This video is so beautiful. That dough… so supple… so elastic.

the art of making bread from tiger in a jar on Vimeo.

Today I made eclairs. Amazing eclairs. My recipe was, once again, from Dulce Delight.

I’ve written out her instructions, since she only makes a video and an ingredient list. I definitely suggest that you watch her video, because there are some things that words don’t describe well enough!

Ingredients:
for the pâte choux:
250g water (9oz)
110g butter cubed (4oz)
pinch of salt and sugar
140g all purpose flour (5oz)
3 to 5 eggs (you have to check the dough’s consistency)

egg wash:
1 egg
2 tbs milk
whisk it to combine

for the creme légère:
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 c half and half
5 egg yolks
1/2 c sugar
4 tbs butter, cut into cubes
pinch salt
100 ml cold heavy cream

for the chocolate glaze:
60g bittersweet chocolate
2 tbsp heavy cream
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp water

SO! Pate a choux:

1. Melt butter and water in a heavy bottomed pan (these keep a more even temperature so you don’t burn your choux):

I’m sorry. I didn’t actually take a picture of the melted butter in the pot. I’m still getting used to pausing to photograph what I’m doing. But here’s a picture of my OXO Food Scale- the most highly reccomended by cooks illustrated. Here’s what they said: “Exceptionally intuitive. The super-clear display offers an optional backlight, four easy-to-read buttons, and, unique to OXO, can be pulled out from the large, removable (i.e. washable) platform when weighing bulky items.” It can handle up to 11 lb, it zeroes out, and it can switch between oz and grams! ALSO you can pull the display away from the balance when your bowl is huge so that you can see! LOVE.

2. Turn off the heat, then dump all your flour in. Stir it all together, using a wooden spoon (you want something the batter will stick to so you can see how dry it is).  It shouldn’t take more than 30 seconds. It’ll look like mashed potatoes. Then turn the heat back on to medium low, and you’re just going to keep constantly stirring until the mixture starts to leave residue on the sides of the pot.

I didn't choose the best moment to take the picture, but you can kind of see the residue in the top left. DONE

3. Now this isn’t what DulceDelight said to do, but I did it anyways, and it worked. You have to cool this choux off and pull the steam out of it somehow. Some people pour it into a stand mixer and mix it until it stops releasing so much steam. I hate using a stand mixer, so I dumped it in a bowl and went at it with my electric beater. Once it’s not steaming like crazy, it’s time to add eggs. You’re going to add them one at a time and beat the mixture until it’s uniform again. It takes about 3 to 4 eggs to reach the right consistency- it should be a little fluid but definitely not runny. You don’t want it to stream off of your spoon, but you also don’t want it to stick in a big glop. If you can pick your spoon up after stirring it and it sort of drops off in a gooey blob, you’re probably there. I recommend you watch Dulce Delight’s recipe video for this part, because I suck and didn’t take a picture.

Screen shot from Dulce Delight's video here: http://vimeo.com/30636480

4. Once you’ve hit the right consistency, spoon your batter into a piping bag fitted with a large tip (like 1 cm or something) and pipe eclair shapes a few inches apart onto parchment paper-lined sheets. They can settle a little bit but they definitely shouldn’t spread out after piping. You added too much egg if they do. I’m really sorry I don’t have more pictures or explanations. Here are some from DulceDelight’s video. I hope this isn’t illegal…

Screen shot from Dulce Delight, here: http://vimeo.com/30636480

5. Whisk the egg and milk together for egg wash and brush the tops before you stick them in the oven. That will give them a nice shiny golden brown on top.

6. Bake at 400 F for about 40 minutes. They should be puffed up, and sort of hard to the touch. This is another testy thing- the best way to tell they’re ready is to just crack a bad one open and make sure they’re not still wet inside. They’ll be a little moist, like the inside of fresh bread, but definitely not uncooked. If they’re not cooked enough, they’re going to deflate and be hard to fill later. I learned the hard way that baking two sheets on top of each other isn’t that great of an idea. It works ok but you have to be good about rotating, switching shelves and testing that they’re cooked enough. They’ll probably need more time.

These are a LITTLE undercooked. They went a little flat.

7. Now turn off the oven, leave them in there, crack the door and let them sit for a long time. Like 45 minutes at least. This dehydrates the shells and gives them more stability to resist the shrinking hot air pockets inside.

Now’s a good time to make the Creme Lugere. Creme Lugere is pastry cream with whipped cream folded in. It’s GREAT and light. I used the Cook’s Illustrated pastry cream because I’ve made it before and it was so good I was eating it with a spoon. I’m sure DD’s is great too, but don’t fix it if it ain’t broke.

Cook’s Illustrated Pastry Cream:

1. Heat the half and half, 6 tbs sugar and pinch of salt in a heavy bottomed pot until barely simmering. Stir the whole time so it doesn’t form a skin or burn on the bottom, and so the sugar dissolves. Once it hits a light simmer turn off the heat.

