Mille Crepe

Moderate, 2 days, Serves 10

This is not a recipe for the faint-hearted! It’s not the most difficult one, but it does require some skill and it’s rather time consuming – but the result is definitely worth it. As the taste of this original recipe is quite mild, it can be served with fresh fruit coulis or similar to add a bit of a zing.

Ingredients:

For the crepe batter
6 Tbsp butter
3 cups milk
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
7 tbsp sugar
pinch salt
For Vanilla pastry cream
2 cups milk
1 vanilla bean, halved and scraped
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted
3 1/2 tbsp butter
For the assembly
Corn oil
2 cups heavy cream
1 tbsp sugar or more
3 tbsp kirsch

Instructions:

1 The day before, make the crepe batter and the pastry cream. Batter: In a small pan, cook the butter until brown. Set aside. In another small pan, heat the milk until steaming, allow to cool for 10 minutes. In a mixer on medium-low speed, beat together the eggs, flour, sugar and salt. Slowly add the hot milk and browned butter. Pour into a container with a spout, cover and refrigerate overnight.
Pastry cream: Bring the milk with the vanilla bean (and scrapings) to a boil, then set aside for 10 minutes, remove bean. Fill a large bowl with ice and set aside a small bowl that can hold the finished pastry cream and can be placed in the ice bath.
In a medium heavy- bottomed pan, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch. Gradually whisk in the hot milk, the place pan over high heat and bring to the boil, whisking vigorously for 1-2 minutes. Press the pastry cream through a fine- meshed sieve into a small bowl. Set the bowl in the ice bath and stir until the temperature reached 140 degrees on an instant- read thermometer. Stir in the butter. When completely cool, cover and refrigerate.
Assemble the cake the next day: Bring the batter to room temperature. Place a nonstick or seasoned 9-inch crepe pan over medium heat. swab the surface with oil, then add about 3 tablespoons of batter and swirl to cover the surface. Cook until the bottom just begins to brown, about 1 minute, then carefully lift an edge and flip the crepe. Cook the other side for no longer than 5 seconds. Repeat until you have around 20 crepes
Pass the pastry cream through a sieve once more. Whip the heavy cream with the tablespoon sugar and Kirsch, it wont hold peaks. Fold it into the pastry cream.
Lay 1 crepe on a cake plate, Using an icing spatula, completely cover with a thin layer of pastry cream. cover with a crepe and repeat to make a stack of 20.
Chill for at least 2 hours. Set out for 30 minutes before serving. Dust with icing sugar or if you have a creme brulee blowtorch, sprinkle with sugar and caramelize with the torch.