Halvah Mille Feuilles Recipes

MAISON ALEPH'S SESAME-HALVAH 1,001 FEUILLES

Steps:

• Make the filling: Working with a mixer (preferably fitted with a paddle attachment), beat the butter, halvah and tahini together on medium speed for about 3 minutes. Add the confectioners' sugar, cornstarch and salt, and mix on low for 2 minutes more. Add the eggs one by one, beating for a minute after each goes in; you'll have a thick, smooth, shiny mixture (think mayonnaise). Stir in the sesame seeds. Scrape the filling into a bowl, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour (or for up to 2 days; longer is better than shorter).
• Build the layers: Lay the phyllo out on a piece of plastic wrap, and cover with a damp kitchen towel. Always keep the towel moistened: The dough dries in a flash.
• Brush the interior of a rimmed baking sheet (12 inches by 17 inches) with clarified butter. Place a sheet of dough in the pan, brush with butter and dust lightly with confectioners' sugar (use about 2 tablespoons of sugar per sheet). Continue until you have made 14 layers. Spread the filling evenly over the top, and then continue making layers with the remaining dough, buttering and sugaring each layer (you'll have some butter left; hold on to it). Refrigerate the setup for at least 30 minutes (or cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day).
• Center a rack in the oven, and heat it to 350 degrees. Using a pizza cutter (best) or a sharp knife, trim the edges (don't remove them), then cut as many 2-inch squares as possible, cutting all the way through the layers. Scatter the sesame seeds over the top.
• Bake for about 40 minutes, rotating the pan after 20 minutes, until the top is beautifully golden. Transfer to a cooling rack, and lightly brush with some of the reserved butter. Place a piece of parchment or foil over the surface, top with another baking pan and press evenly and firmly to compact the layers. Recut the squares, so they'll be easy to lift out. Let sit for 2 to 3 hours before serving (discard or nibble the trimmed edges). Stored tightly covered, the squares will keep at room temperature for about 2 days.

HALVAH MILLE-FEUILLES

Steps:

• Bake the phyllo:
• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Stack the 8 sheets of phyllo and cut in half crosswise. Brush 1 half sheet of phyllo with oil and sprinkle with sugar. Layer another half sheet on top of the first and repeat with oil and sugar to form a stack of 4 half sheets, finishing the top layer with oil and sugar. Repeat with remaining half sheets to form 3 more stacks. Cut each of the stacks into 4 equal pieces to make 16 stacks. Transfer stacks to baking sheets and bake until golden brown, 8 to 12 minutes. Let cool to room temperature, about 15 minutes.
• Make the halvah cream:
• Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together the honey or date syrup with the tahini. If using nondairy whipped topping, place in a large bowl and gently fold in the honey-tahini mixture. If using cream, beat until soft peaks form. Gently incorporate the honey-tahini mixture and whip to stiff peaks. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• Assemble the dessert:
• Place one phyllo stack on a dessert plate. Spread with a scant 1/4 cup halvah cream. Repeat with 3 more phyllo stacks and 2 more layers halvah cream. Repeat this process to form 3 more servings. Drizzle each stack with honey or date syrup, sprinkle with halvah crumbles, and garnish with raspberries.

MARVELOUS MILLE-FEUILLE

Steps:

• Line a baking sheet with parchment or a baking mat.
• Unfold the pastry, roll it to a 12-by-15-inch rectangle and cut into three 12-by-5-inch rectangles. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Prick the pastry and chill for 10 minutes in the freezer or 20 in the fridge.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Dust the pastry with powdered sugar (this will ensure the pastry caramelizes when cooked). Bake until golden brown and risen, about 15 minutes. Set aside to cool on a wire rack for about 15 minutes.
• In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the powdered sugar, mascarpone, cream and vanilla seeds and whisk until soft peaks form. Add the raspberry liqueur and lemon zest and turn on the mixer for 10 seconds to combine the ingredients.
• To assemble: Place a dab of the whipped cream on the serving plate to anchor the mille-feuille. Place one piece of pastry onto the plate glaze-side down. Spoon over half of the whipped cream, smoothing out the top. Arrange half of the fresh raspberries on top of the cream in rows, then top with another sheet of pastry, again glaze-side down. Top the second sheet of pastry with the remaining cream and raspberries. Add the last piece of pastry glaze-side up and liberally dust with powdered sugar.

HALVAH

Steps:

• Line an 8- x 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
• Combine sugar, vanilla seeds and lemon zest with 1/2 cup water in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Allow mixture to simmer into a syrup, without stirring, until temperature registers 245 degrees on candy thermometer.
• While syrup is cooking, place tahini and salt in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle. Beat on medium speed. Carefully stream syrup into tahini with mixer running. Mix until syrup is incorporated and mixture begins to pull away from sides of bowl, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Be careful not to overmix. The halvah texture should be fudgelike, not sandy.
• Working quickly with a heatproof spatula, transfer mixture to the prepared pan. Place another piece of parchment on top and use your hands on top of the parchment to smooth out halvah. Cool completely to room temperature and cut into squares. Store at room temperature, well wrapped in plastic, for a week.

MILLE FEUILLE (NAPOLEON PASTRY SHEETS)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a silicone sheet.
• Separate dough at the seams into 4 squares and place on prepared baking sheet. Score the dough all over with the tines of a fork to prevent it from rising too much when baking. Lightly sprinkle dough sheets with white granulated sugar.
• Cover with a sheet of parchment paper and 3 sheets of aluminum foil. Nest another baking sheet on top to apply some pressure to the dough while it bakes.
• Bake in preheated oven 15 minutes; remove top pan and foil and gently peel off the parchment paper. Return pan to oven and bake until pastry is beautifully browned, 10 to 15 minutes. (Optionally, you can bake about 7 minutes after uncovering, then flip sheets over and bake until brown on the other side, another 7 minutes.)
• Transfer to cooling rack and cool completely before cutting.
• Square the sheets by trimming uneven edges off sheets using a sharp serrated knife with light sawing motion to keep the pastry from breaking. Cut each rectangle crosswise into 3 equal smaller rectangles. Use 3 small rectangles per pastry.