Lemon/blueberry mille-feuilles and pistachio/raspberry tartlets

I made a few little pastries for our office Christmas party, and since a lot of people have since asked me for the recipes, I decided to share them in a blog post.

I wanted to make something easy, but pretty, and most importantly tasty! I usually do not have that much time to whip something up after work and supper, so these desserts were just perfect! I made mille-feuilles with lemon curd and glazed blueberries on top, as well as little tartlets with pistachio frosting and raspberries. Ideally, the lemon curd and the pistachio frosting should be made in advance, so that all you’re left to do is bake the puff pastry and assemble everything! Both mille-feuilles and tartlets were made with sheets of puff pastry to save time. To save even more time, I bought sheets of frozen puff pastry. Yes, I could make my own, but when it comes to puff pastry, I prefer to buy it for 2 reasons : I save tons of time because puff pastry is a hassle to make and most importantly, home-made puff pastry requires A LOT of butter, and that stuff is super expensive! So store-bought it is

Anyways, here are the instructions !

Lemon/blueberry mille-feuilles and pistachio/raspberry tartlets

Makes around 20 mini pastries

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh raspberries

• 1 box of 2 puff pastry sheets, thawed

• 4 tbsp sugar

Glazed blueberries

• 1 cup blueberries

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 2 tbsp powdered sugar

Lemon curd

• Click here for recipe

Pistachio frosting

• Click here for recipe

directions

Puff pastry

1. Preheat oven at 375.

2. Unroll a sheet of puff pastry and cover evenly the surface with 1 tbsp of sugar.

3. Turn the sheet over and cover the other surface with 1 tbsp of sugar.

4. Proceed the same way with the other sheet of thawed puff pastry.

5. Put the sheets in the freezer for 10 minutes.

6. Cut the sheets into the desired shapes. I chose 2”x5” rectangles, 2”x2” squares and 2” circles.

7. Put parchment paper on a cookie sheet and transfer the cut puff pastry onto the cookie sheet.

8. To prevent the puff pastry from puffing up to much (we want them to stay super thin), put parchment paper on top of the puff pastry, and place at least another baking sheet on top. In my case, I bought a set of 3 baking sheets of 3 different sizes. I used the biggest one for the puff pastry and put the 2 smaller ones on top.

9. Bake for 20 minutes.

10. Remove the cookie sheets and parchment from the top of the puff pastry and continue baking for approximately 10 minutes. This step allows for the sugar on top of the puff pastry to caramelize a bit.

11. Keep an eye on the puff pastry because each shape will bake at different speed. Have a cooling rack ready, and remove each piece one by one as they appear done and uniformly brown.

12. Let the puff pastry cool down completely before assembling.

Berries

1. Wash the berries thoroughly and dry them.

2. Set the raspberries aside.

3. Put the blueberries in a large bowl and cover them with lemon juice.

4. Mix them carefully with the powdered sugar, making sure that all the berries are completely covered with sugar.

5. Set them aside, either on the counter or uncovered in the fridge.

Assembling the lemon/blueberry mille-feuilles

1. Transfer the lemon curd into a piping bag, with a round tip (I used a Wilton W5569).

2. Take 2 pieces of puff pastry, making sure they are the same size. I used the square shape in this case.

3. Pipe the curd on one pastry sheet, and spread a tiny bit of curd at the enter of the other.

4. So now you have a sheet of puff pastry with piped lemon curd on top (sheet A) and a sheet of puff pastry with a little bit of lemon curd spread on its center (sheet B).

5. Place sheet B on top of sheet A, curd side up.

6. Carefully place blueberries on top of sheet B. The spread lemon curd ensures that the blueberries don’t move and stay in place.

Assembling the pistachio/raspberry tartlets

1. Transfer the pistachio frosting in a piping bag. I don’t really remember which piping tip was used, but a star-shaped tip like a Wilton 4B or a Wilton 6B will do the trick.

2. In this case, I used the rectangular and the round puff pastry.

3. Apply frosting on one surface and then decorate with raspberries.

And that’s it! Of course, you could make lemon/blueberry tartlets and pistachio/raspberry mille-feuilles as well! Which I did, a bit, since I had some leftover ingredients afterwards. I had fun mixing things up a bit!

The pastries were a hit at the office Christmas party, and their colors were on point also! They’re great because they are not too heavy or too filling, and the lemon as well as the raspberries provide a much needed freshness in the palate!

This is a super easy dessert to prepare, as long as you plan ahead!

Enjoy!

Lemon curd

I love lemons. To me, they are synonym to brightness and freshness. They alleviate any meal and/or desserts they are added to. So, when I want to make a light and not too sweet dessert, I always turn to lemons. And lemon custards are my favorite things to prepare because they can be eaten alone, with a simple cookie or wafer on the side, or they can be added to tarts, creams, cakes, and the list goes on and on! Lemon curd is super easy to whip up and is a life-saver!

My favorite recipe comes from Patrice Demers, one of the best pastry chefs around, and certainly the best one in Montreal. If you speak French, I highly recommend that you check out his books, La Carte des Desserts, Les Desserts de Patrice and Parcours Sucré. The recipes look intimidating at first but don’t let appearances discourage you! Individually, each recipe is surprisingly easy to prepare and the chef makes clear and concise instructions as to how to assemble the desserts so they look original professionally made. His books, among others, have become my baking bible.

Back to the topic at hand, lemon curd. The important thing to know here, is that it must be prepared at least one day before. So plan ahead and accordingly!

Lemon curd

ingredients

• 3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 1 cup sugar

• 4 eggs

• lemon zest (2 or 3 lemons)

• 1 cup non-salted butter, cubed

directions

1. In a medium saucepan, heat lemon juice, zest and 1/2 sugar until boiling.

2. In a bowl, whip the remaining sugar with the 4 eggs until well combined.

3. While whisking constantly, pour the hot lemon mixture into the sugar/egg mixture.

4. Pour everything back into the pan and heat at medium/high heat. Continually whisk the mixture.

5. Put the cubed butter in the bowl on an electric mixer.

6. When bubbles start appearing in the lemon mixture, take it off the heat and pour it on top of the butter.

7. Turn the electric mixer on at medium speed and whip until the butter has melted and is fully incorporated into the lemon mixture.

8. Press a plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd and refrigerate over night.

And that’s it! The next day, you have a delicious, creamy lemon curd that can be used for any dessert! Seriously, I could just sit and eat spoonfuls of this stuff.