Blueberry Honey Mille-Feuille

 

Looks great, tastes even better, and these are my own home-grown blueberries.

 

This recipe can be prepared ahead of time; the custard and whipped cream filling can be blended a day ahead, and the cooked filo sheets keep in an airtight container for about 3 days. Assemble the mille-feuille just before serving so the pastry remains crisp.

We used thickly formulated store-bought custard for this recipe, and it needs to be very thick to add volume to the layers of filling between the crispy filo pastry sheets. Also to keep the height, when constructing the layers, the trick is to place three even-sized blueberries in the cream and custard mixture on top of the filo slice. The blueberries keep the filo sheets apart, so they don’t sink, and also adds stability to the layers.

The filling in this recipe is a combination of thick custard folded together with Chantilly cream, which makes it very easy and fast to put together. This combination makes the filling pretty much a mock crème patissiere (also known as pastry cream) (a proper crème patissiere containing milk, egg yolks, caster sugar, and plain flour, would take much longer to prepare), although to be slightly more technically correct, this filling is closer in nature to a mock crème diplomat, which is an equal quantity of crème patissiere and softly whipped cream folded together.

For an alternative instead of blueberries, try making this recipe with passionfruit pulp – see the recipe for Passionfruit Pulp here: https://www.inthekitchenwithmum.com/2015/03/preserved-passionfruit-pulp/

 

RECIPE: BLUEBERRY HONEY MILLE-FEUILLE

 

Makes 6

 

4 sheets filo pastry

30g butter

2 tbspn honey

½ cup cream, chilled

1 tbspn icing sugar, plus extra to dust

½ tspn vanilla extract

1 cup very thick homemade or store-bought custard

1 cup blueberries

 

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan-bake).

 

2. Melt butter and brush a little over a sheet of baking paper on an oven tray.

 

3. Add honey to remaining butter and warm until melted.

 

4. Lay a sheet of filo on the buttered baking paper and brush with honey butter. Lay a second sheet on top and brush again. Repeat until four filo sheets have been used, brushing the top of the last layer. With a sharp knife or pizza wheel, trim edges neatly, and then cut each stack lengthwise into three strips. Cut each strip into 6 to form 18 small rectangles.

 

5. Bake until filo is lightly golden and the glaze begins to caramelize (4-6 minutes). Cool on a rack.

 

 

6. To make filling: whip cream to soft peaks. Add icing sugar and vanilla and continue whipping until cream holds its shape firmly. Fold in custard. If not serving at once, chill until needed.

 

7. To assemble: place a rectangle of pastry on a serving plate. Spread 1 tablespoon of custard cream on top. Top with a few blueberries and a second rectangle of filo, then add more custard cream and berries and top with a last filo. Dust with icing sugar and scatter berries around the edge. Assemble remaining mille-fueille and serve within half an hour so the pastry does not soften.

 

 

We used Meadow Fresh ‘Thick and creamy vanilla custard’, because it was specially formulated to be thick which is what the recipe needs, and this is a great tasting creamy vanilla custard, which is smooth with a rich flavour.

 

 

www.meadowfresh.co.nz

 

 

This recipe is from the book, which accompanies Season three of Annabel Langbein’s TV series:

 

Through the Seasons

By Annabel Langbein

Auckland, New Zealand : Annabel Langbein Media, 2014.

ISBN: 9780958266871