Vanilla Mille-Feuille with Tonka Bean Cream

⏱ 150 min · Serves 6

Shatteringly crisp caramelised puff pastry layered with a silky vanilla-tonka crème diplomate. Tonka brings an almond-marzipan-cherry warmth that makes the vanilla sing. It looks like a patisserie window and tastes even better.

Per serving: 612 kcal · 9.5g protein · 56.0g carbs · 39.0g fat

Ingredients

• 320g all-butter puff pastry (1 sheet, ready-rolled)
• 3 tbsp icing sugar, for dusting and caramelising
• 500ml whole milk
• 1 vanilla pod, split and scraped
• 1/2 tonka bean, finely grated
• 5 egg yolks
• 110g caster sugar
• 40g cornflour
• 25g unsalted butter, cubed
• pinch of fine salt
• 200ml double cream, well chilled
• 2 tsp icing sugar (for the cream)
• Icing sugar and a few raspberries, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Make the crème pâtissière first: warm the milk with the vanilla pod and seeds and the grated tonka bean until steaming. Take off the heat, cover and infuse 15 minutes.
2. Whisk the yolks with the caster sugar and cornflour until pale. Pour over the hot milk (pod removed) whisking constantly, then return to the pan.
3. Cook over medium heat, whisking hard, until it thickens and bubbles — keep whisking 1 minute more to cook out the starch. Off the heat, beat in the butter and salt.
4. Scrape into a tray, press cling film onto the surface and chill at least 1 hour until cold.
5. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan. Unroll the pastry onto a lined baking tray, prick all over with a fork, dust lightly with icing sugar. Cover with baking paper and a second tray to weigh it down.
6. Bake 20 minutes, remove the top tray and paper, dust generously with icing sugar and bake a further 8–10 minutes until deep golden and glazed. Cool completely on a rack.
7. Trim the pastry with a serrated knife into 18 neat rectangles roughly 4 x 10cm.
8. Whip the double cream with 2 tsp icing sugar to soft peaks. Beat the cold pastry cream smooth, then fold in the whipped cream in two additions. Transfer to a piping bag with a 1cm plain nozzle.
9. Pipe neat rows of pearls onto 12 pastry rectangles. Stack two filled layers, top with a plain rectangle, dust with icing sugar and finish with a raspberry if you like. Serve within an hour.