Essentially, this is a mille-feuille — a layered cake. I prepare it without puff pastry, contrary to its history and name. The "thousand layers" of this dessert, which dates back to Marie Antoinette’s era, can be easily recreated at home. Nowadays, you can find good butter-based puff pastry in stores, but it’s often made with margarine, which I avoid. Most of the time, I bake the layers myself. Traditionalists might not consider this a true Napoleon, but it’s our family recipe. This is how my father and his sister made it, and now it’s how I make it too.
- 1 pack of butter (200 g)
- 4 cups of flour (approximately 420-450 g)
- 1 egg
- 1 cup of milk (250 ml)
- a pinch of salt
for the cream:
- 1 liter of milk
- 10 egg yolks (preferably from free-range eggs)
- 1 cup of powdered sugar (120-150 g is enough, but if you like it sweeter, use up to 180 g)
- 1 pack of butter (200 g)
- 4-5 tbsp. of flour
- 1 vanilla pod
Take the butter out in advance to soften. Mix all the ingredients for the dough until smooth, knead well, and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Heat the milk, butter, and vanilla seeds (scraped from the pod) to a boil. Whisk the yolks with the flour and powdered sugar. Gradually add the yolk mixture to the hot milk while stirring gently. Turn off the heat if using an electric stove and finish cooking the cream on the residual heat or the lowest setting.
Cook the cream for 5–7 minutes, stirring continuously. Let the cream cool completely; do not apply it to the layers while hot, as the cake will become soggy. Roll out the dough into 8-10-12 thin layers. Depending on their size and thickness, bake each layer in a preheated oven at 160°C for 4 to 8 minutes. Spread 1.5-2 layers of cream on each layer of dough. Lightly coat the top layer with a thin layer of leftover cream and sprinkle with crumbs made from the baked layers.
for the cream:
- 1 liter of milk
- 10 egg yolks (preferably from free-range eggs)
- 1 cup of powdered sugar (120-150 g is enough, but if you like it sweeter, use up to 180 g)
- 1 pack of butter (200 g)
- 4-5 tbsp. of flour
- 1 vanilla pod
Take the butter out in advance to soften. Mix all the ingredients for the dough until smooth, knead well, and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Heat the milk, butter, and vanilla seeds (scraped from the pod) to a boil. Whisk the yolks with the flour and powdered sugar. Gradually add the yolk mixture to the hot milk while stirring gently. Turn off the heat if using an electric stove and finish cooking the cream on the residual heat or the lowest setting.
Cook the cream for 5–7 minutes, stirring continuously. Let the cream cool completely; do not apply it to the layers while hot, as the cake will become soggy. Roll out the dough into 8-10-12 thin layers. Depending on their size and thickness, bake each layer in a preheated oven at 160°C for 4 to 8 minutes. Spread 1.5-2 layers of cream on each layer of dough. Lightly coat the top layer with a thin layer of leftover cream and sprinkle with crumbs made from the baked layers.
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