Les macarons (part 2)

Welcome to part 2 of les macarons!

As we continue to look at some of the other versions of les macarons, next up are those of Montmorillon located in the Viennes department in the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine (previously Aquitaine, Limousin and Poitou-Charente) in central-western France. They are a complete change-up from the classic macaron lisse - rather than the smooth, somewhat glossy, gently rounded cookie with the frilly pied, these are craggy, rustic mounds typically piped in a swirl using a star or channeled type of tip. They sport no particular garnish or sandwich filling and are meant to be enjoyed in their simple glory.

I actually did two different batches of these, the first using a narrower open star type tip with this result - kinda sea urchin like, eh?

The process is straight forward, starting with toasting 150 g blanched almond flour for 10-15 minutes in a 300ºF oven (à la Mercotte). Cool the almond flour then blend 100 g granulated sugar with it. Neither processing nor sifting for this one folks!

Then whip 70 g egg whites (a bit over 2 large whites) with 25 g sugar to stiff peaks, add a few drops of almond extract and fold the dry ingredients into the whipped whites. Not bad at all.

Pipe the mixture onto Silpat lined sheet pan(s) using a more narrow open star tip or wider large star tip. Depending on your piped size, you should get a least a couple of dozen cookies out of the recipe. You can easily double the recipe for more!

Let them rest at room temperature for 2 hours.

Heat the oven to 375ºF. As soon as you place your pans in the oven reduce the temperature to 350ºF. Bake for 3 minutes then reduce again to 320ºF and bake an additional 15-17 minutes until lightly browned.

What a wonderful chew with a great almond flavor and freezing made them even better (which is true of pretty much all macarons if you ask me!).

Eat them au naturel or dip them in some dark chocolate (which, according to Mister Steve, never hurts anything). Yum.

Next up - macaron craquelé au chocolat.

Another of Stephane Glacier’s recipes, this chocolate number varies from the classic Mercotte version with the amount of confectioner’s sugar reduced by about a third and the almond flour by half. The egg white/granulated sugar ratio remains the same. In addition there’s a bit of all purpose flour and unsweetened cocoa powder in the mix. All of this makes for a softer, lighter cookie with less chew.

Note: For gluten free baking it shouldn’t be a problem to omit the all purpose flour. You can easily double the amounts below to increase your yield from one half sheet pan to two. Depending on the size you pipe, you should get about 30 sandwiches from a doubled recipe.

Here’s the process (single recipe). Whisk together 75 g confectioner’s sugar, 63 g almond flour, 1/2 tablespoon all purpose flour and 1/2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder.

In a clean mixing bowl using the whisk attachment whip 90 g (about 3 large) room temperature egg whites and a pinch of salt on medium-low until white and foamy. Shower in 25 g granulated sugar and, once incorporated, increase speed to high and whip to stiff peaks.

Fold the dry ingredients into the whipped egg whites in three additions then work the mixture with a spatula or bowl scraper until supple and smooth (think about flowing lava!).

Pipe rounds onto Silpat lined sheet pans and let rest at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile heat the oven to 335ºF.

Dust with a mix of 1 tablespoon powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder and bake about 12 minutes. Cool.

Before the oven

Out of the oven

While these pictures make things look like dirty snow and it’s difficult to see the surfaces, the after oven cookies are drier with some cracks on top. Notice that these do not form the pied!

For the filling I made a simple chocolate ganache with the addition of some honey. Glacier points out that the honey adds a certain unctuousness to the ganache - he’s absolutely right!

Have 130 g chopped chocolate (60-64% recommended) ready in a heat proof bowl. In a small saucepan bring 150 ml heavy cream and 1 tablespoon honey to a boil, pour it over the chocolate and blend until smooth. Cool it to proper piping consistency.

Match up your macarons size-wise, pipe a dollop of ganache on one half and sandwich ‘em up.

These offer a lovely soft texture that marries so nicely with the smooth ganache. And don’t forget - they get even better in the freezer!

I’ve only scratched the surface of the macaron world. There are so many variations out there, so do some investigating and testing of your own and have fun! That’s what it’s all about.

