Rough puff pastry, crème pâtissière and fresh raspberries are layered up in this stunning French dessert - perfect for impressing dinner guests
Ingredients
icing sugar, for dusting
For the pastry
200g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
¼ tsp salt
175g cold butter, cut into 1½ cm cubes
1 tsp lemon juice
For the filling
crème pâtissière (see tip, below left, for recipe)
300g raspberries (or other seasonal berries)
Method
For the pastry, mix the flour, salt and butter together in a bowl - the butter should remain in cubes. Make a well in the centre and pour in the lemon juice and 100ml cold water. Mix well, then bring together with your hands.
Tip the pastry onto a lightly floured surface and briefly knead until smooth. Shape into a rectangle, then wrap in cling film and chill for 30 mins.
On a floured surface, use a rolling pin to ridge and roll (see tip, below left) the pastry into a rectangle, so that it is three times as long as it is wide, about 15 x 45cm. Keep the edges of the pastry as straight as you can.
Lift the bottom third of the pastry and fold it up and over the middle third. Dust off any excess flour.
Fold the top third of the pastry down and over the bottom third, so that you have three layers of pastry in a neat rectangle. Dust off any excess flour. Wrap and chill for 15 mins.
Give the pastry a 90-degree right turn so it faces you like a book. Repeat steps 3-5 four more times, always starting with the pastry facing you as it was after the last fold and giving it a turn. Chill for 30 mins.
Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. On a lightly floured surface, roll the pastry out to a rough 32cm square. Using a sharp knife, trim the edges to make a neat 30cm square.
Cut the pastry into 3 long strips measuring 30 x 10cm. Transfer to 2 baking sheets lined with baking parchment and chill for 30 mins or until firm.
Top each tray with a sheet of baking parchment, then stack on top of each other. Pop another baking tray on top and weigh down with an ovenproof dish. Bake for 25-30 mins or until golden brown and crisp.
Leave the pastry to cool a little, trim the edges if needed, then cut each sheet into 6 smaller rectangles. You should end up with 18 pieces of pastry measuring about 10 x 5cm.
Transfer 1 piece of pastry to a serving plate, pipe over blobs of Crème patisserie (see recipe tip, below left), then top with some raspberries and another layer of pastry.
Add another layer of Crème patisserie and raspberries. Dust a third piece of pastry with icing sugar, then decorate with more raspberries and pop this on top. Repeat with the remaining pastry to make 6 millefeuilles.
Source: Good Food