Recipe courtesy of Stephanie Boswell

Shortcut Mille-Feuille

  • Level: Easy
  • Yield: 8 pastries
  • Total: 1 hr 30 min (includes cooling and setting times)
  • Active: 45 min
Mille-feuille, which translates to 1000 sheets or leaves, is a classic French pastry composed of three layers of flaky puff pastry filled with creamy vanilla pastry cream. These delicate pastries can take hours to make, so I came up with this version that produces the same showstopping dessert in about half the time.
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Ingredients

One 17.3-ounce box frozen puff pastry (2 sheets), thawed

4 cups heavy cream

One 3.4-ounce box vanilla pudding mix

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Special equipment:
a large piping bag fitted with a large star tip
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
  2. Roll each sheet of puff pastry into a 12-by-15-inch rectangle. Transfer the rectangles to the prepared baking sheets and top each baking sheet with another sheet of parchment. Place another baking sheet on top of the parchment so the puff pastry stays flat while baking.
  3. Bake until the puff pastry is golden brown, about 25 minutes. Remove the top baking sheets and the top pieces of parchment and continue to bake until the puff pastry is a deep golden brown, another 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool completely on the baking sheets, about 15 minutes.
  4. Cut each rectangle into 12 equal pieces. You will have 24 rectangles total. Set aside.
  5. Meanwhile, to make the pastry cream, combine the heavy cream, vanilla pudding mix, granulated sugar, vanilla bean paste and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the filling to a large pastry bag fitted with a large star tip.
  6. To assemble the pastries, pipe 8 dots of pastry cream over 1 puff pastry rectangle, then top with another puff pastry rectangle. Pipe 8 more dots on top of the second puff pastry rectangle and set aside. Repeat this with 14 more puff pastry rectangles and the remaining pastry cream (you should have 8 pastry stacks and 8 remaining puff pastry rectangles).
  7. Mix the confectioner’s sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a medium bowl until smooth. Microwave the chocolate chips in a small microwave-safe bowl in 30-second intervals, stirring in between each, until melted, about 1 minute 30 seconds.
  8. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the confectioners’ sugar glaze over 1 of the remaining puff pastry rectangles. Drizzle the melted chocolate horizontally over the glaze. Use a toothpick to draw lines through the glaze and chocolate to create a swirl pattern. Place the decorated puff pastry rectangle on top of 1 of the pastry stacks. Repeat with the remaining 7 puff pastry rectangles, glaze and chocolate. Let the glaze set, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

Let's Get Cooking!

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