Gâteau Nantais

Always on the look out for regional French baked goods, this one came to my attention some months ago thanks to a link to a Washington Post piece (from which the recipe comes) sent by my friend MBT. I’ve had it on my to do list ever since and finally got around to purchasing a bottle of rum, an ingredient that typically doesn’t grab my attention nor my taste buds!. Buuuuutt - desirous of keeping to the classic recipe I simply had to include the rum n’est-ce pas?

The preparation is oh-so straight forward but give yourself a day or two ahead of serving since it’s recommended that you let this rum soaked/glazed cake sit for a day for the flavors to infuse. And be sure you have SALTED butter on hand, an absolute when baking anything even remotely associated with Brittany. While present day Nantes is located in the Pays de la Loire region, it was once the capital of Brittany and home to les Ducs de Bretagne. Those Bretons do love their butter.

There are three components: rum simple syrup, almond sponge cake and confectioner’s sugar glaze.

Make the syrup: Heat 75 g granulated sugar with 155 ml water over low-medium heat in a small saucepan. Stir occasionally to dissolve the sugar then increase to high and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cool then add 3 tablespoons dark rum. This can be made several days ahead and held in the fridge. The recipe makes plenty for one cake and any leftover will keep in the fridge for weeks as any simple syrup will.

Make the cake: Heat the oven to 350ºF. Butter an 8” springform pan, line the bottom with a round of parchment then butter the parchment.
Place 125 g salted butter and 150 g granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer (or use an electric handheld mixer) and beat with the paddle on medium low until creamy. Add 125 g almond flour and beat to incorporate. In a separate bowl lightly beat 3 large eggs and add them to the batter in three or four additions, blending well after each addition. Add 40 g all purpose flour and 3 tablespoons of rum and beat on medium to create a smooth batter.
Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.

Bake 40-45 minutes until set in the center and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Once out of the oven, loosen the pan, turn the cake out onto a cooling rack, remove the bottom parchment than flip right side up onto another cooling rack set over a sheet pan. Brush the warm cake generously with about half of the rum syrup.

Once the cake has cooled completely give it another decent brushing of rum syrup.

For the glaze: mix 100 g confectioner’s sugar with 1 tablespoon rum and add small amounts of water until you have a glaze that will drizzle and spread smoothly. You can spread it on top only, as I did, or let it drip down the sides - it’s up to you.

Now it’s ready to cover and let sit for a day. Steve and I behaved ourselves and waited the requisite time frame before diving in for a taste.

To our delight, the rum essence was not at all overpowering and the cake offered a pleasing density, moistness and all around lovely taste. My one regret is that I didn’t avoid the top-of-the-cake grid marks from the cooling rack but that certainly didn’t detract from the overall enjoyment. One small slice is all it takes to comprehend le gâteau Nantais. Now we just have to visit Nantes and enjoy a slice! Maybe we’ll see you there?

Pear almond cake

This cake is inspired by a recipe in Ottolenghi and Goh's book "Sweet" - an apricot almond cake that I decided to change up to a pear version.

Although I usually think of pears as a fall/winter fruit, their flavor and usefulness in desserts still speaks to me now, with hints of spring in the air. This pear almond cake is dense, moist and oh so delicious! Truth be told, I baked this one in late January and am just getting around to writing about it now. Oh, how time flies.

Bartlett, Bosc or D'Anjou are my usual pear choices, although I must say I usually end up veering toward the Bosc end of the pear spectrum. I simply enjoy their flavor and texture.

I generally prefer to poach my own pears, especially since those that one buys in the grocery store are generally rock hard and need days to ripen appropriately. Poaching helps to coax out that ripened texture and allows them to be used sooner than you would if waiting for them to ripen naturally.

I create a poaching liquid using 2 parts water to 1 or 1.5 parts sugar, giving me a light-ish syrup. I like to add in some lemon zest, a grate or two of nutmeg and perhaps a pinch of ginger and a few pieces of star anise. Nice and lightly spiced. I peel, core and halve my pears. 

The key with poaching is low and slow. The most helpful thing for me is the cartouche -  essentially a round of parchment paper with a small hole created in the center to allow steam to escape, placed cozily over the pears to keep them submerged. It prevents sides or ends of pears from sticking out of the poaching liquid and developing an unsightly brown tinge. We simply can't have that, now can we?

