Saint Honoré with light vanilla crème pâtissière

Mister frog had his birthday a few days ago! Saint honoré is it's favorite!

It is a very classic & traditional french pastry !
I skipped the round puff crown that usually goes on the pastry & under the puffs. I also added beaten egg whites to the crème pâtissière to make it lighter & fluffier. In fact, this is my version of that savorous & very chic dessert.
Believe me : you're going to love it as much as we do !!

Yields : 6

Here's what we need :

11 inches diameter puff pastry (homemade or not)

For 18 medium size puffs : 8cl water, 1 small teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, 75g butter, 100g flour, 3 eggs

For the light vanilla crème pâtissière : 2 vanilla pods, 30g cornstarch, 80g sugar, 35cl all milk, 4 egg yolks, 35g butter at room temperature, 2 egg whites.

For the caramel : 5cl water, 50g sugar



here's what we do :

First preheat the oven at 356°F

lay your puff pastry on a nonstick flat pan such as pizza pan, cover with a greaseproof paper & with raw beans so your pastry won't swell to much, we want it to stay a bit flat.

bake for 15/20 minutes. Put aside.

Meanwhile we can start with the puffs :

First pour water & milk in a saucepan with salt, sugar & butter. Bring to a boil whisking constantly with a spatula.

Add flour at once, whisk thoroughly until smooth & homogenous.

When it doesn't stick anymore to the saucepan, go on whisking for 2/3 minutes to dry a little.

Place the dough In a large bowl & add eggs one by one whisking carefully until homogenous.

Pour the dough in a piping bag & form nice medium puffs on a greaseproof paper. Bake for 15 minutes at 356°F until golden brown.

Let's make the crème :

Cut the vanilla pods lenghtwise & scratch the inside with a knife.

In a saucepan pour the milk, cornstarch & half the sugar, whisk & add the vanilla pods & seeds. Bring to a boil whisking constantly.

I na large bowl, beat egg yolks with the remaining sugar for 3 minutes, add a little hot milk still beating.

Put back in saucepan on medium low heat beating constantly until boiling. Put aside immediately, wait until it cools down (122°F) & add butter whisking vigorously. Put aside until cold.

Beat the 2 egg whites until very firm & add carefully to the vanilla "crème pâtissière".

With a piping bag make a small hole on the back of puffs and fill them with vanilla crème.

In a saucepan on medium heat pour water & sugar to make the caramel. Avoid touching with a spatula & allow to gently caramelize by itself until golden.

Pour one side of the puffs in caramel (beware your fingers, it is extremely painfull!!) & stick them around the pastry vertically.

Spray the vanilla light crème all over the center of the pastry & arrange remainning filled puffs on it.

                                                                                                                                   relax, savour & share!

 

Julia & Julia apron

Isn't that the perfect apron !!!
I know girls....Life is unfair !! But I'm not selling it or giving it away...Sorry !!!

No yeast light waffles

This recipe is from "le larousse des desserts" by Pierre Hermé, a very famous french baker. He is considered one of the best if not The Best...
What is amazing about these waffles is the method : we're going to make puff dough & by magic it'll transform in fluffy light delicious waffles! isn't that brilliant !
You can eat them either with jam, maple syrup, nutella, chocolate sauce or scrumbles eggs & bacon...They're perfect any choice you make!

Yields : 8

Here's what we need :

5cl whipping cream, 20cl all milk, 2g salt, 75g flour, 30g sugar, 3 eggs.

Here's what we do :

In a sauce pan, boil the whipping cream & half milk, put aside until cold.




In a 2nd saucepan, boil the remaining milk with salt.

Add flour & butter  continiously mixing with a spatula.     

Cook 2 to 3 minutes to dry on medium heat.

Pour the mixture in a large bowl, add eggs one by one, then the cream & milk.

Mix & allow to cool down.

You're ready to make delicious waffles.
                                                                                                                                   relax, savour & share!

Big french hazelnut macarons gianduja cream cake

Oups! I did it again!
I know I'm obsessed with gianduja and... I love it...

