Tag:

pastrylife

Choux Pastry (Eclairs and Puffs)Desserts

Paris Brest with Pistachio Praline Creme Patissiere Filling

by koalifiedbaking May 5, 2019May 5, 2019

This Paris Brest with Pistachio Praline Creme Patisserie Filling is a classic French dessert that’s made to impress – it has a airy choux pastry with a smooth, nutty pastry cream filling. For this version, I made my own pistachio praline (it’s easy, I promise!) and topped my choux with pearl sugar for some extra crunch. The fun fact about Paris Brest: it was created by chef Louis Durand in 1910 to celebrate a bicycle race from Paris to Brest with a traditional hazelnut praline cream filling. Its circular is to mimic the shape of the wheels.

I have written a detailed guide to making the perfect choux pastry for my charcoal black sesame cream puff – please refer to it if you feel like some extra help!

Hello my old friends, I AM BACK. If you’re here for the first time, welcome. This come back post means the world to me. Away from this blog for over 8 months, I have decided to come back and write about food and life. Over the past 10 months, I had been working as a junior pastry chef at a local bakery in Sydney. However hard it is to admit, I was constantly preoccupied with working in big commercial kitchens, and I gradually lost interest in pastry myself. Although I did gain a lot of skills and techniques at work (which I am incredibly grateful for), I felt stuck and I was mentally & physically exhausted; I lived like a zombie without purpose.

Good news is, my full-time work placement has come to an end lately, and I have some time to sit down and organise my thoughts. I’ve come to realise what I want for my career – I want to teach people how to make desserts, overcome their fears in the kitchen and essentially bring positive influence to the world through food.

A little secret: Starting my own cake business and Youtube Channel has been my goal for quite some time, but somehow I constantly let self-doubt got the best of me. There’re millions of talented pastry chefs out there, and I realised my fear of failing had been my biggest obstacle. A friend of mine recently reminded me that EVERYONE FAILS at some point in their life, and it’s merely part of the process to be successful. It’s time to set aside all my worries and just start doing it. What I am going to gain in the coming months is totally unknown, but I hope to experiment as much as I can, fail as much as I need to, and just grow as I go. And I hope you all will here to witness and be part of my journey. 🙂

Ingredients:

Choux Pastry

200g water
200g milk
8g sugar
8g salt
180g unsalted butter
220g all purpose flour
400g eggs

Pastry Cream

450ml milk + 50ml milk
1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
100g egg yolk
100g caster sugar
60g corn flour
40g unsalted butter

Pistachio Praline

1 cup pistachio
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water

Instructions:

Choux pastry

Preheat oven to 220C. Prepare a baking tray sprayed with cooking oil. Remove excess oil with a tissue paper. Set aside.
Bring water, milk, salt, butter and sugar in a saucepan to a boil.
Turn off heat, add all purpose flour all at once.
Turn back on the stove to low heat, keep cooking while vigorously stirring with a big spoon for around 2-3 mins. It is ready when it forms a shiny, smooth dough that pulls away from the sides of the saucepan. You should see a skin forming at the bottom of the pan.
Transfer the dough into a mixing bowl, and use paddle to beat on medium-high speed for around 10 mins to let cool. Meanwhile, fully beat the eggs in a measuring cup and set aside.
When the dough is cool to touch, beat the dough on medium-high speed and slowly add the eggs (only add around ¼ of the egg mixture each time). When the mixture is well combined and the eggs have been incorporated, add gradually another batch of the eggs mixture and continue beating. Repeat the process until the mixture is thick, shiny and it falls nicely when you lift it up with a scraper. (The amount of egg that you add will vary, depending on the weather or how much the flour absorbs moisture. You might have to add extra egg, or you might have some eggs to hold back.)
Transfer the mixture into a piping bag topped with a star nozzle. Massage the bag with your hand to remove any air bubbles. Hold the bag and nozzle perpendicularly to the prepared tray, and pipe rounds of the desired size. Leave at least 4 cm in between each choux to allow space for expansion. Sprinkle chopped pistachio and pearl sugar on top if desired.
Bake at 220C for 15 mins until risen up and golden. Lower the temperature to 160C, and open the oven door to release the steam for 15 seconds. Close the oven door and continue baking for 10-15 mins until the choux feels firm and dry.
Place the choux in another tray to cool for 10 mins.
Cut the top of the choux with a serrated knife, as the “cap” of the Paris brest. Do this step once your choux is cooled and firm enough to cut as it helps the moisture trapped inside to escape and prevent the choux from becoming soggy.
Leave them at room temperature until ready to assemble.

