Gâteau Saint-Honoré

This is a challenging pastry and I hesitated a lot before diving into it. Challenging not because it’s very complicated but because it is composed of multiple smaller pastry challenges. It consists of a base of pâte feuilletée (puff pastry) topped with a ring of choux a la creme (cream puffs) that are dipped in a caramel coating prior to being placed on the base. The caramel is also used at the bottom of the puffs to glue them to the base. The center of the ring is then filled with crème pâtissière (pastry cream) lightened with beaten egg whites or whipped cream (I chose the whipped cream version).

It all started when I was deciding on a cake to make for my daughter’s birthday. I pre-selected 4 sophisticated cakes and I asked my husband which one he thought I should make. He looked at all of them and said « I am so ashamed, how can you make a simple cake when she made you an exquisite Black Forest and a Mille Feuilles using home made puff pastry! »

So I needed a bigger challenge, not that I wanted to compete with my daughter, but I suspect my husband had a secret agenda behind his comment (I mean, who else would benefit from a baking challenge between me and my daughter!)… So why is this cake challenging? It’s made of multiple elements each requiring a certain level of mastering in its own way :1) puff pastry for the cake base, 2) choux pastry, 3) pastry cream, 4) caramel, 5) wipped cream.

Above all, it requires a lot of time and, therefore, a flawless plan. I think I spent more time than I should have during the assembly and decoration. I am planning to make it again soon to improve on the steps that I haven’t done well. By the way, I bought a frozen pastry one day before and kept it in the fridge to slowly thaw. 

So here is how I planned and made this recipe:

In the morning: 2 hours

1. Make the choux pastry 
2. Bake the puff pastry and the choux 
3. Make the pastry cream 
4. Let everything cool

In the afternoon : 2 hours

1. Make the whipped cream 
2. Fill the choux 
3. Make the caramel 
4. Assemble and decorate

Ingredients

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (1/2 Lb), thawed
1 whole egg mixed with 1 teaspoon water (for the egg wash)

Choux pastry

1 cup water

1 cup sifted flour

½ cup unsalted butter cut into pieces

1 tablespoon sugar

1 pinch of salt

4 eggs

Crème pâtissière (pastry cream)

2 cups whole milk

¼ cup sugar

4 egg yolks

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 vanilla pod

2 tablespoons rum

1 teaspoon instant coffee powder dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

Crème Chantilly (Chantilly cream)

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

  

Caramel 

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Tools :

A piping bag, stand mixer or hand mixer.

Directions

Making and baking the Cake base and Choux pastry

1. Puff Pastry base- Roll out the puff pastry to a ¼ in thick and cut a 9-10 in diameter circle using a pan or tart pan bottom. Prick the dough with a fork. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. This will prevent the dough from shrinking too much during cooking.
2. Choux pastry- bring to a boil the milk, water, salt and butter in a saucepan.
3. Remove from heat and add 1 cup flour. Stir vigorously until a thin film forms on bottom and the dough leaves the sides of pan, about 2-3 minutes. It should form a ball.
4. Transfer to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and turn it on to cool down the dough. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well before each addition. The pastry should be smooth, shiny and firm, so before adding the last egg check it out, you may need to add only ½ egg. Note: this step can be done by hand. Just transfer the dough from the saucepan to a clean cold bowl and follow the same instructions.
5. Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
6. Remove the puff pastry from the fridge.
7. Scoop the choux pastry into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle 1/2" tip or a plastic bag with 1/2" cut diagonally from 1 corner. I used Ziploc bags, it worked well for me and I didn’t have any cleaning to do.
8. Pipe a string of choux pastry on the edge of the puff pastry circle, about 1/8 in from the edge (the choux ring will puff and expand).
9. With remaining choux pastry, pipe 1 1/2" diameter buns onto the parchment-lined sheet.
10. Lightly brush the pastry base and each choux bun with egg wash and bake in the middle shelf until puffy and golden for about 30-35 minutes. Turn the oven off and let them dry in the oven for another 10 minutes. Leave to cool.

