Recipes

Summer fruit mille feuille

Dainty individual, puff pastry layers generously filled with homemade vanilla crème patissière and British grown raspberries make this an irresistible summer dessert.

Serves 8

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Chilling time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 5-8 minutes

250 g (9 oz) readymade chilled puff pastry made with butter

Little flour for dusting

3 medium egg yolks

50 g (2 oz) caster sugar

15 g (1/2 oz) plain flour

20 g (3/4 oz) cornflour

300 ml (1/2 pint) semi skimmed milk

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

175 g (6 oz) raspberries

Little icing sugar, sifted to decorate

1. Preheat the oven to 200oC/400oF/Gas 6. Roll the pastry out thinly and trim to a rectangle 15 x 30 cm (6 x 12 inches). Cut into 2 x 7.5 cm (3 inch) strips then cut each strip into 3 pieces, each 7.5 x 10 cm (3 x 4 inches). Arrange slightly spaced apart on a wetted baking sheet then chill for 30 minutes.
2. Bake the pastries for 5-8 minutes until well risen and golden brown. Loosen the bases then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
3. Meanwhile lightly whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until pale and creamy. Sift in the flours and mix until smooth.
4. Pour the milk into a saucepan, bring just to the boil then gradually whisk into the egg yolk mixture until smooth. Pour into the saucepan then bring to the boil over a medium heat, whisking continuously until very thick and smooth. Mix in the vanilla. Take off the heat, transfer to a bowl then cover the surface closely with a piece of wetted non-stick paper, leave to cool then transfer to the fridge.
5. When ready to serve, split each pastry in half, spoon the crème patissière over the base of each one then top with the raspberries. Add the pastry tops, dust lightly with sifted icing sugar then transfer to serving plates.