A Mille Feuille, also known as napoleon pastry is a classic French dessert made with buttery flaky puff pastry with alternating layers of pastry cream. Today we make it a strawberry mille-feuille with strawberry pastry cream. A surprisingly simple and easy recipe you will enjoy making.
Did you know that mille-feuille means, thousand layers? and napoleon means flaky? yup, so we talking flaky pastry with thousand layers. If you've made homemade puff pastry then you know that the puff pastry is known to have a thousand layers.
The mille-feuille is one of those desserts that are highly-priced in French restaurants and patisseries around the world. The truth is that this dessert is really not that hard to make. I have shared two mille-feuille recipes with you already the classic vanilla mille-feuille and an exotic maple mille-feuille. Now that strawberries are in season I thought why now give this classic a strawberry twist.
About this mille-feuille
This dessert looks complicated but in reality, it is very simple and easy. There are four components to making this dessert.
- Puff pastry sheets - The trick to getting this perfect is to dock the pastry and sandwich it between two parchment paper and two baking trays. Docking, as well as the weight of the baking tray, prevents it from puffing. When baked to a nice golden color the pastry becomes crisp so it cracks when cutting with a fork.
- Pastry cream - For the mille-feuille I prefer to use a nice stiff consistency pastry cream, that will hold its shape. If the pastry is too soft it will easily spread and the layers will collapse.
- Stabilized pastry cream is often used in French patisseries to prevent the pastry cream from spreading. Gelatin is often used as a stabilizer. Today, we have used extra cornstarch but you must cook it until it thickens as shown in the video.
- Whipped cream - I like to add whipped cream to the pastry cream to lighten it up.
- Assembling - The puff pastry and pastry cream can be made up to three days ahead of time. You can even assemble the mille-feuille a day in advance.
Ingredients and substitutes
- Puff Pastry - Store-bought is just fine. I often make homemade puff pastry too. But, either one works just fine.
- Milk - For the sake of consistency it is important to use full-fat milk, no low-fat or skimmed milk.
- Sugar - I use white fine grain sugar so it dissolves easily in the milk
- Cream - again you want to use a good 38% or more or you won't have the right consistency for your pastry cream.
- Vanilla - I like to use vanilla bean scrapings because it gives me those black specks in the pastry cream just like you find in the French patisseries.
Step by step instructions (Save/Pin)
Bake puff pastry
- Preheat the oven at 190 C / 375 F
- Cut the puff pastry into two.
- Roll each so sheet to about 12 x 8-inch rectangle
- Work with one sheet at a time
- Place on a parchment paper so it's easy to move around
- Then cut the pastry at every two-inch interval so you have 6 long strips
- Cut each strip in half at the center so you should have 12 equal pieces.
- Sprinkle with granulated sugar
- Place a parchment paper on top. Then place a baking tray on top.
- Bake on the center rack for 15 minutes
- Remove the baking tray and parchment paper - bake another 10 minutes until lightly golden.
- Remove and let cool completely
Prepare pastry cream
- In a heavy-bottom saucepan combine sugar, cornstarch, egg yolks, vanilla, and salt.
- Slowly add the milk while whisking to prevent lumps.
- Place the saucepan on medium heat stirring continuously until the pastry cream thickens.
- You want the pastry cream to come to a low simmer so the cornstarch will thicken the mixture.
- Add the butter and continue to stir on low.
- Once the pastry cream is thick, remove from heat and pass through a sieve or mess
- Cover with the plastic wrap touching the surface of the cream.
- Set aside to cool completely.
- When cooled add half the strawberry mixture and combine well.
Whip the cream
- Whip the cream using a whisk attachment until soft peaks.
- Combine half the whipped cream with the chilled pastry cream. Save the rest for the top layer.
- Use a whisk to ensure you have no lumps.
- Transfer to a piping bag with a large round piping nozzle.
Assemble
- Each mille-feuille or napoleon uses three puff pastry pieces
- Place one pastry rectangle on the serving plate.
- Pipe two or three lines of pastry cream
- Top with a second pastry rectangle and pipe another two rows of pastry cream.
- Place the top pastry rectangle.
- Pipe pastry on the edges and carefully add a tablespoon of the strawberry mixture.
- Garnish with chopped fresh strawberries.
Frequently asked questions
While we use these terms interchangeably there is a difference between the two. Mille-feuille is filled with pastry cream, whipped cream or jams while napoleon usually has almond cream.