Pastry Cream

Put 450ml milk and vanilla bean paste in a sauce pan and bring to boil.
While milk is being heated, add the remaining 50ml milk, egg yolks, caster sugar, corn flour in a mixing bowl, and mix with a whisk until a smooth paste is formed.
As soon as the milk starts to bubble, pour 2/3 of the milk, while continuously whisking, to the egg mix to temper the egg mix, then pour everything back to the sauce pan.
While whisking vigorously, heat the custard base over medium heat until it starts to thicken. Turn off the heat when the custard comes to a boil and starts to bubble. This should take around 2 mins.
Remove from heat, and whisk in the butter until completely incorporated.
Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and cover the surface with plastic cling wrap (to prevent the formation of skin on the surface). Set aside in fridge until ready to use.

Pistachio praline

Line a baking tray with parchment paper, and spread pistachio evenly in a single layer on it. Set aside.
Put sugar and water in a small sauce pan on medium-high heat. Mix with a spatula to ensure no sugar lumps are stuck at the bottom. Boil the syrup over high heat without any stirring until it reaches a golden amber colour. (To avoid crystallisation of sugar, run a wet pastry brush around the inside of the pot once in a while)
Immediately pour the hot syrup (It’s extremely hot, be careful) over the pistachio. Set aside for 15-20mins for the caramel to set.
Break into small pieces and put in a food processor. Process the praline to a coarse crumb. Store in airtight container.

Assembly:
To prepare the pistachio praline pastry cream, beat 500g pastry cream with a paddle on low speed until smooth, and add 50g pistachio praline. Mix until incorporated. To assemble, pipe cream in circular motion onto the base of the choux pastry and top it gently.

May 5, 2019May 5, 2019 5 comments

Desserts Recipes

Earthy Soul – Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Mousse with Baileys Ladyfingers (topped with chocolate soil)

by koalifiedbaking April 22, 2018June 8, 2018

If you’re hosting a party soon and looking for a fancy-looking dessert recipe to impress your hungry guests, you’ve found the right place. This Hazelnut Bailey Chocolate Mousse Cup is made of the same rich & smooth hazelnut dark chocolate mousse used for the chocolate semi-sphere I shared before, with devilicious baileys-soaked lady fingers layered between. You think it cannot get any better? How about if I tell you it’s finished off with some crunchy hazelnut chocolate soil on top? Conventionally, people would put mint leaves onto the “soil” but I didn’t have any mint that day so I skipped it. Dig into these layers with a spoon and I promise you it’s one of the most satisfying feelings ever.

I came up with this idea when I was asked to prepare party food for a bunch of young adults. I got so pumped and I thought about what would make the best dessert to get the party going? Alcohol. Duh. Rum, Cointreau, limoncello and Coffee Liqueur are the to-go alcohol that I would use for desserts, but it’s about time I tried THE renowned Baileys, a creamy and smooth Irish whisky-and-cream-based liqueur that is usually served cold (with ice-cream, yum!). As you can all imagine, Baileys is delicious just as it is, but it goes extremely well with chocolate too. I didn’t hold myself back when I was dipping my ladyfingers into Baileys (I mean, why I should I?), so there could be 2 shots of baileys in each cup and everyone loved it. But you’re wary of getting your friends drunk, do try to limit yourself with it.

I made my own ladyfingers this time using the recipe by Anna Olson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezR5UUqiOJc), as I always preferred making things from scratch if possible. But if you’re running out of time or feeling a little bit lazy, feel free to get them in supermarket. For those who don’t know what a ladyfinger is, it is essentially a simple sponge biscuit that resembles the shape of a large finger. It’s commonly used in layered dessert such as Tiramisu, and all sorts of parfaits; or it can be dipped in chocolate and enjoyed as it is. I love it for its subtleness and versatility. Make this boozy mousse cup and get indulged in all the creamy chocolatey goodness!