At first the idea was to bake classic macarons (using hazelnuts instead of almonds) but the mixture came out too liquid (probably the egg whites weren't stiff enough) So, I pulled out my lovely small cake moulds & poured the batter in.
Believe it or not, the result was far beyond my wish!
It is such a chewy moist cake with a crunchy crunch top and a delicious hazelnut taste.
The gianduja "chantilly" takes you to the 7th sky!
So let's go...

Yields : 4 4'33 inches round cake moulds, 2 cakes, 8 greedies

Here's what we need :

Hazelnut macarons cake :180g powdered hazelnuts, 180g icing sugar, 4 egg whites, 170g sugar
Gianduja whipped cream : 20cl whipping cream, 150g gianduja (recipe here)

Here's what we do :

Sift powdered hazelnuts & icing sugar.

In a large bowl, mix 2 egg whites with hazelnuts & icing sugar until well combined.

In a saucepan, melt sugar in 5cl water on medium heat until syrupy.

beat the 2 remaining egg whites, pour the syrup simultaneously, (you're making an Italian meringue !!)

Add this meringue carefully to hazelnuts mixture.

Pour the mixture in 4 round cake moulds, allow to dry for 1 hour (at least 30 minutes)

Preheat oven at 356°F

Bake for 15 minutes

In a saucepan, heat the whipping cream & add the gianduja. Put aside in fridge (the cream must be chilled before whipping)

Spray the chantilly on one macaron cake & cover with the 2nd.

                                                                                                                                   relax, savour & share!

Crumpet with cardamom

Crumpet !!
A funny word, isn't it ?

It probably comes from an old breton word krampoez meaning "thin flat cakes" and welsh crempog witch was a type of pancake.
Anyway, it's texture & taste have nothing to do with the lovely spongy & soft speciality.
Crumpet is rather a small rounded bread covered with holes made by adding extra baking powder to the yeast dough.
So, ladies & gentlemen, let's welcome a bit of the British Spirit in our homes !

yields : 10

here's what we need :

225g flour, 175ml warm water, 175ml warm milk, 12g fresh yeast, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon powdered cardamom, ring moulds & a frying pan.

here's what we do :

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, yeast, warm milk & warm water to obtain a cream like dough.

Cover with a plastic film & put in a warm place for 1 hour (it must make bubbles).

Add salt, baking powder & cardamom.

Put the frying pan on medium heat with a little oil.

When the pan is hot, grease the mould with oil & put them in the frying pan. Use a tablespoon to help you pour the dough into the moulds. After a few minutes holes are going to formed on the surface of the crumpets.
Once cooked underneath, flip over & cook until the top is a nice golden color.
                                                                                                                                   relax, savour & share!

Amaretto poached pears gianduja tart

If you thought we were done with gianduja, well...No !! Now it's time to have baking fun with it. In this recipe you will taste how Amaretto, pears & gianduja go together so deliciously, and how a buttery crispy puff pastry makes a perfect nest.

By the way, Amaretto is a wonderful sweet italian almond liquor.

yields : 6

here's what we need :

2 1/2 hours
3 pears, 1 lemon juice, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 star anise, 100g brown sugar, 10cl amaretto, 50cl water, puff pastry (homemade if possible), 160g gianduja (here), 5cl whipping cream.

here's what we do :

Peal the pears, divide them in 2 by the middle & put in lemon juice (so they won't oxidize).

Pour water with brown sugar, cinnamon stick, amaretto & star anise in a saucepan, heat until a boil then add pears, poach on low-medium heat until they're soft & translucent.
Take the pears out & put aside in fridge for 2 hours.

Preheat your oven at 302°F
Spread your puff pastry with a rolling pin & lay it down on a round pie pan. Prick pastry all over with a fork.
Bake for 20 minutes. Allow to cool down.

heat the whipping cream in a saucepan, add the gianduja & whisk.
Spread the gianduja "ganache" on pastry.

Cut the pears into thin slices & lay them down on the gianduja ganache.
                                                                                                                                   relax, savour & share!

Wordless post for Japan

Gianduja

What is this??
It's a dream comes true!