I added vanilla beans because I wanted extra flavor.

2. Beat the egg yolks on your lowest speed until combined. Add the rest of the sugar and beat until light yellow and falls like a ribbon when you drop it off the beaters. Beat in cornstarch.

3. Very gradually add the half and half to the yolks while beating the whole time. This tempers the eggs and makes sure they don’t lump from too much heat at once.

4. Return the mixture to the pot and slowly bring to a simmer over low to medium heat, whisking constantly. It’s eventually going to become glossy and thick. This is going to take a while and your arms are going to get tired. Deal. Once you see bubbles, keep whisking for a few minutes and then take it off the heat.

5. Whisk in the vanilla and butter. You can strain the cream now if you’re OCD but I didn’t.  Pour it into a bowl and press saran wrap directly against the cream so that it won’t form a skin. Refrigerate until it’s cooled.

DD’s Creme Lugere:

1. Beat the heavy cream until it forms firm peaks.

2. Fold into pastry cream being careful not to deflate. That was easy!

Filling the shells:

Your shells should be dehydrated enough. You can crack another one open and test the inside for moisture (don’t worry, you can always just fill the halves up and eat them still).

This shell didn't get cooked enough. It deflated.

C'est parfait!

Now, you’re going to fill your shells. I didn’t take pictures of this either. I’m terrible! Here’s more screen shots from DD:

1. Use your filling tip to poke holes on either side of the bottom of the eclair:

Poking holes. Courtesy of DD http://vimeo.com/30636480

Beauty. Courtesy of DD http://vimeo.com/30636480

2. Now fit your pastry bag with the filling tip and fill with your creme lugere. Put the tip in one side and squeeze until you see the filling coming out the other side. That’s how you know it’s all filled!

Filling the shells. Courtesy of DD http://vimeo.com/30636480

Now it’s time for the chocolate topping!

Chocolate topping:

1. Put the chocolate and heavy cream in a small bowl and microwave for about 30 seconds. You have to be careful not to burn the chocolate or it won’t mix! Do it for less time so that you can still see pieces of firm chocolate, then let it sit. The heat from the melted chocolate will soften the still firm pieces. After about a minute, give it a stir. If it’s still not all melted, nuke it for 15 seconds on low power and stir it until it’s melted.

2. Stir in honey and a few tablespoons water. It should be pretty fluid but not runny.

3. You can either dip the tops of the shells in the bowl to get an even coating like DD did, or spoon it on top like I did because my bowl wasn’t big enough to fit the shells.

All done!

Rustic.

These are so. good. The cream inside is super vanilla-y and the chocolate on the top just bittersweet enough to counterract it. The shells are light and crisp. When you bite into it, there’s a short crunch and then an explosion of cream. It’s sort of indecent.

Yesterday, I made two batches of macarons from two different recipes. The first was from Dulce Delight, an adorable Brazilian girl who makes excellent videos for all of her recipes. The second was from Not So Humble Pie’s most recent Macaron troubleshoot.

My goals were to create a successful macaron (I tried once before with disastrous results) and also to achieve this color palette:

Coral and Blue beauty, courtesy of Design*Sponge

I missed the mark on the colors. I have more to learn about the chemistry of food coloring.

First, I made Dulce Delight’s recipe:

Dulce Delight does Macarons

She doesn’t give written instructions, just a video and ingredients.

90 g egg whites (about 2 medium eggs) aged for 1 or 2 days in an airtight container in your refrigerator
30 g granulated sugar
200 g confectionary sugar
55g pistachio (for a classic almond batter just substitute the 55g of pistachio for almonds)
55 g almonds (no skin)

To these, I added several drops of professional grade blue food color gel and one drop of green. I think the green was a mistake.

The color is a little dull.

What I really wanted was this:

Not So Humble Pie's Blue Macaron. So. Beautiful.

I found that her temperature recommendation was a bit low. I ended up leaving the macarons in for 26 minutes because they were still sticking to the sheet. Once I let them cool, they popped off with no sticking. HOWEVER, they were too crisp. Not So Humble Pie’s trouble shoot taught me that if you fill the macaron and let it mature for some time, crispness will go away, so I did, and it did.  It’s been about 24 hours and they are much moister, however they still had a hollow between the filling and the shell.

On to Not So Humble Pie’s recipe:

Not So Humble Macarons v3.0128
yields approximately 50 cookies
5g dehydrated egg white powder
28g granulated sugar
225g confectioners (powdered) sugar
125g almond meal
100g aged egg whites

Note on the ingredients: Dehydrated egg white is not the same as meringue powder. Meringue powder is not an appropriate substitution so please don’t use it. Many well stocked grocers and health food stores carry dehydrated egg whites, just ask where they keep them. They’re also readily available online.

Recommend using Bobs Red Mill almond meal or grinding your own by weighing out the almonds and half the powdered sugar into the bowl of your food processes and grinding them until very fine. Sift to ensure an even meal and then sift together with the remaining powdered sugar.