Ingredients (make 10 mousse cup):

Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Mousse

150g dark chocolate
50g butter
3 egg yolks
6 egg whites
35 caster sugar
25g nutella

Ladyfingers (modified from http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/chocolate-dipped-lady-fingers/12698/)

½ cup (64g) all-purpose flour
5 tbsp (63g) cornstarch
3 eggs, separated and at room temperature
9 tbsp (113g) sugar
¼ tsp cream of tartar

Hazelnut Chocolate soil

40g unsalted butter
110g granulated sugar
50g unsweetened cocoa powder
50g hazelnut, finely chopped
¼ tsp salt

Instructions:

Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Mousse

Using a double boiler, melt the chocolate on low heat until melted. Let it cool slightly. Stir in butter and nutella. Set aside.
Using a whisk, lightly beat egg yolks until pale and creamy. Add to the chocolate mixture, mix well.
Using an electric mixer, beat egg white until foamy. Gradually add sugar and beat egg white to stiff peaks.
Gently stir in the chocolate-egg yolk mixture (in three additions) into the egg whites, mix until no obvious egg white is visible.
Refrigerate until ready to use.

Ladyfingers (extracted from http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/chocolate-dipped-lady-fingers/12698/)

Preheat the oven to 400 F and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.
Sift the flour and cornstarch together and set aside. Whip the egg yolks with 3 Tbsp of the sugar until thick and pale and they hold a ribbon when the beaters are lifted. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar until foamy, then slowly add the remaining 6 Tbsp of sugar and continue whipping until the whites hold a medium peak when the beaters are lifted.
Fold the whites into the yolk mixtures using a whisk, then fold in the flour until just incorporated. Fill a piping bag fitted with a large plain tip and pipe lady fingers onto the prepared trays that are 4-inches long and an inch apart (they will spread a little once piped). Bake for about 8 minutes, until the fingers are an even golden brown. Allow the fingers to cool completely before removing them from the trays.

Hazelnut Chocolate soil

Using a double boiler or microwave, melt butter and allow it to cool to room temperature.
While the butter is cooling, put sugar, cocoa powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Mix well with a whisk and set aside.
While whisking, slowly add the melted butter into the sugar cocoa mixture. Continue to mix until the mixture resembles dark soil.
Add the chopped hazelnut and mix to provide the soil texture. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Assemble

Put the hazelnut chocolate mousse in a piping bag with a plain round nozzle, pipe the mousse into the bottom of the cup. Then, break the ladyfingers into pieces (I broke one ladyfinger into 3 parts) and soak them generously in Baileys, and put them on top of the mousse.
Repeat step one to create alternating layers of hazelnut chocolate mousse and Baileys-soaked ladyfingers, with the hazelnut chocolate mousse as the top layer in the end (Save half an inch of space for the chocolate soil).
Cover the top hazelnut chocolate mousse with chocolate soil. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Yum

April 22, 2018June 8, 2018 12 comments

Desserts Recipes

Layers of goodness – Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Mousse Sphere (with Coffee Creme Patissiere & White Wine Poached Pear & Crispy Chocolate Base)

by koalifiedbaking March 23, 2018June 8, 2018

This post is all about celebration – about finishing my first basic term @LCB passing all my assessment, about flying to Brisbane in a few days for vacation, and about finally successfully making a mousse sphere for the first time (after contemplating on it for a thousand years). This hazelnut chocolate mousse sphere is my cup of tea, hands down – it marries my favourite flavours into one dessert that tastes absolutely divine. I’ve always wanted to make mousse spheres but I was too scared to, until I recently watched Zumbo’s just dessert which motivated me to be a better “dessert maker”. While I was watching all those amatuer home-bakers produce their eye-opening, beautiful desserts, my heart ached for creating some of my own.

hazelnut_mousse_sphere_with_mirror_glaze4

As I said, this dessert is celebratory, so I decided to apply some of the skills I learnt from school to it. It is also inspired by the Shiny Mirror Glaze Mousse Dome with Crispy Chocolate Base and Ganache Topping created by Cupcake Savvy’s Kitchen. Cutting through the sphere, you get a smooth French hazelnut chocolate mousse, creamy coffee creme patissiere, and a layer of refreshing poached pear that balances the richness & sweetness of chocolate. The dessert’s crunchy texture is provided by a crispy rice puff chocolate base (who doesn’t like indulging him/herself in loads of cocoa rice puffs???), and I finished it off with a shiny chocolate mirror glaze that renders the dessert a sophisticated look. How does that not sound heavenly?