Once upon a time, an italian greedy angel who lived in piemont, THE land of hazelnuts, woke up on a sunny morning surrounded by his beloved nuts, asking himself how to sublimate them. Suddenly he remembered his dream. A dream in which he invented a dessert to celebrate the woman he's loved all his life. she was a milk chocolate addict...

here's what he dreamed of :

250g hazelnuts, 100g high quality milk chocolate, 30g cocoa butter, 250g icing sugar

here's what he did :

First he roasted the hazelnuts in his oven at 302°F for 10 minutes, until they got the nice color of amber
he waited a few minutes and peeled them.

He coarsely chopped the chocolate and put it on a "bain marie" with the cacao butter to melt.

then he finely ground the nuts with icing sugar to make a paste and add the melted chocolate

 GIANDUJA was born !
(actually, I made up this story, I wanted something romantic to illustrate that oustanding recipe)


                                                                                                                                   relax, savour & share!

Sabayon with mango

Sabayon has always been scary to me! It was like mastering the art of magic...But, my greedy curiosity for that gorgious italian dessert wouln't allow me to escape the challenge any longer! isn't the first move the hardest to make? Well, it's done...and was a great success! So, don't hesitate...

The original recipe used grapefruits, I switched for mango....D.E.L.I.R.I.C.I.O.U.S !!!!

yelds : 6 small plates

here's what we need :

1 mango, 3 tablespoons icing sugar, 3 eggs, 60g sugar + 2 tablespoons, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 10cl marsala wine, 3 drops almond extract, 20cl whipping cold cream.

here's what we do :

Divide egg yoks & whites
In a large bowl, mix egg yolks with 60g sugar & cornstarch
Put the bowl on a "bain marie" over medium heat & whisk for 3 minutes, it must be fluffy & double up
Out of heat, add marsala & almond extract & whisk for 3 more minutes
Set aside in fridge.

In a second bowl, whisk cold whipping cream with 2 tablespoons sugar until you have a lovely "chantilly"
Incorporate to the sabayon.

Peel & cut mango into slices & arrange in the plates
Pour the sabayon, sprinkle with icing sugar
put plates under oven grill for 2 minutes.
                                                                                                                                   relax, savour & share!

1st blog award

My first blog award !! Do you believe this ? I didn'd...Although it enlighted my day !
I was just cheking on comments....And....What....What is this ? Cristina, the gifted cook of pinay in texas cooking corner gave me the most encouraging gift !!! I started to dance around, jumping all over the place. Thank you Cristina, it is a great honour to be part of your favorite blogs !
there are few rules to fallow:

1/ thank & make a link to the blogger who shared award with you
2/ share 7 things about yourself (that's the hard part)
3/ pass the award to 10 recently discovered bloggers
4/ contat each blogger to tell them

here we are, this is 2nd rule time :

I'm a french woman, from Paris, I've chosen to write in english just for fun and...well..hard to say for a french girl but american, english, australian food blogs are far more attractive than my compatriot's.
I've called my blog "a frog in the cottage" because english people call us frogs, dont they?
it is only fair, as we call them roastbeef!


here are 10 bloggers I've discovered recently and wish you enjoy as much as I do ;

a southern grace
almost bourdain
anna's table
food for every season
green been food
rosa's yummy yums
bitter sweet
memories in the baking
valérie cuisine
au fil de mes rêves d'amour

Fluffy cinnemon pancakes

Pancakes are all over foodie blogs this week. Well...when I decided to make some last sunday for breakfast I didn't know it was pancake week !!! I believe my greedy belly knew & gave the information to my brain...Those are classic ones except for the cinnemon touch & beaten egg whites that make them puffy fluffy yum !!

yelds : 8 to 14 (depends on their size)

here's what we need :

250g flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 75g brown sugar, 1 pinch of salt, 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons cinnemon, 50g melted butter, 40cl whole milk.

here's what we do :

Mix flour & baking powder in a large bowl, add sugar, cinnemon & salt.

Make a well, add egg yolks, melted butter & milk. Whisk thoroughly.

Beat egg whites until stiff, with nice peaks. Add to the batter carefully.


bake pancakes on medium eat 2/3 minutes on each side. Enjoy with maple syrop, jam, whipped cream, fruits...
                                                                                                                                   relax, savour & share!