Making the crème pâtissière (pastry cream)

1. Bring to a boil the milk and the vanilla pod cut lengthwise. I did it in the microwave but you can do it on the stove in a saucepan.
2. In a bowl whisk the egg yolks and the sugar until pale yellow and fluffy. Add the flour and cornstarch and stir until well blended.
3. Gradually pour in the hot milk. Return to the saucepan over medium heat and cook, whisking constantly until thick, about 2-3 minutes. Do not let the cream stick to the bottom of the saucepan. Remove from heat. Add the rum and whisk.
4. Stir in the coffee mixture in one bowl.
5. Cover both bowl with plastic wrap and press against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Transfer to the fridge to chill.

Filling the choux buns

1. Freeze the heavy cream 15 minutes.
2. Cut a small hole at the bottom of the choux buns with a small knife. Set aside.
3. Make Chantilly cream : whisk the cream with sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer to stiff peaks.
4. Fold in 1/4 of the Chantilly cream to the coffee pastry cream and 1/4 to the vanilla and rum pastry cream. Refrigerate the remaining cream.
5. Scoop the vanilla and rum cream in to a piping bag with a small diameter nozzle and fill half the choux buns and place on the baking sheet line with parchment paper. Fill the remaining choux buns with the coffee cream.
6. Make the caramel: Heat the water and sugar in a heavy-based pan until slightly golden (the temperature reaches 340°F). Dip base of pan into iced water for a couple of seconds to stop caramel from cooking.
7. Quickly and carefully, dip top of each choux into the caramel, and place coated side down on the parchement paper to flatten the surface. Note: if the caramel starts to set, place the pan over a bain-marie (hot water bath) to soften it.
8. Use remaining caramel to make decoration (heat it a little to soften if you need to)- put a pan line with parchment paper next to the caramel saucepan. Scoop up some caramel with a spoon or fork and drizzle on the pan in whatever shape you like and can do. I tried to make spirals, but ended up having lots of puddles glued to each others.

Assembling the cake

1. Dip the base of one bun into the hot caramel and place it on the choux paste ring. The caramel is used as glue.
2. Repeat the step above alternating between vanilla and rum cream choux and coffee choux.
3. Fill the centre of the cake with the remaining pastry cream.
4. Add more choux buns in the middle of the cake.
5. Pipe whipped cream rosettes between choux buns, and decorate with strawberries (or any colorful fruits) and the caramel decorations.

Quick and Easy Almond Cookies

These lemon flavoured cookies are to die for. Quick, easy and sooo delicious! And did I forget to say they're gluten-free and dairy-free? 

My mother used to be well known for her exquisite baking. In her time there were very few caterers, so family and friends would ask her to bake for them for various occasions,  particularly for weddings. She would always do it gladly and for free of course. I am talking about making hundreds of pieces, which would take hours to make, something I will never be able to do!
I combined 2 of her recipes to create this simple and quick one. It took me literally 1/2 hour to come up with 24 pieces.

They are just perfect for that late night cookie craving!

Makes 22-24 cookies.

Ingredients
2 cups almond meal
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 egg whites
Zest of 1 lemon

Decoration
1/3 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup almond slivers

Tools: food processor or hand mixer

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Mix the almond meal, sugar, egg whites and lemon zest in a food processor or using a hand mixer. The dough should be sticky.
3. Using 2 teaspoons, form small balls.
4. Roll them in the almond slivers then in the icing sugar.
5. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
6. Bake around 15 minutes until slightly golden on the edges.
7. Try not to eat all of them at once!

Swiss Chard Bourek

This is the North-African version of spanakopita with swiss chard, in which I substituted Emmental cheese with feta cheese. I find it is creamier and goes best with the earthy flavour of the swiss chard.
I already posted a bourek (meat filled) recipe with filo pastry and meat filling.

