WHAT ARE THEY?
Two small squares of puff pastry sandwiching diplomat cream and fresh raspberries.
TIME TO MAKE
Preparation: 1 hour 30 minutes
Cooking: 20–40 minutes
Resting: 2 hours
EQUIPMENT
1–2 mm rolling rods
Fine strainer
Kitchen knife
Piping bag (fluted 8 mm nozzle and plain 10 mm nozzle)
Rolling pin
VARIATION
Replace the vanilla bean with verbena.
ADVICE
Once you have rolled out the puff pastry, lay it on a baking tray lined with baking paper, cover with another sheet of baking paper and refrigerate for 1 hour so it relaxes and doesn’t lose its shape in the following stages.
TECHNIQUES TO MASTER
ORGANISATION
4 days before | Make the puff pastry over 3 days
1 day before | Cook the puff pastry squares; cover and leave at room temperature. Make the pastry cream and refrigerate.
4–6 hours before | Caramelise the puff pastry squares. Turn the pastry cream into diplomat cream. Assemble.
MAKES 30
1 PUFF PASTRY
120 g water
10 g white vinegar
5 g salt
30 g unsalted butter, melted, plus
150 g extra for turning
250 g (1⅔ cups) plain flour
50 g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
2 DIPLOMAT CREAM
6 g leaf gelatine
65 g egg yolk (about 4–5 eggs)
80 g sugar
35 g cornflour (or custard powder)
300 g full-cream milk
½ vanilla bean
35 g butter
100 g whipping cream (35 per cent fat)
250 g (2 cups) raspberries
1 Make the puff pastry following the method. Roll out the pastry thinly, to 1–2 mm, using rolling rods. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cut the pastry into 60 × 4 cm squares using a kitchen knife.
2 Place the squares on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Cover with a second sheet of baking paper then another baking tray, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the top baking tray to check if the squares are cooked; continue cooking until they are golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
3 To make the diplomat cream, soak the gelatine in cold water. Make a pastry cream following the method, flavouring the milk with the half vanilla bean. Squeeze out the gelatine and add to the pastry cream off the heat.
4 Preheat the oven to 200°C. Lightly dust the puff pastry squares with the icing sugar using a fine strainer, then bake for 4 minutes, checking every minute until they are evenly caramelised. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
5 To make the diplomat cream, whip the cream, until it completely loses its sheen.
6 Whisk the pastry cream vigorously to loosen it, then add one-third of the whipped cream and whisk vigorously until smooth. Add the remaining whipped cream and gently fold in using a silicone spatula.
7 Transfer the diplomat cream to a piping bag with a plain 10 mm nozzle. Cut 15 of the raspberries in half lengthways. Pipe a dome of diplomat cream on the non-caramelised side of 30 puff pastry squares. Place a half-raspberry on top and push into the cream. Pipe a small dot of cream on the raspberry, then top with a second puff pastry square, caramelised side up.
8 Stand the mille-feuilles on their ends. Pipe a rosette of diplomat cream on each mille-feuille using a piping bag with a fluted 8 mm nozzle. Dip the tops of the remaining raspberries in extra icing sugar, and place on the cream rosettes, sugar side up.
