Tag: desserts

Mille Feuilles / Custard Slices

Published on by Gen George2 Comments

These have been a favorite of mine since I was a little girl! I have fond memories of mouthfuls of creamy pastry cream and sweet crunchy slices of pastry. So, naturally, I want to share this pastry recipe with you!

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 rolls of store bought Puff Pastry (if you’d prefer, you can make your own too)
  • 600ml milk
  • 100g white sugar
  • 50g corn starch
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 1 vanilla bean OR 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 50g butter

The pastry cream makes about 1 litre, but you can also halve the ingredients if you want less.

HOW TO MAKE MILLE FEUILLES / CUSTARD SLICES

  1. Start by preheating your oven to 180°C/350°F.

2. Place your puff pastry, with baking paper underneath, on a baking tray and cut into even sized rectangles. Now, place another piece of baking paper on top, followed by another baking tray so that the tray sits on top of the pastry to act as a weight. This is so that the pastry doesn’t puff up, but instead, it bakes flat.

3. Bake your pastry for 30 minutes or until golden brown. You can check it around 20 minutes.

4. Next, get started on your pastry cream. To a saucepan, add the milk and vanilla seeds/extract and bring it to the boil. In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks, sugar and corn starch together until light in color and smooth (about 1 minute). Once the milk has reached a boil, add a third of the heated milk to the egg mixture and whisk quickly to avoid scrambling the eggs. Once it is well combined, add it back into the milk and whisk continuously over a medium heat.

5. This mixture will start to thicken, so keep stirring to avoid it burning or sticking to the bottom of the saucepan. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for a minute or two until very thick. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow it to cool slightly before adding the butter (3 minutes). Add the butter a little at a time while whisking until all the butter is incorporated and the pastry cream turns glossy and creamy.

6. Transfer the pastry cream to a clean bowl and cover with plastic film, let the film touch the pastry cream so that it doesn’t form a skin. (It can keep for 3 days like this in the refrigerator).

7. Once the pastry is cooked, remove from the oven and let it cool completely.

8. After the pastry cream has cooled, give it a quick whisk and transfer into a piping bag fitted with a round tip. Now, you can start assembling your mille feuilles!

9. You have full creative free reign here, so you can choose how many layers you’d like and how you want to pipe your pastry cream in between each layer. I prefer to pipe blobs of pastry cream in a row of 3 and cover each layer like this. For the top layer, I sprinkled it with icing sugar using a sieve to give a clean, clump-free look.

I really hope you enjoy making this recipe as much as I do!

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PAVLOVA

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If you’ve never heard of or made Pavlova, it is basically a beautiful, glossy French Meringue that is baked in the oven at low heat and dries out on the outside to form a crispy shell, but stays chewy on the inside. It is then filled with whipped cream and fresh fruits of your choice! Acidic or more sour/bitter fruits are usually used, as it balances out the sweetness of the meringue and makes for a delicious, fresh Summer Dessert!

I know you’re ready to get baking, so here is the recipe!

INGREDIENTS

  • Egg whites of 4 eggs
  • 250g White Sugar
  • 1 teaspoon White Vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Cornflour
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
  • Fresh Cream (about 220-250ml)
  • Fresh Fruits

That’s it!! You probably have all these ingredients in your pantry or kitchen cupboards at any time, so why not give this recipe a try!

HOW TO MAKE PAVLOVA

So, there is a ‘normal’ pavlova, which is when you use all of the meringue mixture to form a big round bowl-like shape and you place the cream and fruit inside, but I much prefer making individual pavlova’s, also known as Pavlova Nests, so that each person can have their own little dessert to enjoy all by themselves!

Pre heat the oven to 150°C/300°F and prepare your baking tray by lining it with baking paper.

Start by separating your egg whites and place them into a mixing bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer. You can use a hand mixer or stand mixer to achieve this recipe.

