Raspberry mille-feuille

Today I bring you a gala dessert, one of those that dress a table up for a party and invite celebration just by saying its name. This raspberry mille-feuille with vanilla diplomat cream, made with homemade puff pastry, it's an absolute delight. I assure you that, as soon as you set it on the table, they'll go wild. And at the first bite, you'll receive a heartfelt ovation.

The idea is to make this millefeuille from scratch, including the puff pastry. Don't worry, in the recipe steps you'll see how to make easy homemade puff pastry. You'll see it's a "quick" puff pastry, in which we'll incorporate the butter into the dough itself from the start to speed up the process. But if you master the art of make homemade puff pastry and you want to make it with your best recipe, or if you prefer to buy the refrigerated dough at your trusted store, you can do so without any problem. I'm sure your raspberry mille-feuille with diplomat cream it will be delicious.

To roll out the dough you can use a rolling pin, but without a doubt, the De Buyer manual dough sheeter for dough is an excellent option. It helps us to roll out the dough easily and evenly and with the thickness we want or that each recipe calls for. And effortlessly, just by turning the crank. A marvel!

Shall we go ahead with the recipe for this Raspberry mille-feuille with vanilla diplomat cream? Here it is!

Ingredients

For the quick homemade puff pastry

• 240 g of all-purpose flour
• 200 g very cold butter, cut into cubes
• 120 ml of cold water
• 1 teaspoon of salt

For the vanilla diplomat cream

• 300 ml of whole milk
• 1 vanilla bean
• 80 g of sugar
• 3 large egg yolks
• 30 g of cornstarch (corn starch)
• 2 gelatin sheets (approximately 4 g)
• 250 ml very cold heavy cream (whipping cream, minimum 35% fat)

For the final assembly

• 250 g of fresh raspberries
• Powdered sugar for decorating

Preparation

How to make quick homemade puff pastry

1. In a bowl, put the flour with the salt and add the cold butter in cubes. Work it lightly with your fingers until it has a sandy texture, but without the butter disappearing completely; there should be pieces left. If you prefer, you can do it with your KitchenAid food processor, using the dough beater attachment.
2. Now add the cold water and mix just enough until you can form the dough into a ball. You’ll see pieces of butter remaining, which will help create the lamination.
3. Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator. Let it chill for half an hour.
4. Remove the ball from the fridge and very lightly flour the work surface. Roll out the dough a little using a rolling pin.
5. Now place the dough in the De Buyer manual dough sheeter and roll it out into a large rectangle. Fold the dough into thirds, making a single turn.
6. Rotate the dough a quarter turn and roll out the dough again. Repeat this step two more times and place the dough in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic wrap, to chill for 45 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 180º C.
8. Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out to 2 mm thick. Place the dough in a Perforated baking sheet for the oven, lined with parchment paper and cut it into rectangles of the same size, but without separating them so they don’t deform while baking. You can trim the ends so the edges are neat. Place the tray in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes, covered with a bit of plastic wrap.
9. Take the tray with the dough out of the fridge and remove the plastic wrap. Place a sheet of parchment paper over the dough and, on top of the paper, place another baking sheet. This way, the puff pastry won't rise or lose its shape.
10. Bake for about 35 minutes (approximately), until the puff pastry is golden.
11. Remove the baking tray from the oven and let it cool on a rack.

How to make vanilla diplomat cream

1. The first step is to bloom the gelatin sheets in very cold water (following each manufacturer's instructions).
2. Make a lengthwise cut in the vanilla pod without cutting it all the way through, and scrape out the seeds.
3. Heat the milk over low heat in your De Buyer Affinity stainless steel saucepan along with the seeds and the split vanilla bean.
4. In a bowl, mix the egg yolks with the sugar and cornstarch, beating well with a whisk until they turn pale.
5. When the milk starts to boil, pour it into the bowl over the egg yolk mixture and stir well to incorporate.
6. Pour the mixture into the saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens.
7. Turn off the heat and add the very well-drained gelatin sheets, stirring well so it mixes with the cream.
8. Let the cream come to room temperature in a container, covered with plastic wrap pressed directly onto the surface, then let it chill in the refrigerator.
9. While the cream cools, whip the cream in your KitchenAid food processor with the whisk attachment.
10. Once the cream has cooled, take it out of the fridge and beat it a little so it regains its creamy texture. Add a portion of the cream (about one third) and beat so they combine well and the cream looks homogeneous.
11. Now gently add the remaining cream, using a spatula, with folding motions.
12. Let the cream chill in the refrigerator until it thickens (about an hour).

Assembling the raspberry mille-feuille

1. For the cream in a piping bag or in your de Buyer cookie press, with the nozzle you like best.
2. Place a rectangle of puff pastry as the base on a plate or on a tray.
3. Spoon the diplomat cream generously.
4. Distribute the fresh raspberries throughout the cream so it looks nice.
5. Cover with another rectangle of puff pastry.
6. Lightly dust with powdered sugar on top.

Suggestions

• When baking puff pastry, it’s important to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn. After 15-20 minutes of putting it in the oven, check the doneness every 5 minutes. It may need a minute or two more than indicated in step 10 or, on the other hand, it might be ready in less time.
• It’s possible that, when you take the puff pastry out of the oven, you’ll see that the rectangles have stuck together a bit. If that’s the case, use a sharp knife to press lightly to separate them along the marks.
• If you want a different presentation, you can place the mille-feuille on a olive wood board or in a Slate serving tray.
• You can make the millefeuille with one more layer if you like. Or decorate the top layer with some cream rosettes and a few raspberries on top.