Yes, any dessert that has milk and eggs must be kept in the fridge. This napoleon will keep in the fridge for 2 to 3 days.
Yes, this dessert is all about the flaky layers of puff pastry. You can use any puff pastry, store-bought ready to roll, homemade classic puff pastry or even a quick puff pastry.
While pastry cream is the traditional filling, you can use whipped ganache for a chocolate mille-feuille, or whipped cream with fruits for a light and refreshing spring dessert.
Today, we have used maple syrup but you can also add other flavors like orange blossom, rose extract or liquors such as rum, cognac or Cointreau to the pastry cream.
Personally, I like to place the Millefeuille on its side so the three layers are on the plate rather than stacked up. That makes it easier to cut through the flaky pastry without making a big mess.
Yes, you can. Replace the classic vanilla pastry cream with my eggless vanilla pastry cream. Everything else will remain the same.
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Description
Ingredients
Mille Feuille
- 1 lb (500 g) Puff Pastry
- 1 cup (240 ml) Whipping cream
- 7 oz (200 g) Strawberries
- 2 tbsp Powdered sugar
- Fruits for garnish
Pastry cream
- 2 cups (470 ml) Whole milk
- ¼ cup (50 g) Sugar
- 4 Egg yolks
- 2 tbsp (30 g) Cornstarch
- 2 tbsp (30 g) Butter unsalted, room temperature
- 1 tsp Vanilla Bean
Instructions
Strawberries
- Blend strawberries until smooth
- Add the powdered sugar and combine well.
- Set aside.
Puff pastry
- Preheat the oven at 190 C / 375 F
- Cut the puff pastry into two.
- Roll each so sheet to about 12 x 8-inch rectangle
- Work with one sheet at a time
- Place on a parchment paper so it’s easy to move around
- Then cut the pastry at every two-inch interval so you have 6 long strips
- Cut each strip in half at the center so you should have 12 equal pieces.
- Sprinkle with granulated sugar
- Place a parchment paper on top. Then place a baking tray on top.
- Bake on the center rack for 15 minutes
- Remove the baking tray and parchment paper – bake another 10 minutes until lightly golden.
- Remove and let cool completely
Pastry cream
- In a heavy-bottom saucepan combine sugar, cornstarch, egg yolks, vanilla, and salt.
- Slowly add the milk while whisking to prevent lumps.
- Place the saucepan on medium heat stirring continuously until the pastry cream thickens.
- You want the pastry cream to come to a low simmer so the cornstarch will thicken the mixture.
- Add the butter and continue to stir on low.
- Once the pastry cream is thick, remove from heat and pass through a sieve or mess
- Cover with the plastic wrap touching the surface of the cream.
- Set aside to cool completely.
- When cooled add half the strawberry mixture and combine well.
Whipping cream
- Whip the cream using a whisk attachment until soft peaks.
- Combine half the whipped cream with the chilled pastry cream. Save the rest for the top layer.
- Use a whisk to ensure you have no lumps.
- Transfer to a piping bag with a large star piping nozzle.
Assemble
- Each mille-feuille or napoleon uses three puff pastry pieces
- Place one pastry rectangle on the serving plate.
- Pipe two or three lines of pastry cream
- Top with a second pastry rectangle and pipe another two rows of pastry cream.
- Place the top pastry rectangle.
- Pipe pastry on the edges and carefully add a tablespoon of the strawberry mixture.
- Garnish with chopped fresh strawberries.
Recipe Notes
- Bake the puff pastry until it's nice and golden. This will make it easier to crack the pastry when eating otherwise the whole thing just crumbles into a big mess.
- Sprinkle the pastry with sugar this helps make the pastry brown and crisp but do pay close attention to it as it can also burn very easily.
- Cook the pastry cream until it's thick. This will give you a firm consistency pastry cream which will not be runny between the pastry.
- If you plan to make this napoleon ahead of time I suggest you use stabilized whipped cream as it will ensure the pastry cream holds on for longer.
- When stacking the layers of puff pastry, choose the flat ones for the bottom and top so the finished dessert looks straight, not slanted.
- Traditionally, a mille-feuille is topped with royal icing and chocolate which can make the dessert sweeter and often quite messy. But you can also use melted chocolate or just powdered sugar.
Equipment
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
