Turkish Baked Rice Pudding (Sütlaç) vs Mille-feuille: Classic French Custard and Puff Pastry

Both desserts rely on a vanilla-scented base of milk, sugar, cornstarch and egg yolk, yet they put it to very different use. In sütlaç, cornstarch and a single yolk thicken sweetened milk around tender simmered rice, giving a creamy, spoonable pudding whose top is browned under the broiler and finished, once chilled, with a sprinkle of cinnamon. The mille-feuille turns the same ingredients into a richer pastry cream with four yolks and butter, piped between crisp, golden puff pastry layers under a smooth icing-sugar glaze, contrasting silky filling with crunch.