hazelnut_mousse_sphere_with_mirror_glaze3

Special thanks to my friend who made me this stunning board with my baking motto – Simple Ideas, Big Whisks – written on it. <3 hazelnut_mousse_sphere_with_mirror_glaze10

hazelnut_mousse_sphere_with_mirror_glaze5

Realistically speaking, baking at home can be a bit tricky at times because you don’t always get the equipment or tools you need for your recipe. Like this time, I didn’t have a smaller sphere mold for my coffee creme patissiere so I had to carefully spoon it into the large mold, which could create a bit of a problem in terms of even layerings. But well, as as a pastry chef wanna-be, I need to be adaptive and make use of what I’ve got at home. Although the end result isn’t as perfect as I wanted, I am already quite happy with it. Anyway, give this recipe a go – If you are a hard-core chocolate fans, I think you will fall in love with it. Have a good weekend!

Ingredients:

Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Mousse

150g dark chocolate
50g butter
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
35 caster sugar
25g nutella

Coffee Creme Patissiere (coffee pastry cream)

150g milk + 1 tsp instant coffee powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp coffee liqueur
25g egg yolk
25g caster sugar
10g corn flour
10g butter

White Wine Poached Pear

2 fresh pear, cored
300ml white wine
300ml water
60g caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 orange, zest of
1/2 cinnamon stick

Crispy Chocolate Base

200g dark chocolate
100g choco rice puff

Chocolate Mirror Glaze

100g sugar
35g cocoa powder
40g water
70g double cream
1 1/2 tsp gelatin
1 1/2 tbsp water

Instructions:

Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Mousse

Using a double boiler, melt the chocolate on low heat until melted. Let it cool slightly. Stir in butter and nutella. Set aside.
Using a whisk, lightly beat egg yolks until pale and creamy. Add to the chocolate mixture, mix well.
Using an electric mixer, beat egg white until foamy. Gradually add sugar and beat egg white to stiff peaks.
Gently stir in the chocolate-egg yolk mixture (in three additions) into the egg whites, mix until no obvious egg white is visible.
Refrigerate until ready to use.

Coffee Creme Patissiere (coffee pastry cream)

Using a saucepan, heat milk and instant coffee powder over medium heat and bring it to boil.
While the milk is being heated, add egg yolk, sifted corn flour, caster sugar in a bowl. Mix well with a whisk until you can a thick, creamy consistency.
With a steady mixing motion, pour 1/3 of the milk mixture to the egg mix to temper the egg.
Pour the above mixture into the saucepan and cook over medium heat while whisking vigorously for at least 3 mins, until all starch is cooked. You will know it’s almost ready when it starts to bubble. Continue cooking for 1-2 mins. Remove it from the heat.
Whisk in the butter and coffee liqueur until incorporated.
Pour the custard into a bowl and cover the custard surface with a plastic wrap. This will prevent a skin from forming on top.
Let the custard cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until ready to use.

White Wine Poached Pear

Put all ingredients (except the pears) in a pan.
Peel and core pears, gently poach (NOT boil) pears in syrup.
Cook the pears for about 1 hour until they are soft. Use a stick to test every once in a while to see if the pears are done.
When done, take out the pears from the pan to stop the cooking process.
Cut one poached pear into small cubes, and blend the another one into puree or mash it with a fork. Pour the pear cubes into the puree and mix well. Refrigerate until ready for use.

Crispy Chocolate Base

Using a double boiler, melt chocolate on low heat until melted. Pour the chocolate onto the rice puff and shape the mixture into a 2-cm thick layer.
Refrigerate for at least 30 mins, and use a circular cutter that fits the size of the spheres to cut 6 circular bases. Refrigerate until ready to use. (If the base is too hard to cut through, run the cutter in a hot water bath and dry it before usage.)

Chocolate Mirror Glaze

Add gelatin and cold water into a bowl. Stir and set aside until ready to use.
In a saucepan, add sugar, cocoa powder, water and cream. Mix well with a whisk.
Over medium heat, bring the mixture to boil while stirring continuously. Cook for about 2 mins until the mixture is smooth and no lump is visible.
Turn off the heat, add the gelatin mix and stir well.
Set aside and let cool to at least 35 C for usage.