For 20 boureks
Ingredients
1 bunch swiss chard (stems removed) washed, chopped and blanched
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
1 small onion chopped
3-4 garlic cloves crushed (or less to taste)
3 eggs
Salt, pepper
Pinch nutmeg
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (optional)
1.5 cup feta, crumbled
10 (17- by 12-inch) phyllo pastry sheets, thawed if frozen.
Lemon wedges for serving

Directions

The filling

1. Sauté the onion with 2 Tbs olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat until translucent, around 10 minutes.
2. Add the crushed garlic , salt and spices and saute for another minute. Be careful not to let the garlic burn.
3. Add the 2 Tbs olive oil. Squeeze the swiss chard from excess of water and chop. Add to the pan. Season with the nutmeg, salt and pepper and continue cooking around 10 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed, stirring from time to time.
4. Combine the eggs,  parsley and cheese and add to the pan.  Mix and cook until just set.
5. Remove from heat and let cool. This step is very important.

Assembling

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave.
3. Before you start : the Phyllo sheets need to be kept covered at all times with a damp towel. Have it ready for use. 
4. Take 10 phyllo pastry sheets from the pack and arrange in front of you with a long side nearest you. Cut the sheets in two, crosswise. We we will use ½ phyllo sheet per bourek/triangle. Cover with a damp kitchen towel. 
5. Take one piece and brush it lightly with the melted butter. Put a tablespoon of filling in the center, about 1-inch from the edge of the sheet near you; wrap the filling by folding the two phyllo edges over. You obtain a rectangle. Brush with butter. Fold one corner diagonally over  to form a triangle; continue folding to the left then to the right, like a flag, keeping the triangle shape. Moisten the edge to seal it.
6. Brush the top with butter and set on a baking sheet, seam side down. Repeat step 5 with the remaining filling.
7. Bake triangles in middle of oven until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.
8. Serve hot with lemon wedges.

 

Note:You can make the filling ahead of time and keep it in the fridge.

Vegetarian Stuffed Red Peppers

These peppers are stuffed with rice, grated potatoes and cheese, and topped with a seasoned tomato sauce.

This is my mother's recipe, which is my husband's favorite since he loves potatoes and doesn't like meat too much. Usually I make it in the oven, mostly in summer time, but I wanted to try my new slowcooker (this is my third recipe using it). I prepared them in the morning and let them cook for 6.5 hours. It was torture all day: the aroma of the potatoes and cheese and tomato filled the whole house. It was very difficult to wait until they were done.

I had only 4 peppers in my fridge so I added 2 potatoes. The ingredients are simple: you can use both rice and potatoes or just one or the other.

I like to char the peppers to give them that smoky flavour, but you can skip this step, if you wish.

Ingredients
4 large red peppers (tops and seeds removed)
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons butter
Olive oil to drizzle

Stuffing:
2 medium grated potatoes
1 ½ cup cooked rice
1 egg
2 garlic cloves
Salt & pepper
2 cups tomato sauce
1 tablespoon chopped parsley if available
1 cup grated cheese (emmenthal or Jarlsberg)

Directions

1. Char the peppers on the BBQ or in the oven broiler just enough to give them a smoky flavour, turning them once or twice during roasting. The whole process should take no more than 10 minutes. The longer they roast the softer they get: you do not want that to happen. The peppers should stay firm. Set aside
   
2. In a big bowl, mix 1 tbsp of butter with the rice still warm. Add the grated potatoes, crushed garlic cloves, egg, parsley and cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Blend well.
3. Generously butter the bottom and side of the slow cooker.
4. Divide the filling among the peppers
5. Place the peppers in the slow cooker. Add a round 1/2 tsp butter on top of each pepper.
6. Pour tomato sauce around the peppers. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil.
7. Cover and cook on low for 6.5 hours.

See how beautiful it is when it's cooking!




Bon Appetit!