Portuguese Pastry Mil Folhas Part 2

Portuguese Mil Folhas

On February 22, 2017, I posted about my foray in to making mil folhas, my favorite pastry. It didn’t go so well. But I REALLY love these pastries, and I’ve never been a quitter. So I tried again, even though my cooking skills are not what they should be for a mom with seven kids.

I used the same puff pastry I made the first time, since I had a bit extra left over that I’d frozen, but this time I cooked it longer and didn’t overly poke it with holes. It turned out great! The only drawback was that I didn’t have a lot of dough left so I had to make it thinner than I wanted it.

Then we tried a new recipe for the filling my daughter Catia found. This one consisted only of water, egg yolks, and sugar.

Six egg yolks
6 TBS granulated sugar
6 TBS of water

So basically, for each egg yolk, you add a tablespoon of sugar and water. You boil the water and sugar, pour it slowly into the eggs, stirring constantly, and then you put the whole thing back on the stove for cooking until it thickens. We didn’t use any thickening agent besides the sugar which thickens as it cooks.

We did this new recipe twice, because we didn’t make enough the first time, and the second time shown in the picture below, we didn’t quite get it thick enough, but at least we do know how to do it. Note that in the pastries they sell in Portugal, they trim all the edges off to have nice clean lines. We haven’t done that yet.

For the glaze, this time we put butter and milk with the powdered sugar to make it taste better. I didn’t make the mistake of darkening the frosting with vanilla extract. And we mixed the melted chocolate for the designs with a portion of the frosting so it would flow better.

And guess what? It was yummy! Very yummy! (Note: yummy is a word you use a lot when you have kids.)

This filling still wasn’t exactly the same as the real Portuguese pastry, but a lot closer than when we tried it using milk, which made it too much like custard. I still plan on finding out the exact recipe for the filling, and I have a few ideas to try, but the bottom line is that these were great and everyone liked them. Yay!

Here are the side by side pictures of the first (not very good) ones from two weeks ago and the new (good) ones from last Sunday. Even the look is so different! I’m learning.

My Adventure Making Portuguese Mil FolhasPortuguese Mil Folhas

Teyla Rachel Branton

 

 

Copyright 2017 Teyla Rachel Branton

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5 Responses to “Portuguese Pastry Mil Folhas Part 2”

  1. Joyce

    Those pastries DO look yummy! And yummy is a very descriptive word I am sure most parents use; as in ohh, yum yum as you are poking strained peas, carrots, etc. in your little one’s open (maybe) mouth!
    I enjoyed your newsletter, as I am sure I will enjoy your books. I love your sense of humor.
    Joyce, 81 years experience

    Reply
    • Teyla Rachel Branton

      Hi Joyce. I love your humor too. If you are anything like me, most of those strained peas and carrots ended up in their hair! Thank you for posting.

      Reply
      • Joyce

        Hi Teyla, yes, indeed! Very little actually went in their mouths, unless it was applesauce or sweet

        potatoes; most of the veggies stained the washcloths used to clean the little faces, hair,hands,arms——
        frustrating, then; nostalgia, now. Joyce

        Reply
        • Teyla Rachel Branton

          Awww. You’re right that you can miss it once it’s over. I’m so looking forward to my first grandbaby in August!

          Reply
          • Joyce

            Many congratulations!!! You will enjoy that baby!! They are so special.

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