This classic patisserie gets the gluten free treatment and basic crème légère gets elevated with fresh blueberries for a sumptuously decadent dessert!

Yield: 3 mille feuille
Prep time: 3 hours
Cook time: 30 minutes

Gluten Free Mille Feuille with Blueberry Crème Légère

The last two times I had mille feuille, I was in Paris, eating at Christian Constant's incredible Michelin-starred restaurant Le Violon d'Ingres surrounded by a group of new friends from all over the world. We had been served two very delicious mille feuille dishes--a savoury one made of salmon and avocado with herring caviar and a traditional dessert mille feuille, after which, this recipe is inspired. The thing that I remember most about the mille feuille from Christian Constant's restaurant is how soft the savoury version was and how crunchy and moreish the caramelised puff pastry on the sweet version was.

This recipe is an adaptation of Edd Kimber's mille feuille recipe.

When you eat gluten free, you become accustomed to things not being quite like they used to be. Yes, we Coeliacs can have bread and cakes and pasta, but gluten free bread and cakes and pasta always has a distinctive taste. You're always left feeling like you've been shortchanged. That's the type of feeling I try to avoid in my gluten free recipes and it's a feeling you won't get from this delicious dessert.

Gluten free puff pastry tends to cook differently from glutened puff pastry, so you'll need to keep an eye on your timings. When gluten free puff pastry is cooked, it goes from flaky bliss to crunchy mess in the blink of an eye! Watch it and don't over do it!

Filling those crunchy layers is a decadent crème légère, a type of  crème pâtissèrie that literally means light cream. Crème légère is the filling most used for eclairs, so it's a recipe that you'll use often in your French cooking and certainly one worth mastering!

Ingredients:

For the mille feuille
1 pack gluten free puff pastry
 
For the crème légère  
1/2 portion crème pâtissèrie
100 ml whipping cream
 
For the crème pâtissèrie  
1/2 vanilla pod
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
25 grams cornflour
100 grams caster sugar
250 ml whole milk

Gluten Free Mille Feuille with Blueberry Crème Légère

Instructions:

1. Roll the puff pastry so that it is an even thickness all the way around.
2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190c. 
3. Cut the puff pastry into equal squares and arrange on a parchment paper lined baking tray.
4. Cover the pastry with another sheet of puff pastry, and lay another baking sheet on top. Feel free to weight the sheet down with a heavy casserole dish.
5. Bake the pastry in the oven for 20 mintes.
6. Make the crème pâtissèrie by infusing the vanilla pod with the milk and bring to the boil.
7. Put the egg and yolks in a glass bowl, add the sugar and cornflour then whisk until smooth. Pour the milk slowly into the bowl with the egg and yolks and then pour it all back into the suacepan.
8. Whisk constantly until the sauce has thickened and all of the cornflour has been cooked out.
9. Pour the sauce into a bowl and refrigerate until needed.
10. Meanwhile, blitz the blueberries and refrigerate until needed.
11. After the puff pastry has cooked for 20 minutes, remove the top tray and upper layer of parchment.Sprinkle over icing sugar and bake for a further 10 minutes.
12. Once the crème pâtissèrie has set, fold the blitzed blueberries in. In a separate bowl, whisk the whipping cream until it forms stiff peaks. Fold the crème pâtissèrie with the remaining ingredients to make crème légère.
13. Spoon the crème légère into a piping bag and pipe in between two pieces of puff pastry.
14. Enjoy!

Try your hand at these other classic French desserts:

Classic Lemon Meringue Tarts

Gluten Free Red Velvet Eclairs

Crème Brûlée for One