desserts - croquembouch
TRANSCRIPT
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Limoncello chocolate CroquemboucheChoux
Plain flour 185g
Unsalted butter 175g
Eggs beaten 6
Water 450mlLimoncello cream
Egg yolks 9
Caster sugar 150g
Plain flour 50g
Full fat milk 500 mls
Grated lemon zest 2
Lemon juice 4 Tbsp.
Limoncello 7tbspdecoration
White chocolate 400g
Caster sugar 200g
Sugared almonds 175g
Crystallised roses
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6/fan oven 180C. Lightly butter 3 large baking sheets. Siftthe flour onto a large square of greaseproof paper. Put the butter in a large, heavy-based
saucepan with 450ml/34pint water and gently heat until the butter has melted. Bring tothe boil then immediately tip in the flour, all in one go. Beat with a wooden spoon until
the mixture forms a ball that comes away from the sides of the pan. Leave to cool for 5
minutes.
2. Beat in the eggs, a little at a time, beating well between each addition, until the mixture isglossy and only just holding its shape. You may not need to add all the beaten egg. Spoon
into a piping bag using a 1cm plain nozzle.
3. Pipe small rounds, about 2cm in diameter, on to the baking sheets, trimming the pastefrom the bag with a knife. Leave room between them to allow for spreading. You should
end up with about 75 rounds. Bake for 25 minutes, in batches if necessary depending on
how many baking sheets you have, until well risen and golden, rotating the baking sheets
half way through cooking. As soon as the pastry is cooked, make a 1cm slit on the side of
each bun to let the steam escape. (This stops them turning soggy as they cool). Return to
the oven for a further 5 minutes to dry them out, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Store
in an airtight container (or freeze).
4. Make the limoncello cream. Beat the egg yolks, sugar, flour, lemon zest and juice in abowl to make a smooth paste. Bring the milk to the boil in a large, heavy-based saucepan.As soon as it reaches the boil, pour it over the egg mixture, stirring well. Return to the
saucepan and cook over a low heat, stirring constantly until the sauce is very thick and
bubbling. Stir in the liqueur and transfer to a bowl. Cover the surface with a circle of
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greaseproof paper to prevent a skin forming and leave to cool completely. Refrigerate
until ready to use.
5. If the buns are a bit soft when you take them out of the container, lay them in a singlelayer on baking sheets and re-crisp in a moderate oven for 5 minutes. Fill them sparingly
with the limoncello cream by piping as before. You can always pipe in a little extra if you
have any mixture leftover.
6. Break the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and melt over a bowl of gently simmeringwater. (Or melt in the microwave on Medium for 2-3 minutes.) Give the chocolate an
occasional stir until it has just melted. Turn off the heat.
7. Rest the cone inside a vase or jug for support. Put a small bun into the point of the conewith the bun's base face up. Spoon 1 tsp of melted chocolate onto the base and secure two
small buns over the first, again with base up. Spoon over another teaspoon of chocolate.
It's a little difficult working at the tip of the cone but it gets much easier as the cone gets
wider.
8. Work up the cone, packing in the buns quite firmly, drizzling the chocolate (see left) andworking in horizontal layers until the cone is filled. Make sure that each bun is firmly
secured in place with chocolate before proceeding to the next layer and make sure the last
layer forms a flat base for the cake. Keep the filled cone in the coolest place overnight.
9. On the day: carefully invert the cone on to a flat serving plate and lift away the cone.Gently peel away the foil if it hasn't come away already. Put the remaining 100g/4oz
sugar in a small heavy-based saucepan with 5 tbsp water. Heat very gently, stirring
slowly until it has dissolved to make a smooth syrup. Take care not to splash the syrup up
the sides of the pan or it may crystallise and solidify.
10.Bring the syrup to the boil and cook for 4-6 minutes, watching closely until it turns a richgolden colour. Take off the heat and dip the base of the pan in cold water to prevent
further cooking. Stand back as the pan will splutter
noisily. Carefully dip the ends of the sugared
almonds and roses in caramel and secure around the
cake, scattering a few on the plate.
11.Using a teaspoon, drizzle more caramel around thebuns so that it falls in fine threads. If the caramel
hardens before you've finished decorating, gently
reheat it, taking care not to burn it. Finish with adusting of icing sugar. To serve the cake, it is easiest
if you have one server to break pieces off for the
guests, starting from the top and working down.
