” Mille Feuille ” also known as a “Napoleon” a classic Neopolitan pastry dessert of ancient origin filled with a rich and thick vanilla custard or “ crème pâtissière “ – pretty much a dessert sandwich!
Why is Napoleon called Napoleon ?
How To Make Vegan Dairy Free Custard Cream Filling :
note: If you don’t have tapioca on hand you can replace it with arrowroot or cornflour/cornstarch.
FAQ: Is Puff Pastry Vegan ?
Can You Make Custard with Almond Milk ?
You’ll Love this Vegan Custard Pastry! It’s:
Vegan Custard Puff Pastry Napoleon
Easy vegan custard puff pastry Napoleon made with rich coconut and cashew milk, vanilla extract and thickened up with tapioca. Dairy-free and naturally sweetened with maple syrup.
Ingredients
- 1 cup cashew milk
- 1 cup coconut milk (full fat)
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 3 tsp vanilla extract (or the seeds from 1 vanilla bean)
- 4 tbsp tapioca (arrowroot or cornstarch)
- 1/4 tsp turmeric (optional for color)
- 1 sheet vegan puff pastry (9x9)
- 2 tbsp powdered sugar for dusting (OPTIONAL)
Instructions
Defrost the puff pastry according to the instructions on the box, usually 30-40 minutes at room temperature.
Preheat your oven to 400”F.
Roll out the pastry sheet on a parchment lined cookie sheet, pierce with a fork and cut it in half lengthwise.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool.
Make the Custard:
In a medium sauce pan over medium flame whisk together the cashew and coconut milk, maple syrup and tapioca. Bring to a simmer and continue whisking for a good 5 to 10 minutes on medium-low flame until the custard has thickened. Whisk in the vanilla extract or seeds and allow to cool off. (If you wish to give your custard a more yellowish tone make sure to whisk in the turmeric as well. It won’t affect the flavor just the color).
Assemble the Napoleons:
Carefully separate the top and bottom part of the puff pastry, it should easily come apart. Place the bottom parts in a small baking dish lined with parchment paper.
Spread the vanilla custard on top and cover with the top layer of puff pastry.
Refrigerate for 3-4 hours until set. Use a serrated knife and cut into 10 rectangles or 8 squares to your liking. Dust with powder sugar and serve!
Vegan Desserts:
Coconut Snowballs
Italian Wedding Cookies
Chocolate Avocado Pudding
Julie Bradley
January 19, 2019 at 8:21 amI made this for the first time today and it is amazing!! My entire family loves it!
Gayle
January 21, 2019 at 5:18 amThis looks elegant! Any ideas on how this can be made Gluten Free? Many thanks!
florentina
January 23, 2019 at 4:39 amHi Gayle, i would search for a gluten-free puff pastry out there or trying making your own. Let me know if you experiment with that idea!
Candice
February 5, 2019 at 3:43 amThis is truly amazing and I can’t express my enthusiasm at the fact that I made Custard Puff Pastry that is vegan and no one believed me it was vegan. My favorite dessert of all times, thank you for making it so easy and effortless for us.
Savi
February 12, 2019 at 3:10 amHi! Can you tell me which brand of coconut milk and which brand of tapicoa did you use? I’m so excited to make this for my husband!!
florentina
February 13, 2019 at 12:03 amHi Savi, I use the canned organic coconut milk from Trader Joe’s, if you look at the ingredient list it should just say “coconut milk” nothing else. The tapioca is Anthony’s organic that I order in a two pound bag from amazon. Report back when you make this 🙂
Savi
February 17, 2019 at 3:59 amAbsolutely amazing!! My local grocery store didn’t have cashew milk so I used more canned coconut milk instead. I also used both sheets of pastry dough that came in the package and made two sections of cake with 3 layers of pastry and two layers of custard/cream each. My Russian husband said it tastes just like Napoleon cake he used to eat back home!! Yay! I will definitely be making this again!
Kris
April 18, 2019 at 2:17 amWhat’s the brand of the puff pastry?
Every puff pastry I seem to find has dairy in it.
florentina
April 20, 2019 at 6:43 pmI believe it is called Aussie bakery, I get it at Whole Foods usually and it says “Vegan” on the box.
Kenna
April 22, 2019 at 7:56 pmI was able to find vegan puff pastry at Walmart. I didn’t want to have to buy cashew milk so I did all coconut milk from a can (2 cups), and it was very coconutty. I like coconut flavor, but others do not, so they wouldn’t eat it. Not sure why I didn’t think it would taste like coconut when it’s almost entirely made of coconut milk. Does the cashew milk mask the coconut flavor? I was hoping for more of a vanilla custard flavor.
florentina
April 22, 2019 at 8:49 pmHi Kenna, yes that is why I like to use the cashew milk in combination with the coconut and the vanilla. You could even just do cashew milk if you wanted to, I like to combine the two for a more luscious custard as the coconut has a higher fat content.
Harriet
May 29, 2019 at 9:20 pmI just made the custard filling to use in a different recipe, the only sub I did was cornstarch instead of tapioca. Everyone who tried it LOVED it myself included. So glad to have this food back in my life after going vegan!! It’s even better after setting up in the fridge overnight, I just thinned it out with a tiny bit of cashew milk to make it easier to spread again. Thank you so much!!!
florentina
May 30, 2019 at 7:07 pmSo happy you love it Harriet. One of my most favorite desserts too, can’t beat a good custard that is cruelty-free! Xo’s ~ Florentina
June
June 10, 2019 at 12:20 amCan’t wait too make this. I know my company will love it