Cookbook:Lemon Mille-feuille

| Dessert

Mille-feuille (literally "a thousand leaves/sheets") is a French pastry made of many puff pastry layers.

Pastry

 * 375 g (12 oz) ready-made puff pastry
 * 1 egg, beaten
 * 2 level tablespoons icing sugar

Lemon filling

 * 3 egg yolks
 * 1 whole egg
 * 75 g (4 Tbsp) castor sugar
 * 275 ml (1¼ cups) milk
 * 40 g (4 Tbsp) plain (all-purpose) flour
 * 3 large lemons, zested and juiced

Pastry

 * 1) Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C).
 * 2) Unroll the pastry on a lightly floured surface.
 * 3) Trim the pastry so that you are left with a rectangle approximately 23 x 25.5 cm.
 * 4) Roll out the larger piece of pastry to a 30 cm square, making sure you use a very even, gentle pressure on the rolling pin so that you end up with nice even edges.
 * 5) Grease a baking sheet and use the rolling pin to transfer the pastry to the baking sheet.
 * 6) Prick the surface of the pastry with a fork. Brush the pastry all over with the beaten egg.
 * 7) Place the baking sheet on a high shelf in the oven and bake for 12–15 minutes until crisp and golden.
 * 8) To get it extra crisp, heat the oven to its highest setting, sift 1 teaspoon of the icing sugar all over the pastry, and flash it under the grill.
 * 9) Remove from the grill and, using a sharp knife, cut the square into three equal strips.
 * 10) Turn the strips over, sift the rest of the icing sugar over them, and then flash them under the grill again.
 * 11) Cool on a wire rack, then store in a polythene box, each layer separated with greaseproof paper.

Lemon filling

 * 1) Place the egg yolks and whole egg into a roomy bowl.
 * 2) Use an electric mixer to whip the eggs together with the castor sugar until the mixture is pale, thick and creamy (4–5 minutes). Add the milk as you mix.
 * 3) Sift the flour onto the mixture and whisk again until smooth.
 * 4) Add the lemon zest and juice.

Assembly

 * 1) Place a pastry strip on the plate, and cover with half the lemon filling.
 * 2) Put the second pastry strip on the creme, and cover with the remaining lemon filling.
 * 3) Finally, top with the final pastry strip.