Sweet Tooth Experiments

Tag Archives: choux pastry

Easy Gateau St Honore

Posted on Posted in France .

Easy Gateau St Honore

Easy Gateau St Honore recipe

Names after the French Patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs, the Gateau St Honore is another French beautiful pastry based dessert. Think crockenbush with a cookie dough base that is fixated together with beautiful toffee.

The cream puff filling adds the soft and fluffy texture, the choux pastry brings a moreish smoothness and the toffee provides a sweet crunch to the treat.

A great mix of texture and simple (but addictive) flavour.

I have modified this a little to make it easier and a little more appealing (I have piped the filling into the puffs and made a vanilla cream filling instead of crème chiboust). I’m not one to change traditional recipes but the crème chiboust is way too temperamental and to be honest will be difficult to master – unless you are a professional chef.

Easy Gateau St Honore recipe

Ingredients:

Pastry:

  • 1 cup flour
  • 4 tsn icing sugar
  • 50g butter
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 tbsn cold water

Choux Pastry:

  • 125g butter
  • 250ml water
  • 1 cup flour
  • 4 eggs

Toffee:

  • 1 + ½ cup sugar
  • 1 cup sugar

Crème:

  • 450ml-thickened cream
  • 90g icing sugar
  • 2 tsn vanilla essence

Method:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 200c degrees.
  2. Place flour, sugar and butter in a food processor and blitz until mix resembles fine bread crumbs.
  3. Add egg yolk and water and blitz until dough forms a ball.
  4. Roll dough in between 2 sheets of baking paper with a rolling bin until you have a 25cm round circle.
  5. Place dough in the fridge.
  6. On baking paper draw 15 x 4cm circles, 2cm apart.
  7. Place the butter and water in a saucepan on medium heat and stir until well combine.
  8. Add the flour to the water mix and whisk with a hand whisk until a ball is formed.
  9. Take off the heat and whisk in eggs, one at a time.
  10. Spoon mix into a piping bag and pipe the pastry into the circles.
  11. With the remaining pastry pipe a border around the biscuit base.
  12. Place in the oven for 10 minutes.
  13. Turn the heat down to 180c degrees and bake for a further 15 minutes.
  14. Using a knife pierce the balls and leave in the oven for a further 5 minutes to dry out.
  15. To make the toffee place the sugar and water in a saucepan on a high heat on the stove until the mix becomes lightly golden (this will take around 15 minutes).
  16. Using tongs dip all the puffs bar 3 into the toffee and place around the border of the base.
  17. With the remaining 3, roll in the toffee and place in the center of the pastry.
  18. Spoon the remaining toffee around the puff border, leave to cool.

 

Easy Gateau St Honore recipe

Step 2

Easy Gateau St Honore recipe
Step 6
Easy Gateau St Honore recipe

Step 8

Easy Gateau St Honore recipe
Step 9

Easy Gateau St Honore recipe

Step 10

Easy Gateau St Honore recipe

Step 11

Easy Gateau St Honore recipe

Step 14

Easy Gateau St Honore recipe
Step 15

 

Like this recipe? Subscribe via RSS or email to get my new entries and more scrumptious recipes with reviews.

Email, RSS Follow
Print

Almond Paris Brest

Posted on Posted in France .

Almond Paris Brest

Almond Paris Brest recipe

You will notice every now and then I dabble in traditional global sweet treats, where Italy, France and America tend to feature more often than not.

The latest traditional treat I have explored is the Almond Paris Brest. This beautifully elegant pastry treat is a French ring-shaped pastry that is filled with cream patisserie and sprinkled with almonds (or topped with an almond paste) and icing sugar.

The delicacy was created in 1891 by a pastry cook whose patisserie was positioned along the route of the bicycle race from Paris to Brest (hence the name).

This treat is a mix between a Profiterole and a Éclair, with an almond twist.

Elegant, tasty, rich and creamy this treat is satisfaction!

