52 The Times Magazinehad to title this recipe
“simple” because when
you can barely pronounce
the name of a dessert, it
can be daunting! I always
worry I am saying it wrong
or just not French enough
and that alone is usually
enough to put me off trying it.
But we persevere.
I know cherries aren’t in
season at the moment, but
sometimes I can’t wait until
summer to make my amazingly
easy, delicious recipe of layered
sweet puff pastry, filled with
cream, almond and fresh cherries
and layered again, so I resort
to frozen.
Fresh or frozen, though, don’t
be fooled into thinking you can’t
do it. You can, and the results
will be delicious.SIMPLE CHERRY
MILLEFEUILLE
Serves 4For the pastry- 250g puff pastry,
shop bought - 100g icing sugar, plus
extra to serve
For the filling- 150ml double cream
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- ½ tsp almond extract
- 200g cherries, pitted
and quartered - 1 orange, zest only
1 Have two of the same-sized
baking trays ready, one lined
with baking paper and the other
tray and another piece of paper
DAN KENNEDYset aside.
Eating in
Nadiya Hussain
Get shop-bought
pastry to make this
easy dessert for an
early taste of summer
2 Roll out the pastry on a
floured surface to a rectangle
of 15 x 40cm. Take a ruler and
measure out rectangles that
are 5 x 10cm. You should have
12 rectangles – three rectangles
per serving.
3 Pop onto the baking tray
lined with paper and put it
into the fridge for 30 minutes
or the freezer for 15 minutes,
while you preheat your oven
to 200C/Gas 6.
4 Take out the pastry once it has
chilled and generously dust the
surface of each rectangle with‘I know cherries aren’t in season but I can’t wait to make
this delicious layered sweet puff pastry. So I use frozen instead’
I
You can find all of Nadiya
Hussain’s recipes for The Times
at thetimes.co.ukicing sugar. Turn over and dust
the other side.
5 Pop the other piece of baking
paper onto the pastry and put the
second tray on top. Bake in the
oven for 10 minutes.
6 Take out and leave to cool with
the tray still on top. Once cool
enough to handle, remove paper
and leave to cool on a rack.
7 Make the filling by adding
the cream, sugar and almond
extract to a bowl and whip the
cream till you have stiff peaks,
perfect for piping.
8 Take a pastry rectangle, pipeon some cream in kisses, pop a
cherry quarter onto a peak, and
zest the orange lightly over it.
Add another sheet of pastry
directly on top. Do the same
again, pipe on cream, add cherries
and zest some orange, and finish
with a pastry rectangle.
9 Do the same to all of them
until you have made all four. Dust
with icing sugar and serve. n