieces with icing sugar, put on separate lined baking trays and put in the oven for 3-5 minutes, remove and cool.
- Starting with the lid, slice each of the three pastry layers lengthwise into three long pieces, then cut each long piece in half to make two rectangles. You will have six pieces from each layer. Put pressure on the knife, not the pastry, to prevent it crumbling and breaking. Choose your six bestlooking pieces of pastry to use for the top of each millefeuille. Load a piping bag with the chantilly cream and take the plate you're going to serve the dessert on. Pipe a little cream directly onto the middle of the plate and put the bottom of the first piece of pastry on the plate to stop it sliding around.
- Now pipe the cream all over the pastry in small peaks. Add a layer of strawberries then a little more cream. Put the middle piece of pastry (use whichever one is the least perfect as it will not be visible) on top of the cream then repeat with more piped cream and another layer of strawberries. Finally place the lovely, glossy lid of pastry on top. Repeat to make the other five millefeuille.
A variation
Gordon sometimes serves a raspberry and lemon millefeuille with basil, lime and milk ice cream at his Royal Hospital Road restaurant.
PER SERVING
984 kcalories, protein 7g, carbohydrate 83.1g, fat 71.7 g, saturated fat 37g, fibre 0.9g, salt 0.74 g
Recipe from olive magazine, June 2007.
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http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/13447/
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/13447/
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Ingredients
- 500g puff pastry block
- icing sugar
- 200g caster sugar
- 568ml double cream carton
- 1 vanilla pod
- 1 tbsp mascarpone
- 500g strawberries hulled and quartered
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Difficulty and servings
Serves 6
Preparation and cooking times
Prep 1 hr
Cook 45 mins
Ingredients
- 500g puff pastry block
- icing sugar
- 200g caster sugar
- 568ml double cream carton
- 1 vanilla pod
- 1 tbsp mascarpone
- 500g strawberries hulled and quartered
PER SERVING
984 kcalories, protein 7g, carbohydrate 83.1g, fat 71.7 g, saturated fat 37g, fibre 0.9g, salt 0.74 g
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16 July 2011
Holly-May rated and commented on this recipe
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