 

Ingredients:

Choux Pastry:

  • 125g butter
  • 250ml water
  • 150g flour
  • 2 tbsn sugar
  • 4 eggs

Almond Paste:

  • 130g flour
  • 90g butter
  • 70g sugar
  • 40g almond meal

Crème Patisserie:

  • 750ml milk
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 160g sugar
  • 55g corn flour
  • 1 tsn vanilla essence

 

Method:

  1. Pre heat the oven to 200c degrees and line a large baking tray with baking paper.
  2. Draw 14 x 5cm circles on the paper allowing for 2 cm apart.
  3. Melt butter and water in a saucepan on medium heat on the stove. Bring to the boil.
  4. Remove off heat and add the flour and sugar, stirring until a ball is formed.
  5. Return to a low heat and cook for 1 minute.
  6. Place the dough into a bowl and add the eggs one at a time, using a hand whisk, beating until the mix is smooth and glossy.
  7. Place the pastry into a piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm star nozzle.
  8. Pipe a 5cm ring around the drawn circles as a guide.
  9. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, reduce the temperature to 180c degrees and bake for a further 15 minutes until puffed and slightly golden.
  10. Cut the puffs in half horizontally and place in the oven turned off for 2 minutes to dry out.
  11. In a bowl mix all the almond paste ingredients and once combine kneed for a minute until smooth and pliable.
  12. Place the paste in between 2 sheets of paper and using a rolling pin flatten to 3mm thick.
  13. Cut 5cm rounds out of the paste (I used a 5cm cookie cutter) and place the circles on top of the pastry rings.
  14. Place the rings on the top half of all the pastries and place back in the oven for 8 minutes or until golden, leave aside to cool.
  15. To make the crème patisserie, place the milk into a saucepan on high heat and heat until boiling.
  16. In another bowl add remaining ingredients and whisk with a hand whisk until the egg mix is well combine.
  17. Still whisking, pour the boiling milk into the egg mix until well combine.
  18. Place the mix back on the heat in the saucepan on low heat until boiling and thickened. Set aside to cool.
  19. Once the crème patisseries has cooled place in a piping bag and pipe the mix on all the remaining pastries halves (that do not have the paste).
  20. Once the mix is used up place the pastry top with the almond mix almont side up on the crème.
  21. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

 

Almond Paris Brest recipe

Step 5

Almond Paris Brest recipe

Ste 6

Almond Paris Brest recipe

Step 8

Almond Paris Brest recipe

Step 9

Almond Paris Brest recipe

Step 12

Almond Paris Brest recipe

Step 14

Almond Paris Brest recipe

Step 15

Almond Paris Brest recipe

Step 16

Almond Paris Brest recipe

Step 19

Almond Paris Brest recipe

Step 20

 

Like this recipe? Subscribe via RSS or email to get my new entries and more scrumptious recipes with reviews.

 

Email, RSS Follow
Print

Profiteroles

Posted on Posted in France, Traditional .

 

Profiteroles

Profiteroles

 

I promise you Choux pastry is not hard at all! My custard filling recipe is much lower in fat and can be done in the microwave in seconds!

This is definitely an impressive traditional French sweet treat that I have made a little healthier. Traditionally these are filled with whipped cream, ice-cream or pastry cream.

These are the little gems that create the famous (thanks Masterchef) Croquembouche.

 

Ingredients:

Pastry

  • 1 cup water
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 1 cup plain flour
  • 2 tbs white sugar
  • ¼ tsn salt
  • 4 eggs

Custard

  • 1 cup skim milk
  • 6 tbsn custard powder
  • 6 tbsn white sugar

Chocolate top

  • 200g dark chocolate
  • 50g butter

 

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 200c.
  2. Bring the water and butter to the boil in a saucepan on the stove to a medium heat. Once at a boil add the flour, sugar and salt stirring with a wooden spoon for 5 minutes or until the mix comes away from the side of the pan.
  3. Take off the heat, wait 5 minutes and beat the eggs in one at a time. The mix will now resemble dough.
  4. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
  5. Using a piping bag with a large tip pipe 16 puffs in the size of golf balls leaving 5 cm apart on the 2 trays.
  6. Place the 2 trays in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
  7. Decrease the oven temperature down to 190c and bake for a further 20 minutes until the pastry is golden and all puffed up.
  8. Turn off the oven. With a knife cut a slit I the top of each puff and leave them in the oven to dry out for 10 minutes. Following place on a cooling rack to cool.
  9. To prepare the custard place all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl. Whisk well.
  10. Microwave for 2 minutes on high, then whisk. Cook for a further 30 seconds and whisk. Repeat until the custard is super thick and glossy. Leave to cool. The custard should be thick enough to easily hold its shape.
  11. With another piping bag and a medium star tip fill with the cooled custard.
  12. Pipe the custard into each puff.
  13. Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl until bubbling. Add in the chocolate, microwave for 30 seconds. Stir with a metal spoon until thick and glossy.
  14. Dip the puff into the chocolate topping and set aside to harden up prior to serving.

Notes:

  • This is quite impressive but does take a while to work through each of the processes.

 

Like this recipe? Subscribe via RSS or email to get my new entries and more scrumptious recipes with reviews.

 

Email, RSS Follow
Print