Assembly

Put the hazelnut chocolate mousse into the mold. Smoothen out the surface with a spoon until you can an even layer as the outer layer of the sphere. Freeze for 15 mins.
Then, put the coffee creme patissiere in the mold. Freeze for 15 mins.
Then, pour the pear mixture into the mold. Leave some space for the next step of closing the sphere with the hazelnut chocolate mousse. Freeze for 15 mins.
Then, close all the spheres with a thin layer of the hazelnut chocolate mousse. Smoothen the surface with a off-set spatula. Freeze for at least 3 hours or preferably overnight to let it set completely.
Carefully push the spheres out of the mold and put them on to a cooling rack. Pour the mirror glaze (at 35 C). Set it set. And put the glazed sphere on to the circular chocolate base.
Sprinkle some chopped hazelnut on top as decorations.

Yum

March 23, 2018June 8, 2018 8 comments

Desserts Recipes Tarts and Pies

Drunk in Style – White Wine Poached Pear Almond Tart

by koalifiedbaking March 4, 2018June 8, 2018

It’s been a while, everyone. I am really glad that I’m finally sharing a recipe I learnt from school with you all. This week, our teacher demonstrated how to make this French-style white wine poached pear almond tart (Pear Bourdaloue); I absolutely loved it and I knew I had to recreate it for myself.

White-wine-poached-pear-almond-tart4

Making tarts hasn’t been my strong suit, because up until now I haven’t fully grasped the techniques of handling and rolling pastry. Thanks to school, I had to squarely deal with all my weaknesses and practice. Cope with the huge difference between last year’s baking experience and that of this year isn’t easy either. In LCB, I am constantly introduced all sorts of pastry items that never existed in my world due to my limited exposure to the culinary world. Honestly, the feelings of inadequacy could be overpowering at times, but so is the sense of excitement burning in my heart that I know I just have to keep learning and getting better. For those who are curious about what I’ve made at school for the past few weeks, I’ve attached couple photos at the end of this post as promised.

White-wine-poached-pear-almond-tart2

About the tart itself, I know in many sense it matches with autumn theme more, but when you want to eat tarts who cares about the time? Sweet and soft pears shall be the star of this tart – they are beautifully spiced by cinnamon and cloves, with the addition of tangy, sweet flavour thanks to the white wine, as well as lemon and orange peel. Poaching pears requires correct time, temperature and patience. You want soft, sweet, flavoured pears that are not cooked to become mushy in the end. Having the pears together wIth the nutty almond cream at the bottom is simply delicious. I like having this tart when freshly baked (preferably with vanilla ice-cream on top, yummmm), but it’s purely my own preferences. I hope you will enjoy this recipe!

White Wine Poached Pear (Can be made the night before)

Ingredients:

6 fresh pears
500ml water
500ml white wine
250g sugar
peel of 1 lemon
peel of 1 orange
1 cinnamon stick (or 1 tsp ground cinnamon)
1 clove (or ⅛ tsp ground cloves)

Instructions:

Put all ingredients (except the pears) in a pan.
Peel and core pears, gently poach (NOT boil) pears in syrup.
Cook the pears for about 1 hour until they are soft. Use a stick to test every once in a while to see if the pears are done.
When done, take out the pears from the pan to stop the cooking process. Reserve the liquid. When both the pears and liquid have cooled, let the pears continue soaking in the liquid. Keep in fridge until ready to use.

Sweet Pastry Dough (this recipe makes two tart shells):

Ingredients:

225g unsalted butter
142g sugar
90g eggs (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla essence
375g bakers flour
Pinch of salt
45g almond meal

Instructions:

Cream butter and sugar by hand or with a mixer until well combined.
Adds eggs (one at a time) and vanilla. Mix.
Mix in sifted flour and almond meal to form a dough.
Wrap it with plastic and keep in refrigerator to set and rest for at least 30 mins. (the gluten in the dough needs to rest or the pastry will shrink when baked)
Preheat your oven to 180C.
Lightly flour your working surface. Roll out the pastry to 2.5-3mm thickness. Line a 8 inch tart pan with sweet pastry. Poke littles holes with a folk on the pastry’s base to avoid air bubbles from forming when the pastry is baked. Refrigerate to rest the pastry for 20 mins.
Bake the pastry for 12-15 mins until golden brown.
Let cool and set aside.