Mille Fuille

Method

1. Cut puff pastry into your desired shape (eg. 🥚 ). I did 2 x 25cm long ovals. If you don’t have an oval shaped tray/bowl to trace around with a knife, you can cut a piece of baking paper and use that as a guide. 
2. Bake at 200°C for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to 190°C and bake for another 12-15 minutes (until golden brown). Remove and set aside on wire racks to cool.
3. For the crème pâtissière, bring milk, vanilla bean and vanilla pods to just below a boil, then set aside.
4. Whisk egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in a large bowl until smooth.
5. Strain milk mixture into the bowl and return to the pan.
6. Save your vanilla beans by rinsing them off and placing them in your sugar container.
7. Whisk over medium heat, just below simmering, until thick (around 3 mins).
8. Stir through Frangelico, then pour into a bowl covered directly in plastic wrap to cool (or on a large baking tray if you want to speed up the process). The plastic wrap (or baking paper) should be touching the mixture to prevent a skin from forming.
9. Once the mixture is cool, whip thickened cream until stiff peaks form.
10. Fold a small amount of whipped cream into the custard mixture and mix until smooth, then fold the remaining cream through. This will prevent any lumps.
11. Pour into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm nozzle. Refrigerate until ready to assemble.
12. To assemble, place your first piece of pastry on a flat plate.
13. Pipe little domes for each raspberry starting from the outside and working inwards, placing raspberries on every few times to make sure the size is right. By working from the outside in, you can make sure the visible outside is the prettiest.
14. Once all raspberries are arranged on top of the first layer of crème pâtissière, place on top another sheet of pastry.
15. Repeat, topping the final layer with gold leaf using tweezers.
16. Serve! It always gets messy, and it’s always worth it.