name Napoléon, which could be a reference to the Italian city of Naples, known for its own baroque desserts, or to Napoléon Bonaparte, the fearless French emperor and dictator References to the mille-feuille date back as far as 1651, which again proves that a great classic pastry will live for centuries I am giving you a recipe that uses a half batch of puff pastry, making enough to yield six 2 × 3– inch Napoléons Once you get the hang of them you might want to double the pastry cream and make a full batch of 12 Napoléons Although assembling the mille-feuille is straightforward and you could do this process in 2 days, ideally you should leave the rolled-out puff pastry dough in the refrigerator overnight to dry out slightly so that it won’t puff too high when you bake it, which makes the three-layered millefeuille very high You can make the filling—the mousseline—a day ahead or on the day you are assembling the pastries BEFORE YOU BEGIN >> Get out the following equipment and allow all of the ingredients to come to room temperature (this is particularly important for the butter used for the puff pastry butter block and for the mousseline filling): Digital scale, set to metric weights Equipment needed for Puff Pastry Equipment needed for Pastry Cream Two 12 × 17–inch ... that uses a half batch of puff pastry, making enough to yield six 2 × 3– inch Napoléons Once you get the hang of them you might want to double the pastry cream and make a full batch of 12 Napoléons... following equipment and allow all of the ingredients to come to room temperature (this is particularly important for the butter used for the puff pastry butter block and for the mousseline filling): Digital scale, set to... you bake it, which makes the three-layered millefeuille very high You can make the filling? ?the mousseline—a day ahead or on the day you are assembling the pastries BEFORE YOU BEGIN >> Get out the following