Prep two half sheet pans with parchment or silicone baking mats.

Pre-heat your oven to somewhere between 290-300°F.

Start by weighing out your sugar and egg white powder into a small bowl. Mix with a fork until uniform and set aside.

Sift together your almond meal and powdered sugar.

Weigh out your egg whites and begin beating them on low speed until foamy. Begin slowly sprinkling in the powdered egg white and sugar mixture as you beat. Then increase the speed to medium and beat until a firm meringue forms.

You want firm, glossy peaks in your meringue, you don’t want to beat all the way to stiff peaks. So hold yourself back.

Beat in food coloring gel now and then add 1/3rd of the almond mixture. Folding it in gently. Once combined, add another third of the almond mixture, and so on. For visual reference on how to combine and fold, see this video by Chef Nini.

Add your batter to a piping bag with a round tip (any size bit under 1cm works fine) and pipe rows of macarons.

Pick up the pan with both hands, and holding it level, tap it firmly onto the counter several times. This will bring up any air bubbles in the cookies. Pop the bubbles with a toothpick if they don’t break while tapping.

These cookies NEED to rest on the counter. Between 30-60 minutes depending on the humidity.

Bake the cookies for roughly 15 minutes. One sheet at a time.

Once the cookies lift easily from the parchment or silicone baking mat, they’re probably done. To be sure, pop a cookie off with an offset spatula and break it open. The insides should be set and not overly moist (wet uncooked meringue is no good.) If it is too moist, the cookies will collaps when they cool.

Nice and uniform, with pretty feet.

These macarons were more successful- the color is great, they had nice high feet and the filling actually rose to meet the shell. I cooked them at 290 for 20 minutes. My only complaint is that they are a bit too chewy and dense for me. I think maybe either upping the temperature to 300 or moving the pan down in the oven to heat the bottoms more than the top might encourage the meringue to cook a little more without over-browning the top. This might have helped with taking them off the parchment, which was a little harder than it was with Dulce Delight’s recipe.

Filled with green buttercream, not my best color choice.

For the filling, I made the buttercream from the toasted almond cake recipe in my last post and dyed it green. In the future, I will try to find a BC with a little more structure to it at room temperature. This one is so delicious and light, but the butter to sugar ration makes it risky to keep at room temperature too long.

Next in line? I think Dulce Delight’s eclair recipe. OR whatever the Daring Cooks challenge is. OR I might start documenting my amazing thrift store finds.

My friend thought they were hamburgers for a second.

Slivered almonds, chevrons.

Layered slices of almonds, skin on.

Slivered almonds, diagonal.

Slivered almonds, vertical.

Here is a recipe for toasted almond cake, adapted and translated from Photisserie. The cake is a dense, nutty german-style torte. If you can plow through more than one slice, I applaud your stomach. The real star of the recipe is the buttercream- light, slightly sweet and slightly salty, and a beautiful cream color. I switched the imbibing liquor from Amaretto to Root liquor- a locally produced sassafras based liquor made by Art in the Ages. Tastes like root beer!

Nut Base:

4 egg whites
60g sugar
100g pulverized almonds
100g sugar
30g flour
20g butter

50 ml Root Liquor

Almond Cake:

3 eggs
125g sugar
125g pulverized almonds
3 egg whites
17g sugar
35g flour
25g butter

Buttercream:

300g sugar
80g water
4 egg yolks
2 egg
600g softened butter

200g toasted almonds
100g sliced almonds

Nut Base (topmost and bottommost layer of the cake):
Beat the egg whites and 30g sugar to stiff peaks. Mix the pulverized almonds, 50g sugar, and flour, then fold into the beaten egg whites. Melt the butter and fold that in as well. Pour the dough into two 8 inch buttered pans and bake at 350 F for 20 minutes.

Almond Cake
Beat the whole eggs, 125g sugar, and pulverized almonds with a handheld beater until foamy. Beat the egg whites and 17g sugar to stiff peaks, then carefully fold into the mixture. Finally, fold the flour and melted butter into the mix.
Divide the mix between three buttered 8 inch circular pans and cook at 430 F for 10 minutes, until golden brown.

Buttercream
Bring the sugar and water to boil in a pot and let boil for 3 minute (if you have a thermometer, 121 C is perfect.) Beat the egg yolks and whole eggs with the handbeater until foamy, while gradually adding the sugar syrup until thickened but light. Add softened butter and beat until incorporated.

Put 150g of the toasted almonds and a scoop of the butterream in an electric mixer and puree into a dark brown mush. Set aside 2/3 of the remaining buttercream for the outside of the cake. Pound the rest of the toasted almonds coarsely, then mix the almond puree, coarsely chopped almonds and the 1/3 buttercream.

Brush one of the nut bases with Root, then layer with Almond buttercream, then a layer of almond cake. Repeat with Amaretto and almond buttercream. Repeat with all four almond cake layers and top with the second nut base.

Spread the waylaid buttercream on the outside of the cake.

I don’t know how to start.