I let them go until I see a change from a dense whitish color to a more translucent, buttery color. I then stick a fork in to see if the tines go in easily. We're done!

See the translucence!

The cake is made with your basic ingredients - butter, sugar, egg, flour, a bit of salt, lemon zest, vanilla and almond extracts and some sour cream. A sprinkle of almond flour and the pears are nestled on top of the batter and then covered with an intriguing topping concoction made with butter, sugar, spices, salt and egg. Hmmm - this should be interesting.

Batter in!

Almond Flour sprinkled!

Pears and topping on! ready to go into the oven

Here it is just out of the oven. Looks good!

Let's do the recipe! I outline the steps/ingredients below but you can click here for a PDF of the recipe.

1. Butter a 9" springform pan and line the bottom with parchment. Heat the oven to 375ºF.
2. Drain and blot dry your poached pears, then slice each half into quarters. You'll need a couple of pears total (more or less, depending on how you like to arrange your slices).
2. Make the topping: in a medium microwave safe bowl, melt 56 g (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter; stir in 100 g/1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander, a pinch of ground ginger, a large pinch of salt; cool for a few minutes then stir in two large lightly beaten eggs and set aside.
3. For the cake, put 84 g/6 tablespoons unsalted, room temperature butter with 200 g/1 cup granulated sugar in your mixer bowl with the paddle attachment and beat on medium-high for a couple of minutes; add 2 large eggs, one at a time, blending each one in and scraping down the sides of the bowl a couple of times; blend in the zest of one lemon, a teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1/4 teaspoon almond extract.
4. In a separate bowl sift 220 g/1 3/4 cups all purpose flour with 10 g baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt; have 2/3 cup sour cream standing by as well.
5. With the mixer on low add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture alternating with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour.
6. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top with an offset spatula. Sprinkle 35 g/1/3 cup almond flour over the batter, then arrange your pear slices in a design of your liking.
7. Now spoon/pour the topping mixture over the whole shebang!
8. Bake this baby for about an hour until a tester into the middle comes out clean. Always watch what's going on in there folks!. Cool in the pan for about 20 minutes before unmolding. 
9. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I chose to top it with some lightly sweetened whipped cream (although my cream seemed to have lost some of it's whip!).

This was absolutely delicious! And Steve liked it too. Yay!!!

Pavé aux amandes

Sum-sum-sum-sum-sum-sum summer time!  It's been a good one so far.  Teaching classes at the new Sur La Table here in Grand Rapids and baking croissants, pain au chocolat and croissant aux amandes for Nonna Cafe have been keeping me busy (not to mention a little gardening, family visits and the odd day trip here and there).

Periodically looking back at some of the classic recipes from pastry school, I recently decided to make a classic French pavé aux amandes, a moist, dense-but-not-heavy almond cake.

I think of this as one of the many treats that kids might enjoy for le gouter, the traditional afternoon snack time in France, usually around 4 pm.  And of course adults wouldn't mind it either with a nice cup of coffee or tea.

Top it with a delicious whipped mascarpone cream and some fresh seasonal fruit and you have yourself a tasty dessert!

It's a simple and straight forward recipe, baked in a 9" square shallow pan lined with parchment, buttered, then sliced almonds layered on the bottom.

les ingredients

Cream 125 gram softened butter with 200 grams sugar until blended.  I do this in a medium bowl with a spatula, but you can also use a stand mixer with the paddle - just don't cream too long since you really don't want to aerate this batter.  It's meant to be a dense cake.

Then blend in 250 grams egg (about 5 whole eggs) followed by 250 grams blanched almond flour.

Note: for a bit of variation add some orange zest and a splash of vanilla and/or almond extract to punch up the flavor.  Yum.

And that's it!  How easy is that, eh??

The trickiest part of this whole thing is transferring the batter to the prepared pan.  Do it carefully - I place blobs of batter over sections of the pan, then gently spread so as not to dislodge the almonds on the bottom.

evenly spread and ready for the oven

Bake at 325ºF for about 45 minutes until the top is golden brown, there is no jiggling in the center and it feels firm to touch.  You'll see a few moist crumbs if checking with a skewer or cake tester.

