Choux with pastry cream, vanilla sablage

Ingredients for 15 to 20 choux

Vanilla pastry cream

50 cl whole milk

1 vanilla bean (use 30 g unsweetened cocoa powder instead of the bean to make chocolate pastry cream. Mix it with the cornstarch)

120 g egg yolk

120 g granulated sugar

50 g cornstarch

50 g butter

Vanilla sablage (optional)

50 g butter, room temperature

62 g brown sugar

62 g plain flour

5 g vanilla sugar

Choux paste

75 g whole milk

75 g mineral water

6 g salt

12 g granulated sugar

135 g butter

165 g plain flour

300 g eggs

Fondant glaze

250 g fondant patissier

40 g syrup at 80 B or 5 cl mineral water

A few pieces of 68% chocolate to make chocolate fondant

Method

Vanilla pastry cream

- Split the vanilla bean in two and scrape the seeds into the milk. Bring to a boil and let it infuse 20 min or more.
- Meanwhile, beat together the yolks, the sugar and the cornstarch without whitening or frothing.
- Boil the milk again and pour 1/3 into the eggs, blend, add in the rest and blend.
- Put it back into the pan by pouring it through a strainer and beat over high heat until it thickens.
- Remove the pan and add the butter.
- Wrap the cream in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge.

- Once cold, beat the cream the soften it.

Vanilla sablage (optional)

- Mix all the ingredients together with working it too much.

- Spread it between two sheets of wax paper, 2 to 3 mm thick.

- Put it in the freezer.
- Cut 4x4 cm squares of sablage and put one over each ball of dough.

Choux paste

- Bring water, milk, salt, sugar and butter to a boil.

- When it starts boiling, remove from the heat and add the sifted flour and stir.

- Put the pan back over the heat and keep stirring with the spatula until the dough doesn’t stick to the side of the pan anymore (2 or 3 min).

- Put the dough in a mixing bowl and add the eggs one at a time, stirring between each addition until the dough makes a nice ribbon, not too firm, not too soft.

- If the dough is too firm, add a little bit of warm milk.

- Put the dough in a pastry bag with an 8mm soft decorating tip.

- Make balls of dough, 4 cm wide. Be careful not to make them too close to each other.

Technique for baking your choux
- Preheat the deck oven to 356°F and bake for 20 to 25 min.

- Use a convection oven preheated to 482°F. Turn it off and put your dough immediatly in the oven for 20 to 25 min. Turn it back on to 356°F and bake for 15 min. Never open the oven. (Technique of Christophe Michalak, winner of the World Baking Championship in 2005).

Fondant

- Melt all the ingredients in a bain-marie.

- Use the fondant between 86° and 95°F.

Banana and chocolate pie

A very easy and delicious pie...

Ingredients for 8 people

Shortcrust pastry

250 g all-purpose flour

100 g granulated sugar

140 g butter

30 g eggyolk

Banana batter

4 bananas

100 g granulated sugar

100 g sour cream 30% fat

1 vanilla bean

3 eggs

1 teaspoon rum (optional)

Dark-chocolate icing

75 g chocolate 48% cacao
75 g chocolate 67% cacao

170 g whipping cream

20 g butter

Method

Shortcrust pastry

- In a stand mixer with the flat mixing paddle, mix together butter, flour and sugar until the sablage is homogeneous and yellow (do it between your hands if you don’t have a stand mixer).

- Add the egg yolk and knead with your hands.

- Let the crust rest in the refrigerator for 2 hours in a plastic film.

- Preheat the oven to 350°F.

- Roll your crust out to a round, 3 mm thick.

- Put it in a pie mold, cover it with wax paper and ceramic beads to prevent the crust from swelling.

- Bake for 8 min.

Banana batter

- Blend together 2 bananas, the sour cream, the sugar, the eggs, the grated vanilla and the rum until homogeneous.

- Pour the batter over the precooked crust.

- Add 2 bananas, cut in slices.

- Bake for 30 min.

Dark-chocolate icing

- Put together the chocolate, the whipping cream and the butter in a pan.

- Let it melt over a low heat.

- Pour over the pie and put in the fridge.

- Eat it cold.

Crepe batter

Crepes... there is nothing easier to make. It can also be adapted to the taste of everyone with rum, orange flower water, lemon zest, vanilla... Little tip, add some sugar or confectioner's sugar between each crepe as you cook them.

Ingredients for about 15 crepes

Crepe batter

360 g all-purpose flour

150 g sugar

7 g salt

2 eggs

10 g melted butter

98 cl whole milk, room temperature

Flavor

Method

Crepe batter

- Sift together flour, salt and sugar.

- Make a whole in the middle, add the eggs and mix.

- Add the melted butter to the milk.

- Pour the milk little by little in your mixture, mixing between each addition of milk.

- Add flavor and reserve in the fridge for about an hour.

Chocolate and pear marquises with custard sauce

In order to gain some time, you can use store-bought butter biscuits rather than homemade ones to put under your marquises. They will be a perfect alliance with your custard sauce and the chocolate.

Ingredients for 6 marquises

Chocolate and pear marquises
120 g butter
60 g egg yolk
90 g egg white 
200 g chocolate 55% cacao
80 g confectioner’s sugar
1 preserved pear
Salt
1 lemon zest

Custard sauce
1/2 vanilla bean
50 cl whole milk
120 g egg yolk
60 g sugar

Method

Chocolate and pear marquises
- Bring the butter to room temperature.
- Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie.
- Add the butter, mix, then add the egg yolks and confectioner’s sugar. Beat until smooth.
- Whisk the egg whites until firm with a little bit of salt. Fold gently in the chocolate.
- Add the pear cut into small cubes.
- Pour in 6 silicone molds and put in the freezer for several hours.
- Remove from the molds onto a biscuit; spread some lemon zest at the last moment.

Custard sauce
- Split the vanilla bean in two and scrape the seeds into the milk. Bring to a boil and let it infuse 20 min.
- Beat together the egg yolks and the sugar without whitening or frothing.
- Pour in 1/3 of boiling milk, beat, add the rest and beat.
- Put the custard back in the pan and cook over low heat to 180°F stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
- Put the pan in cold water so as to stop it from cooking.
- Sift it if necessary.
- Put in the fridge.