Rough puff

 Apple tart version
Apple tart version

With the terrible weather on Saturday, I thought it was a good occasion to work and cook. And for cooking, I was thinking of making something that I usually don’t have time to do when the weather is nice and we spend most our time outdoor gardening or playing tennis or swimming. My objective was to make puff pastry.  Since I have never really made puff pastry (only a version for pain au chocolat, with yeast…) I decided first to browse a few recipes, before deciding what to do, and that’s how I found a recipe of “rough puff” on by Clotilde Dusoulier on her blog Chocolate and Zucchini, a quick version of the real puff pastry, that doesn’t require to insert the butter layer by layer and to be rolled every hour or so. This version only require one hour in the fridge. The layering is done before. Since I had to work and I am always looking for sustainable recipes that I can repeat easily, trying rough puff was a must for me! So instead of classic puff pastry, here I am trying this new recipe. Of course I slightly changed the proportions because I like it less buttery, I used only 100g of butter but may be 115g would have been good for a more golden finish. I use soya milk instead of water or milk. Contrarily to what announced it gave me much more pastry that expected so I made an apple tart, two half moon apple pues and with the rest a bowl of sesame crackers. Making the pastry was really easy and it was really quick (quicker is better because the butter need to stay cold and hard). The pastry was indeed puffy, but not as much as a regar puff pastry, as expected. The taste and crispiness was great. For the sweet version I would have definitely add a bit of sugar. May be it’s because I use nothing but apples without sugar nor flavoring. The sesame salty crackers were addictive (top picture)!!! A great recipe that needs a little improvement to fit my taste but so easy to make that I will use it againand again!!!

Eclair ⚡️

With this horrible rainy and cold Saturday there was nothing else to do than cook some sweets and drink hot tea. After browsing a few recipes of things I wanted to cook, the unanimous choice was chocolate eclairs! And here I am in my kitchen, preparing pate a chou and custard. Of course chocolate eclair is not just enough so I also prepared two other variations: macha and chai. Each was just perfectly delicious. So here is my recipe. Eclairs consist in three preparations: the pate a chou, the custard and the coating.

For the pate a chou:

10cl of water; 10cl of milk; 3 eggs; 70g of butter; 110g of flour; a bit of salt and a tea spoon of sugar. 

In a pan heat the milk and the water. Add the butter, the sugar and the salt. When the butter has melted add the flour all at once and stir well. Continue cooking and stirring until the dough is smooth and doesn’t stick. Cool down a bit and add one egg. Stir until the dough is smooth again. Add the second egg and do the same and then the third egg and repeat again.

Pre-heat your oven at 180 deg. Use a pipping bag to shape the eclairs. Remember they will double almost size so tiny is better. Cook for 25 to 30 minutes.  

For the custard: 

30g of flour; 50g of sugar; 2 egg yolks; 25cl of milk.

In a pan heat the milk. In a bowl mix the eggs with the sugat, add the flour all at once and mix well. Add half ofthe  milk and stir well. Add the mix to ghe rest of the milk in the pan and cook at low heat while stirring for 5min, or until it thickens. Add the flavoring of your choice: cacao powder (2 tbs); macha powder (1tsp); chai spices: cardamom, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg… up to your liking. I personally like it with a lot of cardamom.

Cut the eclairs from the previous step in halves and fill with the custard. 

For the coating: 

I didn’t use the usual butter cream but rather a simple sugar coating made with ice sugar, water and macha or cacao powder for the coloring.  Add water little by little to obtain a rather thick mix, and apply with a spoon.

Keep refrigerated. 

Choux

Instead of the traditional strawberry tart for A.’s birthday, I decided to make choux. It’s not something I’m very found of because ot often goes with cream or filling Idon’t like too much, but A. likes them very much. It’s actually very simple to make and with just an ice-sugar frosting it’s really delicious. It was my first time making some so they were a bit too big to my taste but taste-wise it was perfect! Recipe soon to come!

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