Start beating the egg whites until they become frothy and add a teaspoon of white vinegar and continue beating until they reach ‘soft peak’ stage. Gradually add the sugar, about 2 tablespoons at a time and mix for about 30 seconds before adding more of the sugar. Repeat this until all the sugar has been added. The meringue should be at ‘stiff peaks’ now.

Add the cornflour and vanilla extract and beat again until they are quite a stiff consistency.

To form the nests, use two tablespoons to transfer the meringue to the baking tray and press down with the back of the spoon to form a hollow in the centre.

Bake for 1 hour or until it is dry to touch, then turn the oven off and let the meringues cool down completely in the oven. This lets them dry out and become really crispy on the outside. The centre will stay ‘chewy’. It is also normal for them to crack, it’s all about the rustic look here!

While the meringue bakes, prepare your whipped cream, you can add as much as you like, but try to balance out the fruit and cream ratio. I used 220ml of cream for 4 pavlova’s. Cut up your fruit and once the meringues have completely cooled, you can put everything together.

Place your meringue on the plate it will be served on, spoon some cream on top and place your fresh fruit on top of the cream.

This recipe is so easy, but your guests will be wowed every time! It’s a simple dessert with a big impact, not only on your guests, but on your taste buds too!!

MILK TART – MELKTERT

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Milk Tart, or as it is traditionally called in South Africa, Melktert (in Afrikaans), is a typical dessert and most, if not all South Africans know this sweet, custard dessert.

Melktert (/ˈmɛlktɛrt/, Afrikaans for milk tart) is a South African dessert consisting of a sweet pastry crust containing a custard filling made from milk, flour, sugar and eggs. The ratio of milk to eggs is higher than in a traditional Portuguese custard tart or Chinese egg tart, resulting in a lighter texture and a stronger milk flavour. The dessert originated among settlers at the Dutch Cape Colony in the 17th century, and is believed to have developed from the Dutch mattentaart, a cheesecake-like dessert. Some recipes require that the custard be baked in the crust, while others call for the custard to be prepared in advance, and then placed in the crust before serving. Cinnamon is often sprinkled over its surface, and the milk used for the custard may also be infused with a cinnamon stick before preparation. Melktert may either be served chilled or at room temperature. – Information from WIKIPEDIA

INGREDIENTS

  • For the Pastry:
    • 28g (2 tablespoons) Butter, cold
    • 2 Tablespoons White Sugar
    • 1 Egg
    • 3/4 cup Self-Raising Flour
    • Pinch of Salt
  • For the Filling:
    • 2 cups Milk
    • 2 Eggs (separated)
    • ½ cup White Sugar
    • ¼ cup Cake Flour
    • ¼ cup Corn Flour (Maïzena)
    • Pinch of Salt
    • 28g (2 tablespoons) Butter
    • 5ml (1 teaspoon) Vanilla Extract
    • Ground Cinnamon

HOW TO MAKE MILK TART (MELKTERT)

Preheat your oven to 180°C/355°F and grease a 24cm tart dish with some non-stick spray or butter.

How to make the pastry: Using either a food processor or an electric mixer, add all the ingredients for the pastry and mix until it forms a crumb texture. Transfer the dough mixture to the tart dish and press it in to cover the surface. Place it in the fridge to chill while preparing the filling.

How to make the filling: Heat the milk in a pot (don’t boil it). In a mixing bowl, beat/whisk the yolks and sugar until light and creamy and then add the flours and salt.

This mixture will be thick, but add a few tablespoons of the heated milk to it and mix together. Pour this mixture back into the heated milk and bring to the boil. Whisk constantly until the mixture thickens. Once the mixture has thickened, remove it from the heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla extract.

In a clean bowl, add the egg whites and using a whisk or electric beater, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Fold them gently into the custard mixture and pour this mixture into your prepared tart dish.

Generously sprinkle the top with the ground cinnamon and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven once baked and allow to cool outside (not in the fridge). Once completely cooled, you can place it in the fridge.