To make the cone
Make the cone. Make a pencil mark halfway along a
long edge of the A1 card. Mark the halfway position
along both short edges and draw a line from each point
to the mark on the long edge. Attach one end of thestring to the pencil and holding the other end at the point
on the long edge, draw a curve from the point on one
short side to the point on the opposite side. Cut out the card shape and use as a template to cut
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out the same shape in foil. Tape the foil over the card and roll up (foil inside), overlapping the
straight edges to make a cone shape with a 20cm diameter opening. Secure with tape and snip
10cm off the point of the cone.
Orange and praline croquembouche with cardamom caramelChoux
Plain flour 330gsalted butter 225g
Eggs beaten 8
Water 300ml
Milk 240mlNougatine base
Flaked almonds 350g
Fondant icing 500g
Liquid glucose 320mlUnsalted butter cut into cubes 40g
Pastry cream
Vanilla pod 1
Full fat milk 900ml
Sugar 225g
Egg yolks 12
Cornflour 60g
CaramelGranulated sugar 300g
Cardamom seeds 1tsp
Water 300mlDecoration
Crystallised mimosa
Marzipan flowers
Method
1. For the nougatine base, line a baking tray with a silicone mat. Lightly grease a 25cm/10in flantin.2. Sprinkle the flaked almonds onto a baking tray and bake in the oven for 7-8 minutes.3. Heat the fondant icing and glucose in a large saucepan over a medium heat and boil for 10-15
minutes, or until a pale caramel colour. Stir in the toasted almonds and butter and pour onto the
lined baking tray. Place another silicone mat on top, then roll out the nougatine to a thickness of
5mm/in then remove the top mat and carefully lift the nougatine into the greased flan tin,
pressing it into the sides. Trim off the excess with scissors then set aside to cool.
4. For the choux buns, increase the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Grease several large baking trays.5. Put the water, milk, butter, condensed milk and salt into a large saucepan and bring to a rolling
boil. Tip in the flour and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth.
6. Continue cooking, stirring constantly over a moderate heat for about 3-4 minutes or until there isa thin film of dried dough on the sides and bottom of the pan.
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7. Transfer the dough to the bowl of a food mixer and beat with the paddle attachment on a mediumspeed until steam is no longer rising from the bowl. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the
eggs, one at a time; continue beating until the dough is smooth and glossy.
8. Spoon the dough into a large piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle and pipe 5cm/2in balls ontothe baking trays, leaving room for them to spread a little as they cook.
9. Make the egg wash by beating the egg yolk with the water. Brush the balls with the egg washand bake in the oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and bake for 15minutes more or until the buns are well risen and golden-brown. Remove from the oven and set
aside to cool.
10.To make the pastry cream, place the vanilla seeds and milk in a large saucepan, bring to the boilthen remove the pan from the heat.
11.Place the sugar and egg yolks in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and whisk ona high speed for about three minutes, or until a thick ribbon drips off the whisk, then reduce the
speed to medium and beat in the cornflour.
12.Whisk in the hot milk, then pour the mixture back into the saucepan and heat gently until boiling,stirring all the time, then let it bubble for one minute or until thickened and pour into a clean
bowl. Cover the surface with cling film to prevent a skin forming and set the bowl aside to cool.
13.For the praline paste, toast the almonds and hazelnuts in a dry pan over a gentle heat for about 10minutes, taking care not to burn them, then place the toasted nuts on a baking tray lined with a
sheet of lightly greased greaseproof paper.
14.Heat the water and sugar in a saucepan over a high heat, swirling from time to time, until themixture is a pale caramel colour. Pour the caramel over the nuts and set aside to cool completely.
15.Break the praline into pieces and blend to a paste in a food processor. Mix the praline paste intothe pastry cream and spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small nozzle. Cut a small hole in the
bottom of each choux bun and pipe in a little of the praline mixture.
16.To construct the croquembouche, remove the hardened nougatine from the tin and turn upsidedown to form the base for the croquembouche.
17.Make the caramel by dissolving the sugar in a pan with the cardamom and water and heating to apale caramel. Dip the filled choux buns into the caramel and stack the choux buns on thenougatine base in a pyramid shape.
18.If the caramel becomes too stiff to work, return it to the heat until it loosens. Dip some of thebuns in the sugar crystals to decorate as you go.
19.For the spun sugar decoration, cut the ends off thebottom of a wire whisk with pliers to make a brush.
20.Return the remaining caramel to the heat then dip thebrush in the caramel and shake vigorously back and
forth over a silicone mat. The caramel will fall in thin
strands and set. Gather the strands up and arrange on
top of the croquembouche
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