Raspberry Mille-feuille

Ingredients

2 cups milk

1 vanilla pod or 2 tsp vanilla paste

6 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

2 tsp gelatine

1 cup Tatua Mascarpone

2 sheets of ready rolled flaky pastry

1 punnet fresh raspberries

1/2 cup icing sugar

1 tbsp hot water

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

• Place the milk in a small saucepan along with the split vanilla pod or the vanilla paste. Heat until just before it boils.
• While the milk is heating, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and flour together until pale.
• Carefully pour the warmed milk into the beaten egg yolks, whisking continuously.
• Pour the mixture back into the pot, and over a medium heat continue to whisk until the custard thickens. Don’t overheat or the custard will curdle. 
• Bloom the gelatine by placing it in a small bowl with 2 tbsp of water. Stir and let it sit for 2–3 minutes. Whisk this into the still hot custard. Allow the custard to cool a little. Then fold in the Tatua Mascarpone. Cover and cool completely in the fridge.
• Cut the pastry into 18 identical sized pieces. I used an 8cm round cookie cutter and got 9 rounds per sheet. Place the pastry pieces on a lined oven tray. Prick them with a fork then cover with a piece of baking paper and another oven tray.
• Bake in the oven at 200°C for 12–15 minutes, or until golden but not brown. 
• Optional – dust the hot pastry with icing sugar, which will give it a slight sweet touch.
• When the pastry has completely cooled, place the custard mixture in a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle between 100–140mm.
• Group the pastry into threes. Ice one in every three pastry discs and allow these to set.
• Then place the raspberries on one out of every three pastry discs, leaving a gap between each berry.  Pipe the custard between each berry and in the middle.
• Top with another pastry disc and repeat. Top this with an iced pastry disc. To complete the look, you can decorate with a little freeze-dried raspberry.

Icing
Mix together the icing sugar with the hot water and vanilla extract until smooth.

Recipe and image created by Nourish Magazine