Bake 2.22: Banoffee Mille-Feuille

This is a fun one! I used 1/2 a recipe of puff pastry but you could use store bought puff pastry too, that would make this a pretty quick dessert that is very impressive. Mille-Feuille which sounds so fancy is layers of pastry and cream, with other things as desired. I was inspired by the classic UK banoffee pie and used caramel pastry cream and bananas in my layers. 

Ingredients
1/2 recipe puff pastry (I prefer this recipe)
3 ripe but not soft bananas

3 cups whole milk

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 corn starch

1 tablespoon flour

4 large egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

4 tablespoons salted butter, room temp

1/3 cup caramel sauce + a drizzle for the top

Start with the pastry cream. Heat 2 1/2 cups milk with the sugar in a saucepan. Whisk together the 1/2 cup remaining milk, corn starch, flour, and egg yolks. Once the sugar has completely dissolved, ladle a small amount into the corn starch mixture to temper. Pour all back into the saucepan and cook until thick, pudding like consistency. Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla, butter, and caramel sauce. Pour into a dish and cover with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap onto the surface to ensure no skin forms. Put in the fridge to cool!

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Roll the pastry to 11x14 on a silpat or parchment sheet. Slide onto a baking sheet. Prick the dough all over with a fork. Cover with another silpat or parchment sheet and a second baking sheet. This weight causes the pastry to cook flat and crispy, rather than puffing up like with the croissants. Bake for 18-20 minutes, and check the browning around 14 minutes in, you can remove the top sheet if needed to ensure the top browns nicely. Allow to cool. 

Now assembly! Chop 1 of the bananas and set aside. Slice the other two bananas if you want to be fancy and decorate the sides like I did, if not, just chop them and put them in the layers. Standing the slices up along the edges allowed me to put more pastry cream in the middle, just sayin'. 

Carefully cut your large sheet of pastry into three equal rectangles. I eyeballed the first one, then used it to cut the remaining two. Put one piece of pastry on your platter. Line the edges with half slices of bananas all the way around (they are a little sticky on the cut side so actually just stand up there on their own). Fill the center with pastry cream using an offset spatula to gently ease it up to the edges. Top with 1/2 the chopped banana. Add another layer of pastry, again with bananas along the edge, pastry cream in the middle, chopped bananas. Add the last layer of pastry. I decorated with a few remaining bananas slices and a drizzle of caramel. Ideally put it in the fridge for a few minutes before slicing, and then slice gently. YUM!