Mille-Feuille Café

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Roll the puff pastry out to 11” by 12.” Sprinkle granulated sugar over all of the dough, then use your rolling pin to slightly roll the sugar into the dough.

Divide the dough into 3 even rectangles (4” wide each). Place these rectangles on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, then transfer to the freezer to chill for 20 minutes.

Remove one of the dough rectangles so that they’re only 2 puff pastry rectangles on the baking sheet. Place a wire cooling rack onto the baking sheet, letting the cooling rack rest over the puff pastry; this will help ensure the puff pastry rise to equal heights as they bake.

Bake the puff pastry for 22 to 25 minutes, until golden in color. Repeat this step with the remaining puff pastry rectangle. Cool all puff pastry rectangles on a cooling rack until completely cool.

Create the pastry filling by whisking the sugar and egg yolks together in a large bowl until pale yellow. Add the cornstarch and flour in and whisk to combine.

Warm the milk over the stove on medium-low heat until there’s steam rising from the milk and it’s just begun to simmer but not boil. Add the instant espresso powder, whisking it in. Pour about 1/4 cup of this warm milk into the egg mixture, whisking the mixture vigorously as you do. Continue to gradually add the warm milk in batches, whisking to combine as you do.

Transfer the entire mixture back into the saucepan and use a whisk to stir the mixture over medium heat, until a thick pudding-like cream forms; about 5 to 8 minutes. Make sure to watch the mixture the entire time, stirring consistently to prevent clumps. Pour this pastry cream into a bowl. Cover the cream with a sheet of plastic wrap, placing the plastic wrap directly onto the pudding to prevent a filmy layer from forming. Refrigerate until chilled - about 2 hours.

To make the glaze, whisk the powdered sugar with a small splash of brewed coffee (about a couple teaspoons max) until you get a thick, lava-like consistency. Add more powdered sugar as needed if you’ve added too much coffee.

To assemble, spoon the pastry cream onto one of the puff pastry layers, leaving a small border around the edges bare. Top with another layer of puff pastry and some more of the pastry cream. Place the final puff pastry layer on top, making sure to place the layer upside down so that the completely flat side of the puff pastry is facing up.

Spread the glaze all over the top with an offset spatula. Fill a pastry bag with a small tip (or a ziplock bag with a very tiny cut in one of the bottom corners) with the melted chocolate. Squeeze the chocolate out into straight lines, spaced out from each other, along the length of the pastry. Then grab a toothpick or skewer and drag the stick along the width of the pastry (spaced out from each other), through the glaze and chocolate. Then repeat this going the opposite way in the spaces in-between.

Chill the pastry for at least 20 minutes so that the filling and glaze have a chance to set.