The buttery, creamy and flaky mille feuille

This classic French pastry is a perfect example of a dessert that is buttery smooth, creamy and flaky at the same time. Translating the word “mille feuille” means one thousand layers, sheets or leaves. The flavours of mille feuille are simple, but the textures are harmonious and define a perfect blend of craftsmanship. A freshly made mille feuille is flaky and light but one has to be careful with its preparation and serving time, as it turns soggy very quickly — within a few hours of its preparation and this is the worst thing to happen to mille feuille. Mille feuille is a traditional dessert and may sound simple, but requires patience, practice and dedication to be mastered. Modern chefs, being extra creative or sometimes out of ignorance about a classic dessert, have turned it into something even more appreciable and delicious. This has also been the case with many desserts in the past, which were made out of sheer mistake of the baker — the Cake Rusk, for example. Recently I came across a mille feuille nestled with fresh berries and cream, which was a perfect blend of creamy, flaky and chunky textures. Some chefs also add caramel, cocoa, white chocolate to make it their own signature style of mille feuille-inspired dessert. There is a savoury version too, which has been gaining popularity especially with smoked salmon and salmon roe. Many Michelin star chefs have this as a standard item on their menus. One cook book — or should I say my reference book for cooking, the Larousse Gastronomique, which is the oxford dictionary for cooking — mentions about this dessert as a Napolitain cake, which is not so common these days. The very first recipe for a mille feuille appeared in a French cook book in 1651 and states that gateaux mille feuille is constructed of three layers of puff pastry and stabilised pastry cream (mixed with a little gelatin for a tighter cream that’s not too runny) decorated with fondant and garnished with a signature chocolate spider web design on top. It is usually confused with Napoleon, an Italian dessert where almond paste, similar to frangipane is sandwiched between its many layers. Speaking about unaltered variant of mille feuille: It is made up of three layers of puff pastry, alternating with two layers of pastry cream, but sometimes whipped cream or jam is also layered. The top of this dessert is dusted with icing sugar or crumbs or almonds. The below recipe is an exotic recipe for a simple to prepare mille feuille and is a must try for people who love fresh berries. Berrylicious Mille FeuilleIngredientsPuff pastry 1 packet (250 gm)Egg 1 noStrawberries 100 gmBlueberry 50 gmRaspberry 50 gmBlack berry 50 gmLemon juice 1 tbspCastor sugar 1 tbspWhipping cream 250 mlVanilla extracts ½ tspIcing sugar to dustGarnishMint leaves to garnishChocolate to garnishMethodAllow the frozen puff pastry dough  to thaw for 10-15 minutes and dust a table top with some flour.Roll the puff pastry dough into 1.4 inch thickness and cut in half lengthwise and transfer the triangles to a butter paper lined baking tray.Prick the dough all over with a fork and brush with the beaten egg.Bake in a pre-heated oven for 20-25 minutes or till the dough puffs up and is golden brown and crispy.Once baked, remove from oven and allow to cool. In the meanwhile wash and pat dry all the berries and keep aside in a bowl tossed with some lemon juice and sugar.In a separate bowl, whisk the chilled whipping cream with vanilla extract until soft peak consistency and keep aside.Using a perforated knife slice horizontally to create two layers, use the uncut triangle as the base, top with half of the whipped cream and one third of assorted berries.Repeat the remaining ingredients to create two more layers, keep some berries for garnish.Garnish with remaining berries on top, dust with icing sugar and mint leaves on the side, serve immediately.Note: The puff pastry is easily available in hypermarkets in frozen section. You can also instead choose to use your choice of fruits for the filling.