Carefully run a knife around the edges of the cake and turn it out onto a cooling rack.

Once cooled, dust the top with powdered sugar and dig in!

The flavor is subtly almond, the texture is dense yet light and the crumb oh-so-moist.

And guess what - Steve liked it!!  Yay!!!

Hazelnut flour and Easter dessert Part 1: planning and components

As Steve and I get closer to our move back to Grand Rapids, Michigan in a handful of weeks I'm working on using up some of the ingredients in my larder.  My current focus is hazelnut flour.

I'm able to buy nut flours (primarily almond and hazelnut) here in Providence from the Virginia and Spanish Peanut Company, but they sell them in minimum 5 pound portions.  I go through almond flour fast, but I end up freezing the bulk of the hazelnut flour for periodic use.  I still have 3 lbs or so on hand, so I've been working on recipes that will help me reduce my stash before the move.

The other day I held a tart class during which we baked a hazelnut version of sablé Breton, garnished with an orange-zested, white chocolate pastry cream and some nut crumble.  Boy, was that tasty!

Being on tap for dessert for Easter dinner at Dick and Dorothy's, I turned to the recipes from my spring 2009 professional entremets course at LCB Paris.

I opted for my version of an almond-lemon-raspberry number, focusing on hazelnut-orange-fruits rouge as my flavor profile.  There's still a hint of winter in this combo, but, since Easter is on the early side this year, I figured this would be a last nod to late winter's tastes.  And besides, the weather hasn't figured out that it's spring yet!

Many chefs, whether savory or sweet, will sketch out a dish/dessert for assembly or plating.  I certainly don't claim to be an artist, but it's kinda' fun to draw out what one has in mind for a layered dessert (takes me back to those grade school coloring days).  It's all part of the mise en place.
    
In this case I was looking for a cake/custard/fruity/nutty ensemble.  Gotta have those contrasts!  And the good news is the components can be made several days ahead and frozen before final assembly.

First I created two 16 cm square cake "pans" by wrapping these bottomless forms in foil.  My intention was to make my components in the same square shape in which I would assemble them.

On to the prep!

les ingredients pour le pavé

For the pavé aux noisette blend 95 gm soft butter, 150 gm sugar, 2 gm salt and the zest of an orange.  Add half of 200 gm egg, then half of 190 gm ground hazelnuts; finish with remaining egg and ground hazelnuts, blending to smooth.

before the egg white addition

Whisk 100 gm egg white with 30 gm sugar to medium firm peaks . . .

and fold them into the butter/sugar/egg/nut mixture. 

finished batter

Butter the foil, divide the batter between the two forms . . .

ready for the oven

and bake at 375º for about 25 minutes (should look nicely browned and feel firmly spongy in the center).

nice!

Once the cakes cool, remove them from the molds, wrap and hold 1-2 days at room temp or up to 2 weeks in the freezer (the day before assembly place them in the fridge to thaw).

For the vanilla bean ricotta custard . . . .

les ingredients

blend 354 gm cream cheese, 177 gm ricotta, 112 gm sugar and the seeds scraped from one vanilla bean until smooth; blend in 2 eggs and 1 white, followed by 177 gm heavy cream until incorporated.  Pour into your chosen pan or ramekins.

I baked these in the same foil wrapped 16 cm square forms, placed in a water bath.  Steve was tickled that I had leftover custard to fill a handful of small ramekins to boot!

Bake at 300º for about 30 minutes until set.

Once the custard had cooled I put it in the freezer for 30 minutes or so, during which I made a mixed fruit coulis using IQF berries and cherries.

Thaw, puree and strain 227 gm/8 oz frozen fruit (yield 150 gm).  Warm the puree, add 20 gm sugar to dissolve, and whisk in 3 gm of bloomed sheet gelatin (softened in ice water and squeezed out).  Let the mixture cool a bit.

I poured it over one of the chilled custard squares, spreading evenly . . . .

and topped it with hazelnut/almond crumble, pressing it in gently.

Putting the crumble on the still liquid coulis and then into the freezer helps set the layers and keep them together for the final assembly.  The crumble will ultimately become the center layer of my creation (let's hope!)

Next up - final assembly and tasting!

Stay tuned.