Italian cuisine · Desserts & Sweets

Millefoglie

Three layers of crisp puff pastry with thick vanilla cream in between, topped with just powdered sugar.

Ingredients · for 8 servings

• 2 sheets puff pastry
• 600 ml whole milk
• 6 egg yolks
• 150 g sugar
• 50 g cornstarch
• 1 vanilla pod
• 1 pinch salt
• 200 ml cream
• 2 tbsp sugar for sprinkling
• 3 tbsp powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Place the puff pastry sheets on baking paper, prick densely with a fork, sprinkle with 2 tbsp sugar and weigh each one down with a second sheet of baking paper and a wire rack.
2. Bake the sheets at 200°C top/bottom heat for 18-20 min., until evenly golden brown and dry, then let cool completely without the weight.
3. For the cream, heat the milk with the vanilla seeds and pod, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar, cornstarch and a pinch of salt until smooth, and slowly stir in the hot milk.
4. Return everything to the pot and bring to a boil for 3-4 min. while stirring constantly, until the cream is very thick, then chill covered with cling film for at least 2 hours.
5. Whip the cream until stiff, fold it into the smoothly stirred cold cream, and cut three equal rectangles from the puff pastry.
6. Spread two pastry sheets thickly with cream, stack them, place the third sheet on top, dust generously with powdered sugar and cut into pieces immediately with a serrated knife.